Please congratulate third-year law students Hans Lodge, Brendon Reyes, and Robert Steele for their recent participation in the final rounds of the National Moot Court Competition (NMCC) in New York. The team was coached by Attorneys Emily Lonergan and Jason Luczak. The NMCC is hosted by the New York City Bar Association and the American College of Trial Lawyers.

I am grateful to the team for their tremendous hard work in all stages of preparation including brief writing and oral argument practice. I could not be more proud of them. Their coaches also put in countless hours of practice time with the team. This team is special for many reasons, but among them are that Brendon Reyes is our current Moot Court Association Chief Justice, and Emily Lonergan was our Chief Justice in the 2010-11 year. What a talented and dedicated group of students and young lawyers I am privileged to work with.

The issues were 1) whether a fictional beverage and bottle act’s posting requirement violates the First Amendment, and 2) whether the act’s unique mark requirement violates the dormant commerce clause.

This is not the first time that Marquette, or someone who would be associated with Marquette’s moot court program, has made it to the national final rounds of the NMCC. Professor Jack Kircher led the team to New York  in the early 1980’s. Dean Howard Eisenberg was a member of the team that won the tournament in 1970, as recounted here. I enjoyed discussing the competition—and all its history—with Professor Kircher after returning from New York. I owe the start of my own interest in appellate advocacy and moot court to Dean Eisenberg’s class at Marquette Law School.

Congratulations, team, and best wishes on a lifetime of courtroom success.