IIT Chicago-Kent advances to the National Moot Court Competition finals
Third-year IIT Chicago-Kent students Ryan Moore and David Starshak will represent the law school in the National Moot Court Competition national finals in New York February 10 to 13, 2014. IIT Chicago-Kent finished second in the regional tournament held November 9 and 10 at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee. IIT Chicago-Kent and the competition winner, Marquette, will join 28 teams from 14 other regions in the finals.
IIT Chicago-Kent was undefeated in preliminary rounds against teams from the University of Illinois and Notre Dame. They went on to beat a team from John Marshall Law School in the quarterfinals. IIT Chicago-Kent earned its berth in the national finals by defeating Loyola University Chicago in the semifinal round.
"This is Chicago-Kent's third consecutive trip to the New York finals—one of the longest active streaks in the country—and our eighth berth in the last nine years," said Professor Kent D. Streseman, director of the Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy. "We have twice won the national title in that span and we finished second in our region in both those years."
The National Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the New York City Bar Association, is the oldest and one of the largest appellate advocacy competitions in the nation. In 2008 and 2009, IIT Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win back-to-back national championships in the tournament.
Team member Ryan Moore earned an undergraduate degree in English with a minor in psychology at Marquette University. David Starshak graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor of science degree in political science and a minor in leadership studies. Moore and Starshak represented IIT Chicago-Kent earlier this year in the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition.
Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. IIT Chicago-Kent's advocacy programs have a tradition of excellence. In 2008, Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win both the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year.
