UI College of Law Moot Court Team Win National Competition
Wednesday, March 28 2001
March 28, 2001^MOSCOW—The University of Idaho College of Law moot court team of Troy Evans and James Ruchti placed first in the Ninth Annual Conrad B. Duberstein National Moot Court Competition, held March 26 in New York City.^ Evans, from Rigby, and Ruchti, from Pocatello, defeated 23 teams, including past champions from William and Mary and Emory University. They defeated Brooklyn Law School in the final round to win the competition. The Idaho team was presented the winner’s trophy at an awards ceremony held atop the World Trade Center.^ “We have a great program here at UI, and this shows we’re able to go up against the best students from other law schools,” said Ruchti. ^ “At the awards ceremony, we were told this competition was the pride and joy of a lot of law schools, and that we came in from Idaho and whipped them,” added Evans.^College of Law professors James S. MacDonald and Joann Henderson, Sandpoint attorney J. Ford Elsaesser, former president of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and T. J. Frazier, a Moscow attorney, coached the team. Both Elsaesser and Frazier are College of Law alumni.^The moot court competition allowed law students an opportunity to argue hypothetical law cases in realistic settings. In this competition, teams argued a two-part bankruptcy case. ^Evans and Ruchti began preparing for the competition in January, when they received the topic for the competition. They wrote and submitted a 40-page brief and conducted six practice rounds to sharpen their skills. At the national competition, they presented their case seven times. ^Teams argue before panels of judges and experienced bankruptcy lawyers who grade their oral argument and briefing skills. Other teams that competed in the event included such nationally ranked law schools as the University of Texas and the University of Alabama.^“We kept hearing our names being called for the next round,” said Ruchti.^The final rounds were held at the Federal Courthouse in New York City. “Some of the most famous judges in history argued in the room we competed in,” said Evans. The team argued their final round before a panel of distinguished jurists that included the Hon. Edith Hollan Jones, U. S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit, a judge often mentioned as a likely Supreme Court nominee of President Bush.^“I’m very proud of these students,” said College of Law Dean John A. Miller. “They are a credit to the law school.” ^ What was the UI teams’ key to success?^ “We were really prepared,” said Evans, “and it was important to be able to just talk to the judges and show the depth of our understanding of the case.”^ “Being able to articulate the facts was a key,” agreed Ruchti, “ and being able to think on your feet and still sound like a reasonable person.”^ The team’s participation was supported financially through the Alfred C. Hagan Memorial Endowment Fund at the College of Law. Judge Hagan, who died in 1999, was a 1953 graduate of the College of Law, and a former bankruptcy judge and Moscow native. ^ CONTACTS: LeAnn Phillips, College of Law, (208) 885-5817, leann@uidaho.edu; College of Law Dean John A. Miller, (208) 885-6208, jamiller@uidaho.edu; Ford Elsaesser, (208) 263-8517; or Jeff Olson, University Communications and Marketing, (208) 885-8934, jolson@uidaho.edu-30-^jo—3/28/01^LAW^
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