UA LAW STUDENTS WIN BEST BRIEF AWARD

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — University of Arkansas School of Law students Caroline Curry and Kimberly McMillen won the Best Brief Award in the 2001 Region IX National Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Bar of the City of New York and the University of Arkansas School of Law, Nov. 15-16.

The Curry/McMillen Best Brief Award marks the third time since 1992 that the University of Arkansas has won the National Moot Court distinction. Advancing to the quarterfinal round, the Curry/McMillen team also maintained the School of Law’s strong moot court oral advocacy competition record in the competition and other national-level interscholastic moot court competitions supported by UA Law and its Board of Advocates.

Final round judges were Chief Justice W.H. "Dub" Arnold, Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court; Judge John R. Gibson, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; and Judge Nancy Rahmeyer, Missouri Court of Appeals. Judge Arnold also presented the keynote address at a banquet held at the Fayetteville Radisson Nov. 15.

"It was with great pride that I coached our UA team in this competition organized by our UA students," said professor Kathryn Sampson, National Moot Court Team faculty coach. "The UA sponsorship of the Region IX competition so impressed two long-time coaches that we received special congratulations from professor Ellen Suni of the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and professor Bill Lyons of the University of Nebraska."

Jason Katz, member of the UA Law Class of 2002, organized the 2001 Region IX competition which showcased the law school’s Board of Advocates comprised of 22 student leaders who actively participated in all stages of the competition administration. Also participating in the competition as judges were members of the Northwest Arkansas practicing bar and numerous alumni of the UA Board of Advocates program.

Members of the 2001-02 UA Board of Advocates who worked with Jason Katz in organizing the competition include: Ryan Solomon, Sheila Farmer, Jeff Goodnight, Joe Falasco, Jessica Gunter, Keith Jefferson, Sarah Morris, Dara Miller Young, Kit Bakker, Zane Chrisman, Abbie Decker, Anders Gibson, Tina Rico, Laney Gossett, Angela Highsmith, Stacie Walters, Louisa Vassileva, Brad Shepherd, Dannette Mitchell, Daniel Faulkner, and Heather Bilderback.

The University of Nebraska team met Arkansas in the quarterfinals and moved on to win the competition. The University of Kansas took second place and the University of Nebraska took best oralist, and both universities will advance to the national finals in New York City in January 2002. The preliminary round match-ups were against the University of Kansas and St. Louis University.