Florida Coastal law students win national moot court competition: Runners up in 22-team competition also from Florida Coastal

CHARLESTON, SC – A two-person team from the Florida Coastal School of Law on Saturday won the eighth annual Charleston School of Law National Moot Court Competition.  Another two-member team from Florida Coastal came in as runner-up.

Florida Coastal School of Law students Britney Horton and Sterling Spencer were named team champion in the Charleston School of Law’s eighth national Moot Court Competition.  In 2013, a team from Florida Coastal, which is in a consortium of schools owned by The InfiLaw System, won the Charleston school’s annual competition.  Runner-up in the 22-team contest was the two-person team of Matthew A. Dukes and Kathryn A. Spurlock, also of Florida Coastal.

This year, one Florida Coastal team bested 21 other teams from the 16 schools that took part in the competition.  Horton also was named the Best Oralist, or contestant with the best oral presentation in the championship round before a group of judges.

“This weekend’s eighth successful national moot court competition in constitutional law again demonstrates that our Charleston School of Law enjoys a national reputation, said Professor and moot court advisor Miller Shealy.  “This year we attracted teams of students from as far away as Kansas and Massachusetts.  Not only is our competition good for the school, but Charleston gets great exposure — and business — too!”

Competitors participating in the two-day event included teams from:

• Barry University School of Law
• Elon University College of Law
• Emory University School of Law
• Florida Coastal School of Law
• Florida State University College of Law
• George Mason University School of Law
• George Washington University Law School
• Liberty University School of Law
• Massachusetts School of Law at Andover
• Mercer University School of Law
• St. John’s University School of Law
• Temple University School of Law
• University of Cincinnati School of Law
• University of Kansas School of Law
• Villanova University School of Law
• William & Mary Law School
• The moot court competition is an appellate advocacy competition in which students argue before a panel of moot court judges drawn from the faculty at the Charleston School of Law, local attorneys and area judges.  The student competitors argue points of law as though they were appearing before the United States Supreme Court.

The teams in the Charleston competition grappled with a constitutional problem specially formulated for the event.  This year’s issue called for competitors to debate the constitutionality of matters related to a comic book artist’s ownership of the rights of characters such as the Hulk, THOR, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and X-Men.  The case in which the problem was based was settled days before it was to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Preliminary rounds were held Friday in the meeting rooms at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Charleston.  Final rounds were Saturday.   Winners in the competition included:

Team Champion

Britney Horton, Sterling Spencer – Florida Coastal

 

Team Runner-Up
Matthew A. Dukes, Kathryn A. Spurlock – Florida Coastal

 

Best Oralist Championship Round

Britney Horton – Florida Coastal University

 

Best Petitioner’s Brief

Joseph Miller, Gina Thomas — Barry University

 

Best Respondent’s Brief

Alex J. Moyer, Elyse M. Schoenfeld — George Washington

 

Best Oralist Preliminary Round
Alexandra Hubbard, Liberty University

 

Professionalism

Robin Jenkins, Liberty University

 

Semi-Finalists

Marissa Dioguardia, Utku Kurtmer — St. John’s

Alexandra Hubbard, Robin E. Jenkins — Liberty

 

Quarter-Finalists

Alex J. Moyer, Elyse M. Schoenfeld — George Washington

Christopher Basso, Josie Chandler — Massachusetts

Joseph Miller, Gina Thomas — Barry University

Sarah Haston, William Shaw — Florida State

 

The school plans to have its ninth competition next February.
About the Charleston School of Law

The Charleston School of Law offers students the unique opportunity to study the time-honored practice of law amid the beauty and grace of one of the South’s most historic cities.  Students at the Charleston School of Law study law as a profession and find a faculty focused on using the law as a calling in the public interest.