November 16, 2006
Winners of SIUC moot court announced
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A team from St. Louis University School of Law captured the 15th annual National Health Law Moot Court Competition this past weekend at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The team of Brent A. Sumner and Heather P. McCollum placed first in the Nov. 11 finals, earning their school a $1,000 scholarship from the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation. St. Louis University defeated Michigan State University College of Law in the finals.
St. Louis University School of Law's championship is its first title in event history. The team beat perennial title contender and defending champion University of Tulsa College of Law in the semifinals earlier in the day.
Michigan State University earned its highest finish in the competition with the team of Lena Zwarensteyn, Sean Caruthers and Rebecca Parks. The university will receive a $750 scholarship, also from the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation. The team of Laura Haske and Suzy Scheller from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., was third, earning a $500 scholarship from the legal medicine foundation.
Thirty-one teams from 21 law schools from around the country competed in the two-day event — the only health law moot court competition in the nation. The teams consist of second- and third-year law school students.
SIUC law professor W. Eugene Basanta, the Southern Illinois Healthcare Professor of Law, praised the "very strong array of teams" and judges who comprised the final round panel.
Competitors argued a hypothetical case before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of state-required HIV testing under some circumstances and criminal penalties for unsafe sex.
SLU's Sumner and McCollum submitted the best legal brief earning a $500 scholarship from American College of Legal Medicine Foundation. The ACLM's scholarly journal, "Journal of Legal Medicine," will publish the brief.
A second SLU team, comprised of Katie Rose Fink and Catriona Nally, submitted the runner-up best legal brief earning $250 from the SIU School of Law's Center for Health Law and Policy.
Tiffany Herrera of South Texas College of Law received the competition's best overall oralist award and a $500 scholarship from the American College of Legal Medicine. Kristopher C. Piereth of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago won the title of best preliminary round oralist and will receive $250 from the SIUC law school's Center for Health Law and Policy.
Panelists for the final round of competition were U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Chief Judge Carol E. Jackson; American College of Legal Medicine President Richard S. Wilbur, and LSU Law Center Professor Edward P. Richards.
Next year's competition is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 9-10, 2006.
The law school's Center for Health Law and Policy, the School of Medicine's Department of Medical Humanities, and the American College of Legal Medicine and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation co-sponsored the event.
Participating law schools were: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, N.Y.; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Georgia State University School of Law; Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minn.; Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis; the John Marshall Law School, Chicago; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Michigan State University College of Law; New York Law School; Quinnipiac University School of Law, Hamden, Conn, St. Louis University School of Law; South Texas College of Law; Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Fla.; Suffolk University Law School; University of Houston Blakely Advocacy Institute; University of Louisville School of Law; University of Maryland School of Law; University of New Mexico School of Law; University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Health Law Clinic; University of South Dakota School of Law; and the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Creating citizen-leaders with global perspectives is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University is following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019.