NAAC Team Wins Fourth Best Brief at San Francisco Regional

pic of Ashley Smith
Ashley Smith, 3L
pic of AJ Lawton
AJ Lawton, 3L
pic of Anjali Sharma
Anjali Sharma, 3L
pic of Adam Woodside
Adam Woodside, 3L

Thirty-two teams from across the country arrived in San Francisco at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on March 1, all prepared to present oral arguments in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition regional. Two Marquette Law teams were among those.

Andrew (AJ) Lawton and Ashley Smith were seeded 10th after three rounds of argument. They advanced to the fourth round but faced a tough bench. They lost that round to one of the top four teams from the regional. However, their brief was named the fourth best in the competition. Anjali Sharma and Adam Woodside presented outstanding oral arguments in their three rounds, often facing tough questions from an engaged bench. They kept their composure throughout, achieving commendable oral argument scores.

Both teams were assisted by practitioner coaches Elleny Christopolous, Kate Maternowski, and Zachary Willenbrink (L’11). Congratulations to team members for their outstanding representation of Marquette Law.

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Japanese Expert Says Good Relations Between Trump and Abe Are A Plus

The personal chemistry between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is quite good, and that’s especially important given Trump’s unpredictability in what he advocates and how he goes about his advocacy.

That was the view offered Wednesday at an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall by a prominent Japanese expert on the United States, Professor Fumiaki Kubo. He is A. Barton Hepburn Professor of American Government and History in the Graduate Schools of Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo. His visit to Marquette University was facilitated by the Japanese consulate in Chicago.

Kubo said Abe visited Trump at Trump Tower in New York City shortly after the American presidential election in November 2016, and then visited Trump again in Washington and in Florida shortly after Trump took office. The two leaders share an interest in golf and that was a plus, he said.

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Marisa Cuellar Zane Named Public Interest Law Fellow for Estate-Planning Program

Marisa Cuellar Zane joins Marquette University Law School as the public interest law fellow in the Office of Public Service. In her new role, Marisa will further develop the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic’s (MVLC) estate-planning services. The MVLC is committed to helping low-income people navigate their estate-planning options by empowering clients with useful information. In 2017, the MVLC’s House of Peace and Veterans Service Office locations helped 75 people establish estate plans.

The need for estate-planning services is often overlooked in communities with low incomes and relatively lower-value assets. Yet in Milwaukee’s low-income communities, owning a home is not uncommon. Planning is essential to keep a home, usually a family’s largest asset, in the family. Advance planning also can include assigning an agent for making financial and healthcare decisions in order to avoid adult guardianship proceedings in court should infirmities arise down the road.

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