Congratulations to CLS ACS Moot Court Participants!

On March 4^th and 5^th, Columbia Law School hosted the American Constitution Society’s inaugural Constance Baker Motley Moot Court in Constitutional Law. Four teams from CLS were among the over 30 competing this year, and CLSers swooped up a number of honors at the competition.

Best Brief, Respondent:
Cuauhtémoc Ortega & Leanne Wilson

Quarterfinalists:
Craig Boneau & Nina Yadava
Jim Doggett & Adam Pulver

Semifinalists:
Cuauhtémoc Ortega & Leanne Wilson



Some perspectives on the competition:

This past weekend's moot court competition was my most rewarding experience in law school thus far. I was privileged and honored to compete in front of some of the most qualified experts on this important Constitutional issue. While as a 1L, a little more knowledge of Constitutional law may have been helpful while competing in front of these ACS gurus, the competition was a great (and much needed!) reminder of my ultimate goals of eventually litigating for social change and the challenges, hard-work, and adrenaline that goes along with it.

Nina Yadava
Class of 2008
Competitor



Before arriving at Columbia as a transfer student last fall, I met several members of its ACS chapter during the summer's ACS national convention. They were a great group of people with whom I very much wanted to work, so I was more than happy to take on the job of ACS moot court coach. Initially, I was very surprised by the level of interest in the program and the number of students it attracted. What impressed me even more, though, was the enthusiasm and skill of the thirty-six competitors, most of whom were 1Ls. Despite being in law school for only a few weeks before signing up for the program, they all wrote excellent briefs and delivered powerful oral arguments. We were able to send five of the teams to the national competition and, ultimately, three of the eight national quarterfinalists were from Columbia (including two 1L teams), and one of our teams made it to the competition's final four. I couldn't be prouder of the great job done by all of the competitors and the student editors and judges, and thank them all for their hard work.

Adam Nagorski
Class of 2007
CLS ACS Moot Court Coach



It was cool. I’m glad I could help.

John Johnson
Class of 2008
Volunteer