Liberty Law students win National Tax Moot Court Competition

Two Liberty University School of Law students were crowned winners at the National Tax Moot Court Competition, in which they not only showcased their skills in tax law but also championed their Christ-centered values.

Liberty’s team of 2L Joshua Spann and 3L Nate King competed in the three-day tournament March 12-14, hosted by the Tax Section of the Florida Bar hosted at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla. The annual competition is designed for students from law schools across the country to demonstrate their written and oral advocacy skills in front of attorneys and judges. The competition also allows students to network with tax attorneys and United States Tax Court judges. Overall, 15 schools were represented, including Indiana University McKinney School of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law, and Florida State University College of Law. After four preliminary rounds, Spann and King moved on to the semifinals, where they faced off against University of Alabama and won. In the final round, they went head-to-head against Indiana University McKinney and took home the coveted trophy.

Spann and King become the second Liberty team to win the tournament; Liberty Law also won in 2019 and finished third in 2024.

King said the tournament is “hyper-specialized” for an important and growing area of law. He said the investment of Liberty Law faculty, especially international tax expert Professor Brett Bloom, and the Moot Court board helped prepare him for the tournament. Bloom practiced with the team multiple times and generously shared his tax expertise throughout the preparation process.

“Professor Bloom was really able to pour into us and help us shape our arguments,” Spann added. “We’ve been really blessed by the Liberty Law faculty.”

The tournament’s problem involved an international tax scenario concerning a soccer coach who relocated to Puerto Rico to coach a professional team, raising complex issues of federal tax law and its interaction with U.S. territorial taxation. Though it was a complex tax issue, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty Development Rodney Chrisman, who coached the team, said the students argued it excellently. Emblematic of that, King was awarded Best Oralist in the final round.

“We are very proud of Joshua and Nate, not only for their achievement but also for the way they represented Liberty Law,” he said. “They are exemplary of the kind of lawyers our program seeks to form — highly competent and capable, deeply principled, and prepared to lead and serve in the legal profession for the glory of God.”

King said throughout the weekend they tried to display “the goodness of God” and were bold and “loud” about their faith. They prayed publicly at every meal and before every competition round.

“We as a group were not quiet about our faith,” he said. “The more we prayed publicly, the more people would talk to us openly about questions they had about spirituality. God gave us incredible opportunities.”

King and Spann also shared the Gospel and read Scripture with a few of their competitors.

“It’s wildly empowering and emboldening to know that the Kingdom of Christ is advancing and that the next generation of legal professionals is very open to those kinds of questions,” King said.

Both students credited Liberty Law with giving them the tools to be confident in talking about their faith and beliefs in professional settings.

“All the professors here make no shyness about sharing their faith in class, and we very much appreciate that. We’re very uniquely blessed to have lawyers and strong believers leading us in our courses,” Spann said.

He added that Chrisman encouraged them to never shy away from showing who they are.

“When we were in the middle of the competition, we found that we couldn’t do anything other than be Christian. It’s the education we’ve received. It’s the outpouring that we’ve had through our churches. It’s the grace of God to sustain us. And that’s what comes out as a result,” King added.

King said that, even if they had lost the tournament, their goal of glorifying God mattered more than their win; because they sought to glorify God, He awarded them for their faith.

Spann plans to complete a Master of Laws degree after graduating and to pursue a career in tax law. King will graduate in May and has already secured a position at Lanier Legacy Law, where he will focus on estate planning law and wills.

“This tournament result is a strong reflection of what we seek to cultivate at Liberty Law —graduates who are equipped for excellence in advocacy, grounded in rigorous training and hard work, and prepared to serve with both competence and character,” Chrisman added. “We’re proud of our team and the hard work they invested for this tournament; together they demonstrated the breadth and depth of the preparation our students receive at Liberty Law.”