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.
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).
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.
(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.
