Moot Court teams take first and second place at regional competition, outlitigating Ivy League schools

Two pairs of students from Liberty University’s Moot Court competition team, sponsored by the Helms School of Government, competed against 22 other teams in the American Moot Court Association Northeastern Regional Tournament on Dec. 7-8 at Holy Cross University in Worcester, Mass., where they finished in first and second place.

The competition field included Moot Court powerhouses such as Yale, the University of Chicago, and host Holy Cross, as well as other local institutions.

Senior history and business administration student Victoria Hu and junior history and pre-law student Katie Cassady took home first place, narrowly defeating their Liberty peers, junior politics and policy student Matthew McGuire and sophomore computer science: cyber security student Hope Tan.

“Our expectations for the weekend were exceeded with a Liberty vs. Liberty final round where Tori and I got to compete against some of our closest friends,” Cassady said. “Looking ahead to the Preliminary Rounds of the National Tournament in January, I am excited to see what God will do next as we compete against more stellar advocates.”

With the strong performance from both teams at Holy Cross, Liberty has now secured seven spots in January’s Preliminary Rounds of the National Tournament, the most in program history. Over 100 teams will compete with hopes of earning one of the 32 coveted spots at nationals, to be held in Lubbock, Texas, in February.

This season, the American Moot Court Association challenged competitors with legal questions related to the First and Fifth Amendments. Teams argued both sides of the debates and were scored on their knowledge of the issues and how convincing their arguments and fluid their deliveries were.

“I walked into Moot Court as a sophomore with no prior public speaking experience,” Cassady said. “I walked out of the final round of our tournament with a championship victory and as the ninth-place speaker out of 48 competitors. I credit this success to the Lord and the amazing community I’ve been blessed with through Liberty Moot Court.”

Twelve teams from Liberty have competed in four different regional events, in Columbus, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and two in Massachusetts. This season, eight students have been recognized as Top 10 Advocates at their respective regional tournaments.

“This goes to show that we can present and argue reason and think through difficult legal issues with the best schools out there,” said Moot Court coach Dr. Benjamin Rathsam, who also serves as residential chair of Criminal Justice and Pre-Law. “I get to interact with a lot of judges at these tournaments … and I always run into judges who are very impressed with the quality of our students and the quality of education that our students are getting here at Liberty University.”

“We prepare a lot of hours for these tournaments, and that hard work gets recognized,” he added, noting that participating in Moot Court is comparable to a part-time job. “We preach every day that if you’re going to do this, you must put your best effort forward — not because your coach tells you to, but because you do it for a higher purpose, for the Lord. And the Lord calls us to do everything with excellence.”

Competing on the Moot Court team is excellent preparation for students interested in applying for law school. Liberty’s Moot Court program attracts students from multiple areas of study across the university.

“Our moot court team is a special group,” Hu said. “I am so blessed to be sharpened by coaches who give us so much of their time and teammates who are excellent at what they do and push me to be better. They are some of my closest friends and being part of this team is the greatest thing Liberty has given me.”

Students interested in participating in next season’s Moot Court cycle are invited to an interest meeting in February (email Rathsam at brathsam@liberty.edu).