November 12, 2009
Loyola Chicago wins moot court competition
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- After finishing third a year ago, Loyola University Chicago School of Law captured the 18th annual National Health Law Moot Court at the Southern Illinois University School of Law.
The team of Wayne Rapp and Jeanine Oury placed first in the Nov. 7 finals, earning their school a $1,000 scholarship from the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation. In winning the event for the first time, Loyola University Chicago School of Law defeated the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in the finals. That team, comprised of Joy Sadaly and William John-Vincent Lichvar, received a $750 scholarship, also from the American College of Legal Medicine.
The team of Andrew Nelson, Christina Stroyick, and Terry Gage from South Texas College of Law finished third. The team receives a $500 scholarship from the legal medicine foundation.
Twenty-eight teams from 22 law schools competed over two days in the nation’s only health law moot court competition.
“It was an outstanding competition. We look forward to hosting it again next year,” said law professor W. Eugene Basanta, the Southern Illinois Healthcare professor of law. “The law school appreciates the support of the attorneys and judges who help out with judging the oral argument rounds because without them, we couldn’t host the competition.”
Competitors argued a hypothetical case before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue was a case involving medical deportation and whether a university medical center violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in connection with the care of an illegal immigrant.
The law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy, the School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Humanities, the American College of Legal Medicine, and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation co-sponsor the event.
Joy Sadaly, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, won best overall oralist honors, and received a $500 scholarship from the ACLM. Kim Waldrop of Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law won best preliminary round oralist, and received a $250 scholarship from the law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy. A second team from South Texas College of Law of James Barnish, Jennifer Hoss and Thomas Knapp, submitted the best legal brief; the team received $500 from the ACLM, and the “Journal of Legal Medicine” will publish the brief. The winning Loyola University Chicago School of Law team submitted the second-place brief and received and received a $250 scholarship from the law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy.
Panelists for Saturday’s final round were Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District; Judge David R. Herndon, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois and a 1977 graduate of the SIU School of Law; Dr. Melvin A. Shiffman, MD/JD, president of the American College of Legal Medicine; and Jennifer Smith, an associate professor at Florida A&M University College of Law, who drafted the problem.
Participating law schools were Boston University School of Law; Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Montgomery, Ala.; Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta; Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minn.; Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Loyola University New Orleans College of Law; Marquette University Law School; Northeastern University School of Law, Boston; St. Louis University School of Law; Samford University Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Ala.; Seton Hall School of Law, Newark N.J.; South Texas College of Law, Houston; Suffolk University Law School, Boston; University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law; University of Maryland School of Law; University of New Mexico School of Law; University of Oklahoma College of Law; University of Pittsburg School of Law; University of Tulsa College of Law; Washington & Lee University School of Law, Lexington, Va.; and Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Del.