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Chicago-Kent wins third annual National Ethics Trial Competition

Rachel Moran wins Best Advocate Award

CHICAGO–April 1, 2008--Chicago-Kent College of Law students Matt Casey, Chanel Jefferson, Rachel Moran and Brian Wojcicki are the winners of the third annual National Ethics Trial Competition, held March 13 to 15 at the Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse in Sacramento, Calif.

Chicago-Kent students Brian Wojcicki, Rachel Moran, Chanel Jefferson and Matt Casey are the winners of the third annual National Ethics Trial Competition
Chicago-Kent students Brian Wojcicki, Rachel Moran, Chanel Jefferson and Matt Casey are the winners of the third annual National Ethics Trial Competition

Moran, a third-year Honors Scholar at Chicago-Kent, also received the competition’s best oral advocate award. The Chicago-Kent team was coached by David A. Erickson, retired Illinois Appellate Court Justice and associate director of the law school’s Trial Advocacy Program; attorneys Nicholas Caputo and Daniel Jackson of the Gloor Law Group, LLC; and Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Anthony Lucafo.

The National Ethics Trial Competition is presented by the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, with competition rounds hosted by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California. The competition is co-sponsored by the California law firm of Dreyer, Babich, Buccola, & Callaham, LLP; the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court; and the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.

Chicago-Kent was one of only 20 law school teams invited to participate in the competition, which tests students’ trial advocacy skills in combination with their knowledge of professional conduct and responsibility. The students argued a complex legal malpractice case alleging multiple conflicts of interest filed by a client against his former criminal defense attorney.

Each team argued three cases. After defeating teams from the University of California at Berkeley, University of Alabama and University of California at Davis in the preliminary rounds, Chicago-Kent advanced to the quarter finals. Teams from Chicago-Kent, Stetson University College of Law, Baylor University and University at Buffalo – The State University of New York advanced to the semifinal round. Chicago-Kent beat Stetson and advanced to the finals to face the University at Buffalo, which it defeated to win the national championship.

Winning team member Chanel Jefferson, a third-year student, graduated cum laude from Marshall University, where she majored in criminal justice, with a minor in Spanish. Teammate Matthew Casey is a second-year student who graduated from Notre Dame with an undergraduate degree in history. Second-year student Brian Wojcicki graduated cum laude from Bradley University with a double major in political science and philosophy. Teammate Rachel Moran, winner of the tournament’s best oral advocate award, graduated summa cum laude from Houghton College with an undergraduate degree in political science, with minors in Spanish and communications. Moran is also a member of the Chicago-Kent team that won the 58th annual National Moot Court Competition earlier this year.

The final round of the National Ethics Trial Competition was judged by a prestigious panel that included Judge Connie Callahan of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; Justice Carol Corrigan of the California Supreme Court; Judge Morrison England of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California; Larry Fox, senior partner at Drinker Biddle in Philadelphia and former chairman of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility; and Bob Buccola, partner at Dreyer Babich Buccola & Callaham in Sacramento, California, and former Northern California Attorney of the Year.

 

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