1L Oral Argument Competition
At the end of each year, first-year law students participate in an oral argument competition for the chance to win the title of Best Oralist and 2nd Place Oralist. Each legal writing professor selects the top four oral advocates from each of their Appellate Court Advocacy class to participate in the competition. This year’s 12 semi-finalists included: Richard Chandler, Erica Chavez, Hillary Cohn, Grant Fevurly, Jonathan Geiger, Katie Gray, Jason Greene, Gordon Hadfield, Rachel Mentz, Trina Ruhland, Ben Schler, and Ashley Spicer. The first round of arguments took place on Saturday, April 19, where 6 finalists were selected to compete in the final rounds. Those finalists included: Hillary Cohn, Gordon Hadfield, Rachel Mentz, Trina Ruhland, Ben Schler, and Ashley Spicer. The finals were held in the Wittemyer Courtroom on Monday, April 21, where Ashley Spicer won the competition and runner-up honors went to Ben Schler. The judges presiding on the bench were third-year Moot Court Board members Todd Blair, Melanie Jordan, Ben Meade, Grant Sullivan, Trevor Updegraff, and Michael Wautlet.