Home Law School News Drake Law fares well at national moot court competition

Drake Law fares well at national moot court competition

2012 Moot Court Competition
From left to right: Hon. Lawrence L. Piersol, United States District Court; Matthew Jarvey, Katelyn Bries, Hon. Roger L. Wollman, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, and Hon. Glen A. Severson, Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court and Kyle Mendenhall

This year is no exception for the storied career of the Drake Law moot court teams. Matthew Jarvey (3L from Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Katelyn Bries (3L from Dubuque, Iowa) and Kyle Mendenhall (2L from Lawrence, Kansas) won first place in Region 14 by defeating a team from the University of Minnesota College of Law.

The competition featured teams from University of Iowa, Drake University, University of Minnesota, Hamline University, University of St. Thomas, and William Mitchell College of Law.

Jarvey was named Best Oralist in the Final Round and the team of Jarvey, Bries and Mendenhall won Runner-Up Best Brief. Four students placed in the top seven oralists after three preliminary rounds: Jarvey, Bries, Emily Ertel (3L from Brookfield, Wisc.) and Lori Bullock (2L from Ankeny, Iowa).

A second Drake team of Ertel, Bullock and Mara Jones (2L from Robins, Iowa) made it to the quarter-finals. Faculty coach Laurie Doré, Ellis and Nelle Levitt Distinguished Professor of Law, said, “I was very proud of both teams.”

The nationally-recognized competition began in 1950 and is run by the Young Lawyers Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and co-sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers. Fifteen regional sponsors administer the regional rounds in November under the Committee’s supervision.

Drake’s first place team of Jarvey, Bries and Mendenhall advance to the National Finals, Jan. 28-31, 2013, in New York City.