November 12, 2015
Seton Hall wins health law moot court competition
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Seton Hall University School of Law claimed the top two spots in the recent National Health Law Moot Court competition at Southern Illinois University School of Law.
The team of Chris Capitanelli and Angelo Cerimele defeated a second team from Seton Hall on Nov. 7 to win the title. The title is the second in three years for Seton Hall. The competition is in its 24th year.
The second-place Seton Hall team members were Nina Trovato and Arnold Picinich, which also had the second-place appellate brief. The team of Mary Kathryn Hurd and Matthew Gubernikoff of Loyola University Chicago School of Law was third. Hurd and Gubernikoff submitted the best appellate brief.
A total of 29 teams from 23 different law schools participated in the two-day event, which is the nation’s only health law moot court. This year’s fictitious lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether a state that mandates vaccinations for schoolchildren can eliminate a personal belief exemption while retaining an exemption based upon a religious belief.
Justin Reddington of Liberty University School of Law was the best preliminary and overall oralist.
Students with the SIU School of Law Moot Court do not compete in this event, but the experience helps team members prepare for similar competitions.
The final round judges were: Raymond W. Gruender, federal Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; Dr. Thomas R. McLean, president of the American College of Legal Medicine, and Steve Macias, assistant professor at the SIU School of Law.
Participating law schools were: American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.; Barry University, Orlando, Fla.; Belmont University College of Law, Franklin Tenn.; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Faulkner University School of Law, Montgomery, Ala.; Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta; Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minn.; Liberty University School of Law, Lynchburg, Va.; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee, Wis.; Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Mass.; Saint. Louis University School of Law; Seton Hall School of Law, Newark N.J.; South Texas College of Law, Houston; Suffolk University Law School, Boston; Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock, Texas; University of Houston Law Center; University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pa.; University of Tulsa College of Law; UC Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, Calif.; University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Wash.; Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Grand Rapids, Mich., and William and Mary Law School, Williamsburg, Va.