USD Law Students Lori Chiu and Blake Currey Win 2nd Place in Federal Bar Association’s National Moot Court Competition

Washington (March 28, 2014) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law students Lori Chiu and Blake Currey won second place at the Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) 17th Annual Thurgood A. Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition, held March 27-28 in Washington, D.C.

To reach the final round, Chiu and Currey had to qualify as one of sixteen teams to advance out of a field of forty-six teams, and then win head-to-head matchups against three other teams, all of which included competitors from law schools across the nation. The preliminary rounds took place in the District of Columbia Superior Court, and the intermediary rounds were held in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In the final round, Chiu and Currey presented their arguments in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

USD School of Law alumna and former national moot court competitor Miriam Milstein, ’11 (JD), coached the USD moot court team for this competition.

“Through their exceptional intelligence, eloquence, passion, and commitment, Blake and Lori swept the competition,” said Milstein. “Our law school community should be proud to be represented by advocates such as these. To come to a competition where USD has never sent a team before and to obtain such a result is a testament to our program’s excellence.”

The final round was judged by Alfredo Castellanos, senior and founding partner of Castellanos & Geirbolini Law Firm; Adine Momoh, director of the Thurgood A. Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition; Judge Scott W. Stucky, judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick; and U.S. District Judge Gustavo Gelpi.

The competition was organized, run and judged by judges, practitioners and scholars, all of who are current members of the Federal Bar Association. The Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Program sponsored the competition.

About the Appellate Moot Court Board

The University of San Diego School of Law Appellate Moot Court Board is a student-run organization dedicated to fostering the development of appellate advocacy skills among law students. The Board’s mission is an amalgam of academic rigor and professional training. Each year, the USD’s best appellate advocates travel to competitions throughout the country to showcase their advocacy skills.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Celebrating 60 years of alumni success, the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law is recognized for the excellence of its faculty, depth of its curriculum, and strength of its clinical programs. Each year, USD educates approximately 900 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 81 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 23rd worldwide in all-time faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, nonprofit, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.