duberstien national bankruptcy memorial moot court competiton

Mississippi College School of Law Wins the Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition
March 14, 2008

Mississippi College School of Law (MCSOL) won the 16th Annual Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition held March 8-10 in New York City. MCSOL second-year students Ashley Nader, Tray Hairston and brief-writer Jonathon Bissette composed the winning team, continuing the law school’s success at the prestigious Competition.

“It is truly an honor to win this Competition, and something I will cherish for years to come,” said Nader, who also won a Best Oralist Award. “I am truly grateful to our coaches for their outstanding guidance, and to all of the [MCSOL] faculty and local attorneys and judges who helped us prepare.”

“This will definitely be one of the highlights of my law school career,” Hairston added. “I can’t thank everyone enough for preparing us to succeed, because we couldn’t have done this without their help.”

In addition to winning the Duberstein Competition, a second MCSOL team finished third overall and also won a Best Brief Award. Composed of third-year student Amy Strickland, second-year student Kelly Hollingsworth and brief-writer Clifford Ammons, the team advanced to the Competition’s semi-final argument, where they were paired against and narrowly lost to Nader and Hairston.

“I am almost speechless,” said Hollingsworth, who also won a Best Oralist Award. “This definitely makes all of the hard work we put in worth it, and we owe great thanks to all those who helped us prepare for such a difficult Competition.”

Sponsored in significant part by the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference, MCSOL’s teams have enjoyed singular success at the Duberstein Competition. MCSOL was the only law school with two of the final four teams and the only law school to win two Best Oralist Awards and a Best Brief Award at the 2008 Duberstein Competition. MCSOL also represented two of the final eight teams at the 2007 Competition, with one team finishing second overall and a second team advancing to the Competition’s quarterfinal argument. In 2006, a MCSOL team also finished second overall, and won the Duberstein Competition’s overall Best Brief Award. Since 1996, seven MCSOL teams have reached the Duberstein Competition’s final argument, winning the overall Competition and Best Oralist Award twice, and the Best Brief Award four times.
MCSOL Dean Jim Rosenblatt spoke highly of the Duberstein Competition teams.
“We are very proud of our teams and pleased with their success in this national competition,” Rosenblatt said. “Our team members worked hard and devoted many precious hours preparing for the competition. Their coaches – Bill Leech and Danny Ruhl along with Professor Gordon Christy – invested in our teams and guided them in their advocacy.”
Bill Leech, a shareholder at Copeland, Cook, Taylor & Bush, has coached MCSOL’s Duberstein teams for the past eleven years. Danny Ruhl, also of Copeland, Cook, Taylor & Bush, has coached the MCSOL teams the past two years. MCSOL Professor Gordon Christy served as an advisor to the law school’s 2008 Duberstein Competition teams.

Leech attributes the law school’s history of Duberstein Competition success to a supportive administration, tremendous assistance from local bankruptcy practitioners and judges, and a steady stream of talented students committed to excellence.

"The success of our teams this year is attributable to a number of factors: an administration, especially the Dean and the Director of Appellate Advocacy, deeply committed to a strong oral advocacy program in general and to the Duberstein Competition teams in particular; the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference, which provides substantial financial resources for this undertaking; the Mississippi Bankruptcy judiciary and bar, which provide enormous professional assistance in helping our teams prepare for oral argument; and, most of all, six very outstanding, intelligent, and committed law students who worked tirelessly to achieve the tremendous success they richly deserve."

MCSOL Director of Advocacy Victoria Lowery serves as Moot Court Board Advisor and says the law school’s success at the Duberstein Competition is just one part of MCSOL’s Moot Court Board program.

“We’re building to compete at the national level,” Lowery said. “When people think of (MCSOL), we want them to think outstanding moot court program. Whether its appellate advocacy, trial advocacy or alternative dispute resolution, we want to be nationally successful and nationally recognized in them all. Our Duberstein success is only the start of what we’re going to do at (MCSOL) in the future.”
Rosenblatt echoed Lowery’s statements, and expressed gratitude for the efforts involved with the Duberstein Competition teams’ success.
“A huge thank you goes out to the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference for their financial support and encouragement,” Rosenblatt said. “Members of the Conference – attorneys and judges – practiced with our teams to prepare them for this stiff competition. Professor Vicki Lowery has overseen a dynamic moot court competition program for MCSOL. The consistent success of our competition teams has put Mississippi on the map and caused larger law schools to stand up and take notice.”
A total of 44 teams from law schools around the United States competed at the 2008 Duberstein Competition, which was hosted by St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, New York. The final argument was judged by Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Judge Marjorie O. Rendell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Chief Judge Stuart M. Bernstein of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York; and Chief Judge Carla E. Craig of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Competition is sponsored by St. John’s University School of Law and the American Bankruptcy Institute.