It's a clean sweep for IIT Chicago-Kent in the ALA 2011 Moot Court Competition!
Two teams from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law placed first and second and won all five individual awards in the Appellate Lawyers Association's 2011 Moot Court Competition. The tournament was held November 4 and 5 at the Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.
Third-year students Justin Hagan and Daaron Kimmel won the overall competition after narrowly defeating Whitney Friedman and Josiah Jenkins, also third-year IIT Chicago-Kent students, in the finals. This is the fifth time in the last six years that a team from IIT Chicago-Kent has won the competition. It is also the third time in the last five years that two IIT Chicago-Kent teams have faced each other in the tournament's final round.
IIT Chicago-Kent also won both Best Brief awards, with Hagan and Kimmel again edging out Friedman and Jenkins for the best brief. Kimmel, Friedman and Hagan also claimed first, second and third places, respectively, in the Best Oral Advocate award category.
The students argued Zeudi Araya v. Fluorburton Corporation, a hypothetical case that raises issues regarding whether corporations are liable for international law violations under the Alien Tort Statute. The case also included a related issue concerning allegations of judicial bias.
After competing in a field of 16 teams from 11 different law schools, the IIT Chicago-Kent teams waged a spirited final-round argument. Illinois Appellate Court Justices William E. Holdridge, Donald C. Hudson and M. Carol Pope judged the final round of the tournament.
"Both teams wrote and argued brilliantly," said Professor Kent D. Streseman, director of IIT Chicago-Kent's Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy. "It is always especially gratifying for me to see our teams perform so well before panels that consist entirely of experienced appellate attorneys and judges. We pride ourselves on training students in real-world advocacy skills, and this tournament provides a wonderful test of those skills."
Winning team member Justin Hagan graduated from Northwestern University, where he majored in political science and minored in history. Teammate Daaron Kimmel received his bachelor's degree in rhetoric and creative writing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Team member Whitney Friedman earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in political science and communication arts with a focus in rhetoric. Teammate Josiah Jenkins completed his undergraduate education at Northwestern University, where he majored in history, with a concentration in American history, and a minor in business institutions.
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, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. IIT Chicago-Kent's Moot Court Honor Society teams have won numerous individual student honors and local, regional and national competitions. In 2008, IIT Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win both the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year. In 2009, IIT Chicago-Kent successfully defended its championship in the National Moot Court Competition.
