Eight Law Schools Participate in 2012 Moot Court Competition
Students from eight law schools earned the opportunity to argue in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,and four students took home cash awards during the national finals of the 38th Annual Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition. The competition, sponsored by AIPLA, took place on April 18-20at the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington, D.C. Suzanne Fitzgerald and Bradley Snyder of Loyola University Chicago School of Law were awarded the first place AIPLA Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Award of $2,000. Nicholas Restauri and Rachel Schweers of DePaul University College of Lawtook runner-up honors and received the Irving Marcus Award of $1,000, sponsored by Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, PC.
Teams from leading law schools participated after winning regional competitions in March in Boston, Chicago, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Schools included: Brooklyn Law School, University of Minnesota Law School, DePaul University College of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law, South Texas College of Law, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and University of San Francisco School of Law.
The competition opened with an AIPLA-sponsored breakfast. Christopher Agrawal, the acting national director of the competition, and Lindsay Nalevanko, meeting planner for AIPLA, welcomed the contestants, and Mr. Agrawalpresented the students with certificates recognizing their achievements in the regional competitions.
Distinguished Judges
The student appellate litigators participated in quarter-finals, a semi-final, and a final round of competition, facinga prestigious panel of judges and experienced attorneys from the federal government and the private sector.
The quarter-final judges included Associate SolicitorsSydney Johnson, Jr. and Lynne Pettigrewof the USPTO Solicitor's Office;Judges Andrew Metz, Michael Astorino, Jennifer Bisk, and Jeffrey Fredman of the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences; Joseph Vardner of the US Department of Justice; Tara Hutchings of Accenture;Jason Melvin of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP; William Jenks of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Joseph Edell of Kirkland & Ellis; Antigone Peyton of Cloudigy Law; and Aaron Maurer of Williams & Connolly.
The semi-final judges includedAssociate Solicitors William LaMarca and Scott Weidenfeller of the Solicitor's Office; Daniel H. Shulman of Reynolds Holdings; Rama Elluru of Steptoe & Johnson LLP;and David Swenson of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP.Federal Circuit clerks Jennifer Nock, Andrew Dufresne, Anna Mayergoyz, Ben Hickman, Amy Greywitt, and Jason Weilserved as bailiffs for the quarter-final and semi-final rounds.
Federal Circuit Judges Sharon Prost and Jimmie Reyna, and appellate lawyer Donald Dunner judged the final round of the competition. Federal Circuit Judge Richard Linn sponsored the event, and Federal Circuit clerk Amanda Murphy served as the bailiff. The competition concluded with award presentations and a reception at the Dolley Madison House.
Other Participants
The Regional Directorsinvolved in the competition included: Elizabeth R. Burkhard, Esq. of Holland & Knight; Kevin E. Noonan of McDonnell, Boehnen, Hulbert & Berghoff; William P. Ramey, III of Ramey & Browning, PLLC; and Roman Swoopes and Stefan Szpajda of Morrison & Foerster. The problem was prepared by Yelena Morozova of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., with assistance byDavid Gosse, Jason Croft, Erick Lee, Ida Wahlquist-Ortiz and Ryan Schermerhorn.
The bench memorandum was prepared by David Gosse of Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP, Yelena Morozova of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., and Chad Pannell of King & Spalding, LLP.
AIPLA congratulates all participants in this year's competition and thanks everyone involved for their time and effort in helping to make this competition a success.