UM Law School Moot Court Board Dominates ABA Regionals
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The University of Miami School of Law dominated this year’s ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition by winning both first and second place. The winning team was comprised of second-year students Kristy Militello and Ilana Tabacinic. The second place team was also comprised of second-year students, Carolina Pelleya and Jonathan Weiss. As a result of their win, Militello and Tabacinic have been invited to the National Client Counseling Competition to be held in Dallas, Texas from March 15-17, 2007. All four students are members of the Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court Board.
The Client Counseling competition tests students’ ability to engage with clients, elicit relevant information, clearly convey and apply legal principles to difficult fact scenarios, address ethical issues, and formulate plans for future action. Prior to each round, the teams only know their client’s name and the broad subject matter that the client wants to discuss such as “divorce” or “custody.” The topic of this year’s competition was family law, and while none of the Miami competitors have taken a class in family law, they studied this substantive area independently and prepared diligently with their coach James Koukios, a US Attorney.
The competition consisted of three preliminary rounds, after which Miami’s teams were ranked first and second. The semi-finals consisted of head-to-head competition rounds, and both Miami teams won their respective rounds to advance to the finals. A team from Mercer University also advanced to the final round, and ultimately placed third. The final round’s challenging fact-pattern consisted of issues regarding the right to attend public school, religious freedoms, corporal punishment, children with disabilities, and child custody.
The annual regional competition took place on February 17, 2007, and was hosted by John Marshall Law School in Atlanta. Overall, thirteen teams competed, representing various law schools including Vanderbilt, Stetson, Washington University Law, and Florida State. Following tradition, as the winner of this year’s competition, the University of Miami School of Law has been invited to host next year’s regional competition.
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posted 23-Feb-2007
