Moot Court Team Reaches Quarterfinals in Los Angeles

Marquette’s Labor and Employment Law Moot Court team wasn’t the only Marquette moot court to reach quarterfinals in a competition in March.

Team members Annie Gonring and Ron Tenuta successfully argued their way into quarterfinals at the UCLA Williams Institute National Moot Court Competition. Their quarterfinal round ended up being a re-match of one of their preliminaries rounds, against a competitive team.

Although Gonring and Tenuta did not advance to the semifinals, they did achieve high oral argument scores from the judges, with Gonring, in particular, named by several judges as an outstanding oralist. Their brief also tied for third place in the competition.

Madeline Lewis and Aimeé Treviño—Marquette’s other team—did not advance past the preliminary round, but they put in strong performances, with Trevino named by one judge as the best advocate in her round.

This marked Marquette’s first time in this competition and our two teams showed that Marquette was a presence to contend with.

The team was advised by Professor Lisa Mazzie, and coached by Attorneys Alexa Bradley (L’18), Bryn Baker (L’18), and Courtney Roelandts (L’18).

(From left to right) Madeline Lewis, Aimeé Treviño, Annie Gonring, and Ron Tenuta pose next to a bust of Abraham Lincoln at UCLA Law School.
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Moot Court Team Reaches Quarterfinals in NY

Earlier this month, 3Ls Jake Apostolu, Hunter Cone, and Ilana Friedman did Marquette proud at New York Law School’s 47th Annual Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition. 

After the preliminary rounds, the team advanced to the octofinals. The team then advanced to the quarterfinals, though did not advance past that level.

But in addition to advancing as one of the top eight teams, the team’s brief was the fourth best of the forty team briefs in the competition. The team worked exceptionally hard, and that hard work paid off. Great job, team!

The team was advised by Professor Rebecca Blemberg, and coached by Professor Blemberg and Attorneys Corey Swinick (L’17) (who successfully competed in the same competition during law school) and Adam Tutaj (L’99).

(From left to right) Hunter Cone, Ilana Friedman, Jake Apostolu, and Attorney Corey Swinick (L’17) celebrate outside of New York Law School.
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NAAC Teams Shine in Philadelphia

Twenty-three teams from across the country arrived in Philadelphia at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on February 16, all prepared to present oral arguments in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition regional. Two of those teams were from Marquette University Law School, and they shone.

Emily Ward and Kyle Elderkin at the National Appellate Advocacy Competition in Philadelphia.

First, 3L team Kyle (Kip) Elderkin, Emily Ward, and Jessica Zimpfer. Unfortunately, a couple of days before the competition, Zimpfer became ill and was unable to travel. The loss of able advocate Zimpfer meant that Ward had only a couple of days to prepare to argue both sides of their issue. Even so, Ward and Elderkin advanced to the regional semifinals, but lost in that round. Both received perfect oral advocacy scores from one of the judges in an earlier round.

Andrew Holzmann, Abigail Kincheloe, and J.P. Curran at the National Appellate Advocacy Competition in Philadelphia.

Second, 3L team J.P. Curran, Andrew Holzmann, and Abigail Kincheloe. These three argued their way into the regional finals round—one win away from advancing to the national competition—but did not prevail. However, their brief tied for fourth best in the region, and Andy Holzmann was named eighth best oralist in the region.

Congratulations to each team member for their outstanding representation of Marquette Law. And our deepest gratitude goes to Attorneys Julie Leary (L’20), Jay McDivitt (L’21), Ben Edelstein (L’22), and Kyle Frank (L’22), who devoted many hours to coaching the teams. Thank you, too, to the many guest judges: Xavier Jenkins (L’21), Rebeca Lopez (L’12), Dan Murphy (L’16), Jacob Rozema (L’20), Zach Willenbrink (L’11), and Adam Woodside (L’18).

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