Congratulations to the 2021 Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition Finalists

screenshot of zoom moot court competition, with head shots of three judges and four competitorsCongratulations to the winners of the 2021 Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition, Ben Edelstein and Kyle Frank. Congratulations also go to finalists Alexander Lux and Natalie Mulvey. Frank won the Ramon A. Klitzke Prize for Best Oralist. Ashleigh Dickey and Matt Rademacher won the Franz C. Eschweiler Prize for Best Brief.

 

Presiding over the final round were Hon. Paul Thissen (Minnesota Supreme Court), Hon. Michael Y. Scudder (United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit), and Hon. Cynthia M. Davis (L’06) (Milwaukee County Circuit Court). This year’s final round was held virtually on Zoom but livestreamed over YouTube. More than 70 people watched the final round on YouTube.

 

Many thanks to the law school’s media and tech team for making all the tech magic happen. Thank you, too, to the law school administrators and staff who helped coordinate the event and to Dean Kearney for his support of the competition and his front-line presence as host. And special thanks to 3L Kelsey Pelegrin, who handled the details of the competition.

 

Students are selected to participate in the competition based on their success in the fall Appellate Writing and Advocacy class at the Law School.

 

Here is a link to a recording of the final round.

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Jenkins Competitors Have Busy Weekend; Two Teams Advance to Finals

head shot of Ben Edelstein
Ben Edelstein
head shot of Kyle Frank
Kyle Frank

(Updated 3/30/21 12:25 PM to add registration link)

The last two weekends have been busy ones for the students competing in the Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition. Each team argued four times the weekend of March 20-21 in the preliminary rounds to determine which teams would advance to the quarterfinal round.

On Saturday, March 27, the eight teams that advanced argued to see which would advance to the semifinals.

head shot of Alex Lux
Alexander Lux
head shot of Natalie Mulvey
Natalie Mulvey

After some very close rounds, four teams moved on to the semifinals. Those four teams were:

Alexandra (Sasha) Chepov & Zak Wroblewski;
Ben Edelstein & Kyle Frank;
Lauren Brasington & Carsyn Bushman;
Alexander Lux & Natalie Mulvey

These four teams competed on Sunday, March 28. The two teams that emerged as finalists are:

Ben Edelstein & Kyle Frank
Alexander Lux & Natalie Mulvey

Congratulations to the finalists, and thank you to the many alumni and area attorneys who helped with the competition by grading briefs or judging oral arguments. Thanks, too, to the law school’s tech department and to Steve Nelson who kept this weekend’s virtual competition glitch-free.

The final round of the competition will be held virtually on Tuesday, April 6, at 3:30 PM, and will be lived streamed on YouTube.

The final round will be judged by The Honorable Michael Y. Scudder (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit), The Honorable Paul Thissen (Minnesota Supreme Court), and The Honorable Cynthia M. Davis (L’06) (Milwaukee County Circuit Court).

The Jenkins Completion is named in honor of the late James G. Jenkins, the first Wisconsin judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1893-1905) and the first dean of Marquette Law School (1908-1915).

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required to receive the link. You can register here.

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Institute for Women’s Leadership Releases Report on Law Firm Equity Initiative

As part of Women’s History Month, the Marquette University Institute for Women’s Leadership released its first white paper, entitled Law Firm Equity Initiative, examining the status of women in the Milwaukee legal market.  (This survey went out to all firms with over 10 attorneys in the metro area—more on methodology in the report itself.)  I am honored to be the author of this report knowing that transparency is step one in bringing about any change.

My motivation for doing this study came from watching the remarkable progress that companies in Wisconsin have made in the last few years in terms of placing women on their boards. Inspired by what transparency and peer pressure has accomplished in the corporate world, I hope that we can hold a mirror to our legal community and also ask what we can do better.

When I graduated law school (don’t ask—it was a long time ago) and did not see women in leadership roles, I was told it was a pipeline issue—just give it time and women would ascend to the heights of leadership once there were equal number of women graduating.  So, has that story played out?  Not so much.

Continue ReadingInstitute for Women’s Leadership Releases Report on Law Firm Equity Initiative