St. Thomas Law's Moot Court Team Wins "Best Brief" Award at National Competition

Faculty Advisor Howard Blumberg, Student Coach Jaime Lapidus, Competitors Alejandra Bernadet, Austin Bodnar, and Kelsey Geary, and Alumni Coach Armando Hernandez

The St. Thomas University School of Law Moot Court Board recently sent a team to the Gibbons Moot Court Competition at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.

Our competitors were Alejandra Bernadet, Austin Bodnar and Kelsey Geary. Our student coach was Jaime Lapidus, our alumni coach was Armando Hernandez, and our faculty coach was Professor Blumberg. Our research assistants were Claudia Capdesuner and Dania Sancho.

The competition problem centered around a Fourth Amendment issue involving criminalizing a defendant's refusal to take a breath test for alcohol after a DUI arrest, and an issue as to whether the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial applied to sentencing.

Forty-one teams from around the country participated in the competition. Each team argued two times in the preliminary rounds. At the end of the preliminary rounds, our team advanced to the Round of 16.

The St. Thomas Law team won the overall award for best Respondent's Brief . Although we did not win the overall competiton, advancing to the round of sixteen and winning the best brief award is a tremendous accomplishment by our team members. 

Alejandra Bernadet, Austin Bodnar, and Kelsey Geary with their Best Respondent Brief Award

St. Thomas Law is very proud of Alejandra, Austin and Kelsey, and appreciate the coaches and research assistants who helped them prepare for the competition. This is our first ever brief award at the Gibbons Competition, so winning the first place brief award this year and advancing to the Round of 16 is a major accomplishment.