Winner of the 2009 Regional National Moot Court Competition
Colorado Law’s Rothgerber Moot Court board proudly hosted the November Regional 11 round of the nation’s most prestigious moot court competition—The National Moot Court Competition. To make it to semi-finals, a team had to be undefeated in both preliminary rounds, and the Colorado Law was the only school to have both of its teams make it to the semi-finals of the twelve teams from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming law schools. Colorado Law’s Petitioner’s team was Amy Kramer, Melanie Jordan, and Ben Parrott. The Respondent’s team of Don Andrews, Thea Mustari, and Joe Neguse won First Place and Best Brief. Neguse won the competition’s Best Oralist Award for his masterful performance arguing both sides of his issue. The two issues were 1) does Section 2 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act exceed Congress' power under the Fourteenth Amendment and violate the Establishment Clause and 2) does the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act limit tuition reimbursement only to children who have received public special education and related services through attendance at a public school?
The final round against the University of Utah was judged by District Judge John L. Wheeler; the Solicitor General for the State of Colorado, Dan Domenico; and attorney Alan Jensen. Mike Wautlet ’08 of Faegre & Benson, who was a member of last year’s regional first-place and national second-place team, expertly coached the two teams, assisted by student coach Tyrone Glover. Andrews, Mustari, and Neguse will travel to New York to represent Region 11 in February at Nationals. More than 50 attorneys, judges, and faculty participated in the competition, as judges and in scoring briefs. Hugh Q. Gottschalk of the American College of Trial Lawyers presented the awards to the participants.