Sally Kershner
Features Editor
After competing in the regional competitions at Loyola University Chicago and The College of Wooster, the College’s own Moot Court team has qualified six students so far for the National Competition. These three teams of two consisted of: Brad Van Tyne ’17 and Maha Rashid ’19; Dawson Honey ’19 and Brianna Schmidt ’20; Marie Sheehan ’17 and Jack Johanning ’17. Thanks to the guidance of previous head coach and now current assistant coach Professor Emeritus Mark Weaver, and in collaboration this year with the new head coach Professor Desiree Weber, the Moot Court team has consecutively sent students to Nationals for the past 15 years.
To qualify for Nationals, each individual member of the team dedicates a significant portion of time each week to prepare for the regional tournaments.
“Most students participate in the class which is three hours a week and are at practice four hours a week for a total of seven hours. However, most team members put in much more work, probably close to 10-15 hours a week, as we host many optional practices and working groups outside of what is required,” said Sheehan, co-captain and treasurer of the Moot Court Team. Alongside Sheehan, Johanning and Shelley Grostefon ’18 are co-captains and together, these three serve as TAs the Constitutional Law and Appellate Advocacy class, run daily captain’s practices and assist the coaches in running the formal practices.
Students are then able to apply their hard work after Nov. 1 when the season moves into these regional qualifiers.
“Team practices and the class are meant to help those on the team prepare for oral argument at regionals and to help them refine their legal writing skills. All team members not only participate in oral argument at the regional level but also submit a written brief to the appellate brief competition at the national level,” said Sheehan.
This year’s topic is relevant to the recent presidential election. “This year our case is about voting rights — the Plaintiff was denied her right to cast an in-person ballot on election day after her state’s voter ID laws changed, and her old ID did not meet the new law’s requirements,” said Sheehan. “Our first constitutional question is whether her First Amendment rights to engage in political speech were violated; our second question deals with whether the state’s new voter ID laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Though a team does not have to qualify for regionals, only the top 20 percent of all teams qualify for nationals. Regionals are held all across the country, so to increase the chances of qualifying for nationals, the coaches split up the teams to different regionals so that the College’s team would not be its own competition.
The remaining eight students on the team will be competing at regionals in Saginaw, Mich. this weekend in the hopes of qualifying for nationals. Even though winning nationals does not involve a monetary prize, the title of national winners will have immense benefits for students.
“[Winning nationals] does allow students to stand out in law school and graduate school admissions. Going to competitions allows you to network with attorneys across the country and make connections that can help people find jobs after graduations. Additionally, winning nationals would allow Wooster to become the top-ranked school in undergraduate Moot Court team in the country,” said Sheehan.
Nationals take place on Jan. 6-7., Coral Ciupak ’19 and Grostefon, Cami Steckbeck ’19 and Jordan Griffith ’19, Hannah Buzolits ’17 and Cece Azar ’17, Emma Petasis ’18 and Jaelen Harney ’18 will compete at Saginaw this weekend.