Liberty Law Moot Court team earns berth to nationals in April

For the third consecutive year and the ninth time in program history, Liberty University School of Law is sending a Moot Court team to compete in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) finals in Chicago in April.

The trio of second-year law students Matthew Hughes, Michael Maunder, and Dan Capps paved their way to nationals after a victory at last weekend’s regional contest in Washington, D.C., finishing the tourney with a 4-1 record with wins over Stetson and Marquette, as well as two wins against American University.

Maunder was named the second best oralist in the region with an average score of 95.46, and Hughes was named seventh best oralist in the region with an average score of 94.375.

The other Liberty team that competed at the regional event, made up of second-year law students Jacob Gordon, Clint Hamilton, and Kristi Pitts, split their first two preliminary rounds and missed the elimination rounds after a close loss to Georgetown by 0.11

Liberty Law’s Moot Court program has sent at least one team to nationals nine times in its 14 years of competing, with 11 teams having appeared in total.

Liberty Law professor Scott Thompson, who coached the two teams along with professor Rena Lindevaldsen, is proud of the performances and results from last weekend.

“Both teams argued extremely well and, more importantly, conducted themselves in a manner worthy of their calling,” Thompson said. “They all worked extremely hard and did everything that we asked of them to achieve these results.”