April 2, 2012
The St. Mary’s University School of Law Moot Court team of third-year law student Phillip Ripper and second-year law student Rachel Felderhoff won the 2012 Federal Bar Association Thurgood A. Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition this spring in Washington, D.C. St. Mary’s team of third-year law student Erin Oglesby and second-year law student Meagan Scott finished in third place.
“This is the first time that two St. Mary’s teams have been able to accomplish the amazing feat of taking two of the top three positions at a national competition,” said Ricky Poole (J.D. ’90), adjunct law professor and advocacy coach. “To the best of my knowledge, no other law school had both of its teams break to the round of eight at the tournament, much less reach the semifinals of the competition.”
This marks the second national title in the last two years for St. Mary’s Moot Court teams and the third in program history.
This prestigious national competition addressed emerging issues of federal statutory and constitutional law and fielded 36 teams. The judges included distinguished members of the federal bench and bar from across the country who were attending the Federal Bar Association’s mid-year meeting.
The national champions advanced to the finals of the competition over Southern Methodist University School of Law and beat Georgetown Law School for the title.