Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thu, 25 Mar 2010
Liberty Law Team Wins Regional ABA Championship
Headed to National Competition in Chicago
Barely three months after taking first place in the regional American Bar Association (ABA) Law Student Division Negotiation Competition, a Liberty University School of Law team was the first-place finisher in the regional ABA Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) held last week in Washington, D.C. Two teams from the law school were among 33 teams representing 21 schools from ten states and the District of Columbia.
The team of Timothy Todd, Ben Walton, and Matthew Hegarty was crowned Regional Champion and will advance to represent Liberty at the national competition held in Chicago in April. Matthew Hegarty did not argue but was instrumental in the team’s success by assisting with the brief writing. Liberty’s team of Andrew Connors and Melanie Good advanced to the final round before being eliminated. Todd is a second-year law student and his fellow teammates are third-year law students.
In claiming the title, the Todd-Walton team beat teams from Wake Forest, the University of Mississippi, George Mason and the top-ranked team from Georgetown. The Connors-Good team advanced to the final round in its bracket but lost on a very close decision to American University after defeating teams from the University of Colorado, the University of Mississippi, and the number-two seed, Charleston.
In addition to the regional championship, Liberty brought home three of the top four oralist awards from the tournament. Timothy Todd, Ben Walton, and Andrew Connors were dubbed “top,” second best, and fourth best oral advocates in the region, respectively.
Coach and Director of the Center for Lawyering Skills, Scott Thompson, said after the regional competition, “I have not seen such consistent performances at this level in my years of coaching. All four of our oralists delivered top notch performances that will stack up against the best in the nation.”
“Liberty was one of only two schools that had both of its teams in the final eight at the tournament. Our students were outstanding in every aspect of the competition, and they glorified the Lord in their demeanor and in the use of their gifts and talents that God has given them," Thompson concluded.
This is the second year in a row that Liberty has advanced to the ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition. With the school’s second team advancing to the final round of the regionals and taking three of the top four oralist awards, Liberty moot court program is firmly established as a force to be acknowledged in national moot court tournaments.
For more information about Liberty University School of Law, please call 434-592-5300.