November 10, 2014
Belmont College of Law wins moot court title
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A team from Belmont University College of Law won the National Health Law Moot Court competition at Southern Illinois University School of Law this past weekend.
The team of Courtney Lutz, Benjamin Conrady and Heath Henley defeated a team from Texas Tech University School of Law Nov. 8. The title is the first for Belmont University College of Law in the competition’s 23-year history.
Texas Tech was making its first appearance in the competition. Team members were Matthew Loving, Courtney Kenisky and Nicholas Pilcher. University of California-Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, another first-time entry, was third behind the efforts of Anna Zaret, Maiah Parks and Karen Hen. Chicago-Kent College of the Law was fourth.
A total of 31 teams from 22 schools different law schools participated in the two-day event, which is the nation’s only health law moot court. This year’s fictitious case centered on an employer’s obligation under the American with Disabilities Act to reassign employees with disabilities to open positions for which they are qualified.
Emily Herbick and Abrahem Wehbi submitted the best appellate brief with Lutz, Conrady and Henley of Belmont University submitting the second best brief. Matthew Elzinga of the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in Lansing, Mich., was judged best preliminary and overall oralist.
Students with the SIU School of Law Moot Court do not compete in this event, but it helps team members prepare for similar competitions.
Final round judges were Nancy J. Rosenstengel, a 1993 SIU School of Law alumnus and a judge for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Illinois, Catherine D. Perry, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Thomas McLean, president of the American College of Legal Medicine, and William Sherwood, vice president and legal counsel for Southern Illinois Healthcare.
Participating law schools were Belmont University College of Law, Franklin Tenn.; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Drexel University School of Law; Faulkner University 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; Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, Ind.; Nova Southeastern University 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; Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing, Mich.; University of California-Hastings College of Law, San Francisco; University of Colorado; University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore; University of Pittsburgh School of Law Health Law Clinic; University of Tulsa College of Law, Tulsa, Okla., and University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, Wash.