Eight Law Schools Participate in 2012 Moot Court Competition
Students from eight law schools earned the opportunity to argue in the Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit, and four students took home cash awards during the national
finals of the 38th Annual Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition. The
competition, sponsored by AIPLA, took place on April 18-20 at the Howard T. Markey
National Courts Building in Washington, D.C. Suzanne Fitzgerald and Bradley Snyder
of Loyola University Chicago School of Law were awarded the first place AIPLA Giles
Sutherland Rich Memorial Award of $2,000. Nicholas Restauri and Rachel Schweers of
DePaul University College of Law took runner-up honors and received the Irving Marcus
Award of $1,000, sponsored by Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, PC.
Teams from leading law schools participated after winning regional competitions in
March in Boston, Chicago, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Schools included:
Brooklyn Law School, University of Minnesota Law School, DePaul University College
of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Drexel University Earle Mack School
of Law, South Texas College of Law, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and
University of San Francisco School of Law.
The competition opened with an AIPLA-sponsored breakfast. Christopher Agrawal, the
acting national director of the competition, and Lindsay Nalevanko, meeting planner for
AIPLA, welcomed the contestants, and Mr. Agrawal presented the students with
certificates recognizing their achievements in the regional competitions.
Distinguished Judges
The student appellate litigators participated in quarter-finals, a semi-final, and a final
round of competition, facing a prestigious panel of judges and experienced attorneys
from the federal government and the private sector.
The quarter-final judges included Associate Solicitors Sydney Johnson, Jr. and Lynne
Pettigrew of the USPTO Solicitor's Office; Judges Andrew Metz, Michael Astorino,
Jennifer Bisk, and Jeffrey Fredman of the USPTO Board of Patent Appeals and
Interferences; Joseph Vardner of the US Department of Justice; Tara Hutchings of
Accenture; Jason Melvin of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP;
William Jenks of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Joseph Edell of Kirkland & Ellis; Antigone
Peyton of Cloudigy Law; and Aaron Maurer of Williams & Connolly.
The semi-final judges included Associate Solicitors William LaMarca and Scott
Weidenfeller of the Solicitor's Office; Daniel H. Shulman of Reynolds Holdings; Rama
Elluru of Steptoe & Johnson LLP; and David Swenson of Robins, Kaplan, Miller &
Ciresi, LLP. Federal Circuit clerks Jennifer Nock, Andrew Dufresne, Anna Mayergoyz,
Ben Hickman, Amy Greywitt, and Jason Weil served as bailiffs for the quarter-final and
semi-final rounds.
Federal Circuit Judges Sharon Prost and Jimmie Reyna, and appellate lawyer Donald
Dunner judged the final round of the competition. Federal Circuit Judge Richard Linn
sponsored the event, and Federal Circuit clerk Amanda Murphy served as the bailiff. The
competition concluded with award presentations and a reception at the Dolley Madison
House.
Other Participants
The Regional Directors involved in the competition included: Elizabeth R. Burkhard,
Esq. of Holland & Knight; Kevin E. Noonan of McDonnell, Boehnen, Hulbert &
Berghoff; William P. Ramey, III of Ramey & Browning, PLLC; and Roman Swoopes
and Stefan Szpajda of Morrison & Foerster. The problem was prepared by Yelena
Morozova of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., with assistance by David Gosse, Jason
Croft, Erick Lee, Ida Wahlquist-Ortiz and Ryan Schermerhorn.
The bench memorandum was prepared by David Gosse of Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
LLP, Yelena Morozova of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., and Chad Pannell of King
& Spalding, LLP.
AIPLA congratulates all participants in this year's competition and thanks everyone
involved for their time and effort in helping to make this competition a success.