November 10, 2010

South Texas College of Law wins competition

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- After a three-year absence, South Texas College of Law settled into familiar surroundings this past weekend by winning the 19th annual National Health Law Moot Court competition at Southern Illinois University School of Law.

The team of Charlie Gustin, Mary Nelson and Sabrina Stone defeated Loyola University Chicago School of Law in the Nov. 6 finals. The victory is the seventh by a team from the Houston-based law school in the event’s 19-year history. The win earned the team a $1,000 scholarship from the American College of Legal Medicine. A team from South Texas College of Law finished third a year ago.

Jonathan Brouk and Mallory Golas of Loyola University Chicago School of Law received a $750 scholarship, also from the American College of Legal Medicine. The law school won last year’s competition.

The team of Kenneth Elmore and Russell C. Ramzel from the University of Tulsa College of Law was third. The team receives a $500 scholarship from the legal medicine foundation. The team also submitted the best legal brief; the team received $500 from ACLM and the “Journal of Legal Medicine” will publish the brief.

Thirty-three teams representing 24 schools competed over two days in the nation’s only health law moot court event.

“It was a great competition,” said law professor W. Eugene Basanta, the Southern Illinois Healthcare Professor of Law. “The panel really put the students through the paces. And our moot court board did a great job of running the competition.” Next year’s event, which will mark the competition’s 20th anniversary, is tentatively set for Nov. 4-5.

Competitors argued a hypothetical case before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue were questions surrounding organ transplant donation and constitutional rights.

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.

Stephen Simcox, of Indiana University-Indianapolis School of Law, won best overall oralist honors, and received a $500 scholarship from the legal medicine foundation. Simcox also was the best preliminary round oralist, and received a $250 scholarship from the law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy.

Meghan Scully and Jesse Winsell of Hamline University School of Law submitted the second-place brief and received a $250 scholarship from the law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy.

Panelists for Saturday’s final round were U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas B. Russell of Paducah, who presides over the U.S. District for Western Kentucky; Judge John Marshall Rogers of the Sixth District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and Dr. Dale H. Cowan, president of the American College of Legal Medicine.

Participating law schools were: Boston University School of Law; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law, Philadelphia; Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Montgomery, Ala.; Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta; Gonzaga University School of Law, Spokane, Wash.; Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minn.; Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Marquette University Law School; Mississippi College School of Law, Jackson, Miss.; New York Law School, New York, N.Y.; North Carolina Central University School of Law, Durham, N.C.; Northeastern University School of Law, Boston; St. Louis University School of Law; 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 Pittsburg School of Law; University of Tulsa College of Law; Western New England College School of Law, Springfield, Mass.