Moot Court teams excel in national tournaments

Lewis & Clark Law School teams have had a banner moot court season, making it to the semifinals in two national competitions, and heading to international competition in another.

LC’s National Environmental Law Moot Court team competed in the 2017 national competition at Pace Law School held February 23-25, advancing to the semifinal round for the 12th consecutive year. The team of Kathryn Roberts, Amy Saack, and Rachel Briggs, coached by Professor Craig Johnston, knocked out the Vermont Law School and the University of New Mexico in the quarterfinals. Columbia Law School advanced out of the semi-final round with Lewis & Clark and went on to win the national title. Lewis & Clark has won the national competition 7 times.  Kathryn Roberts, returning for her second year on the team, tied for the runner-up spot in the competition for the best overall oralist (out of more than 170 advocates). 

Students Corin Aitchison and Dayna Jones, competing for the National Native American Law Students Association moot court competition, also made the “final four” round. The NNALSA competition was held March 4-5, 2017 at UCLA with 64 teams from 30 schools across the country competing. The other student members of Lewis & Clark’s NALSA team were Anna Jones and Nicholas Sanchez. The team was coached by law alumni Carrie Coppock Lobdell ’01 and Mary Bodine ’09. 

In addition, Lewis & Clark is advancing to the White & Case International Rounds of The Jessup Moot Court for the second year in a row and will be competing with teams from over 110 countries in the world’s largest moot court competition. Teams will compete in early April. Lewis & Clark’s team, which placed first out of 18 teams and had the First Place Memorial in the U.S. South Regional competition, comprises students Douglas Hageman, Kelsey Peddie, Matt Small, Natasha Smith, and Julie Sugano, and is coached by L&C alumni Dagmar Butte ’91 and Spencer Wilson ’15. Doug Hageman placed 6th Best Oralist, Natascha Smith 8th Best Oralist and Matt Small was 11th Best Oralist.

Congratulations to our outstanding moot court students and coaches for an incredibly successful season!