UT Austin School of Law wins moot court competition

March 3, 2000

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AUSTIN, Texas—Students representing The University of Texas at Austin School of Law won the 2000 National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition held recently at Pace Law School in New York.

Team members Karen Hart, Carlos Rainer and Julie Scott, coached by attorney Donna J. Blevins, bested teams from 63 law schools from across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

The competition on Feb. 24-26 tested the oral and written advocacy skills of law students in appellate court litigation and provided them with first-hand experience in environmental law. The event is the largest moot court competition in the country held under one roof.

The competition brings some 300 law students to the Pace Law School campus from across the United States, and some 150 attorneys, judges and law professors volunteer their time to serve as judges and to grade the briefs.

Presiding justices at the final round of arguments were federal judges including Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Frank Magill of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and Chief Administrative Law Judge Susan L. Biro of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Student teams participating in the competition prepared briefs in November on a hypothetical case involving smokestack emissions of mercury. During the competition, each team defended its brief before a panel of judges. Teams advanced through a demanding set of oral arguments and the best three teams competed in the final round. The team with the highest combined scores for both the oral argument and written brief won the competition.

For additional information, contact Roger Kelleher, director of public affairs at Pace University, (212) 346-1637.