ALA’s 2014 National Moot Court Competition
was held November 7-8
The Appellate Lawyers Association Moot Court Committee would like to congratulate the following winners of the 2014 Moot Court Competition.
Winners
First Place: Jon Puskar and Scott Kater, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Team 14
Second Place: Alexander Shaaban, Kylie Star and Lynet’ Shigg, Western State College of Law, Team 7
Best Brief
First Place: Gina Savoie, Caroline Rutledge and Matei Stroescu, St. Louis University School of Law, Team 15. Brief 15
Second Place: Erin Brennan, Elizabeth Kim and Robert Mayville, McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, Team 8. Brief 8
Third Place: Jon Puskar and Scott Kater, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Team 14. Brief #14 Brief 14
Best Oral Argument
First Place: David Repling, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Team 11
Second Place: Samantah Odyniec, DePaul University College of Law, Team 6
and Alexander Shaaban, Western State College of Law, Team 7
Participating Schools
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law
DePaul University College of Law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law |
|
Northern Illinois University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
Saint Louis University School of Law
University of Illinois College of Law
University of Wisconsin School of Law
Western State College of Law |
2014 MOOT COURT QUESTION
Review and download the Moot Court Rules and the Moot Court Record.
Sponsorships
The Appellate Lawyers Association Moot Court Committee would like to thank the following sponsors for contributing to this year's Moot Court competition.
(click on our sponsors' names to learn more about them.)
Platinum Sponsor:
Neal Gerber & Eisenberg
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP is a Chicago-based law firm whose attorneys share a culture of teamwork and devotion to personalized client service to advance our clients’ business interests. Our attorneys provide legal business solutions to public and private entities of all types— including Fortune 100 companies, financial institutions, nonprofits and high net worth individuals—in connection with domestic and global business transactions and litigation.
Our attorneys advocate for individuals and businesses—public and private and spanning multiple industries—in trial and appellate courts across the nation. The majority of our appeals arise from matters we handle from inception, though many are as counsel for amicus curiae or as appellate counsel. Our litigators have handled complex, sophisticated matters in more than 25 states and five countries and are routinely recognized by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, The American College of Trial Lawyers, and U.S. News-Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms.”
Gold Sponsor:
Sidley Austin LLP
Sidley Austin LLP is a premier law firm with a practice highly attuned to the international landscape. The firm has built a reputation for being an adviser for global business, with more than 1,700 lawyers in 19 offices worldwide. Sidley maintains a commitment to providing quality legal services and to offering advice in litigation, transactional and regulatory matters spanning virtually every area of law. In 2013, for the sixth consecutive year, Sidley was named to The National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List, a select group of firms the paper identifies as “doing killer appellate work before the Supreme Court, federal circuit courts of appeal and state courts of last resort.”
Silver Sponsors:
Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC
For nearly two decades, Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC has been one of Chicago’s pre-eminent civil litigation law practices. DBMS frequently and successfully tries complex, high-exposure cases in the country’s most challenging jurisdictions. The firm focuses on the areas of professional liability, product liability, insurance coverage, commercial litigation and appeals.
DBMS’ approach to litigation is highly responsive to the goals and needs of the clients. Each client and each case is treated uniquely as the firm and the client develop the best approach to litigation strategy.
DBMS is proud of its reputation among judges, colleagues and opponents as an aggressive and thorough firm that is highly professional in its conduct of litigation. The firm’s superb record at trial encourages opponents to try and resolve matters early in the litigation process.
Forde Law Offices LLP
Forde Law Offices LLP is a six-lawyer firm that focuses its practice on commercial litigation and appeals. Our clients include individuals, partnerships, major corporations, and some of the leading lawyers and law firms in Chicago. We have been lead counsel or co-counsel in some of the most important cases in Illinois, including litigation involving the demutualization of the Chicago Board of Trade, cost-of-living adjustments for Illinois state court judges, and the election challenge to the then-mayoral candidate (now mayor) of the City of Chicago. We have represented a number of corporations in defending shareholder derivative actions, and we have defended corporate officers in cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission and in private actions. We continue to serve our clients in the federal courts and the courts of Illinois and Delaware.
Hall, Prangle & Schoonveld
Hall Prangle & Schoonveld, LLC, opened its doors for business in August 2002, but our roots in the catastrophic defense litigation field stretch back decades. The attorneys who created HPS comprised much of the medical litigation department at Lord Bissell & Brook LLP, one of the largest firms in Chicago with a century-long history of strong defense litigation experience.
Since that time, HPS has emerged as the premier litigation defense firm in the city. Based in Chicago, we have grown from our original group of 13 attorneys to its current strength of 40 plus and have opened offices in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City , Tampa and Pensacola, providing a variety of litigation services across the country.
In recent years, we have expanded our practice areas to include appeals, employment counseling and litigation, general commercial liability, insurance coverage, product liability and aviation. Each of these practice groups are led by partners who have joined our firm from Lord Bissell & Brook. Their inclusion gives us the strength, skills, experience and depth to handle a much greater breadth of litigation and counseling needs.
Quarles & Brady LLP
Over its 118-year history, Quarles & Brady has represented corporate and individual clients ranging from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies. And in doing so, it grown from a small, well-respected Milwaukee firm to a place among the Am Law 200.
Quarles & Brady lawyers have handled appeals--over 300 in the past ten years--in state and federal courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court. Our broad appellate experience stems from representing an array of clients: large corporations, small businesses, individuals, an Indian tribe, charitable organizations, governmental bodies, and indigent prisoners. This diverse client base has given us experience in a broad range of disciplines, including antitrust, bankruptcy, business torts and contract disputes, constitutional law, environmental, labor and employment, insurance, intellectual property, land use, product liability, public utilities, and trusts and estates. Our appellate experience is national, with particular depth in the courts of Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin as well as the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And our resources include numerous attorneys who have clerked for appellate judges at the federal and state level.
Michael W. Rathsack
Michael Rathsack concentrates his practice in civil appeals, and also consults with trial attorneys on procedural matters. He is a member and past president of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, and a fellow and currently a director of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He has been included in the Tier 1 ranking for appellate practice in Illinois by U.S. News for 2012 and 2013. Rathsack received his B.S. (Physics) from the University of Wisconsin and his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.
Adler Murphy & McQuillen LLP
Adler Murphy & McQuillen LLP’s Appellate Practice Group represents clients in high-profile cases across the country in state and federal courts of review. We have handled various interlocutory appeals, appeals of final decisions, and petitions. We have briefed and argued appeals on a wide array of issues, such as: class action, products liability, choice-of-law, collateral estoppel, tort immunity, forum non conveniens, spoliation, educational malpractice, breach of contract, and many others.
We work hard to preserve favorable outcomes in the trial court and, in the event of an adverse ruling, do our utmost to obtain reversal for our clients. The Appellate Practice Group also coordinates with the firm’s trial teams in the pre-trial, trial, and post-trial stages to assist with brief writing and issue preservation. In addition to their appellate practice, members of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group also actively litigate their own cases in the trial court; this assists them with spotting issues on appeal, and it deepens their subject matter experience to the benefit of the firm's clients.
To learn more about our firm’s appellate experience, please visit our website by clicking here.
Bronze Sponsor:
Kavanagh Grumley & Gorbold LLC
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