What’s Luck Got to Do with It?

It’s December 2012. I’m a 2L. I’m on my way to take my Federal Jurisdiction exam and meet what I think to be my fate, when I run into a well-intentioned faculty member. He asks me where I’m heading. “To my Fed. Jur. exam,” I manage to get out. His response? “Yikes. Tough class. Well . . . good luck!”

If there’s an inauspicious way to kick off an exam, I’m pretty sure that’s it. 

Fast forward two summers: I had graduated from law school, and my entire life had become about (1) studying for the bar exam, (2) not overdrawing my checking account, and (3) Chipotle burritos. Left and right, people were wishing me good luck on the bar. Every time they did so, the pressure mounted, as did my conviction that my professional future rode entirely on either luck or some God-given ability—neither of which I felt particularly flush with at the time. From these experiences, I began to think “good luck”—even when offered with utmost sincerity—might not the best way to send someone into a high-pressure moment.[i]

But we all do it. We say “good luck” to friends before they start a trial or to students before they take an exam because we wish them well. Behind the two simple words, though, seems the implication that we are mere pawns, our fate left to the caprice of the gods. Luck’s sister concepts are, after all, fortune and chance.[ii] Expounding on the etymology of luck, University of Cambridge Professor Robert S. C. Gordon has written that the word’s etymological roots imply that “[l]uck, good luck at least, brings happiness . . . , and this much seems uncontroversial. But conversely, there is already a more sombre . . . implicitly secular philosophy embedded in this lexical chain . . . : happiness is a matter of pure luck, and the path from one to the other is steeped in doubt.”[iii] In other words, the notion of good luck—or the wish of it—might just imply that our happiness, our success is out of our hands.

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Congratulations to the 2023 Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competitors

Congratulations to the 2023 Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competitors:

Alexis Bauer
Samantha Dorning
Andrew Flood
Dominique Fortune
Emily Geiser
Isabel Gonzales
Lauren Hudon
Ciara Hudson
Alexandra Johns
Markus Johnson
Emily Juneau
Morgan Kaplan
Jori LaRosa
Kayleigh Lemery
John Letsch
Cody Linday
Jacob Lloyd
Isaiahs Luna
Elliott Manual
Connor Mathias
Angela Medcalf
Derik Rush
Mikela Ryan
Emily Smith

The Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition is an appellate moot court competition for Marquette law students. Students are invited to participate based on their performance in the Appellate Writing and Advocacy course at the Law School.

Students will begin writing their appellate briefs in January with oral arguments commencing later this spring. The competition includes preliminary oral argument rounds and a quarterfinal, semifinal, and final round.

The Jenkins competitors are fortunate to argue before distinguished members of the bench and bar from Wisconsin and beyond. The competition is named after James G. Jenkins, the first Marquette Law School dean.

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Marquette Teams Make Successful Showing at NMCC Regionals

Marquette University Law School hosted the Region VIII round of the 73th annual National Moot Court Competition on November 19-20, 2022. Both Marquette teams made successful showings.

four people standing in front of a fireplace, all of them wearing business suits. On the left is a man in a blue suit and red tie. Next to him is a women in a black skirt suit, with her dark hair pulled back. Next to her is a short woman in a navy blue pantsuit with her black hair pulled back. Next to her is a blonde woman in a navy blue pantsuit. All of them are smiling big smiles.
(from left to right) Travis Goeden, Ruth Nord-Pekar, Fefe Jaber, and Nicole Jennings.

Team members Travis Goeden and Ruth Nord-Pekar advanced to the semifinal round before being eliminated after losing by less than three-tenths of a point. Professor Melissa Love Koenig advised the team, which was coached by attorneys Kieran O’Day (L’20) and Evan Thomson.

Fefe Jaber and Nicole Jennings advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated after losing a close round to the other Marquette team. Professor Lisa Mazzie advised the team, and attorneys Alicia Bernards (L’22), Lauren Brasington (L’22), Carsyn Bushman (L’22), Chal Little (L’16), Haley Wentz (L’20), and Christopher Vandeventer (L’22) coached the team.

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