Hastings Wins Best Brief Award - Places in Semifinals

L to R:  Gabriel McWhirter, Juliette McCullough, Alexander Casnocha.

The Hastings team of Alexander Casnocha, Juliette McCullough, and Gabriel McWhirter won the David Sive Award for Best Brief Overall at the Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, held February 18 through February 20, at Pace Law School, White Plains, New York.  This recognition is particularly notable because there were a total of eighty-four teams contending for this highly competitive top brief award.  This is the third Best Brief award for the Hastings moot court program this year.

On the oral argument side of the competition, Gabriel received the award for the Best Oralist in the third Preliminary Round, and overall the Hastings team placed as semifinalists.

Recognized as the preeminent environmental law moot court competition in the United States, the Pace competition tests skills in appellate brief writing and oral advocacy on cutting edge international environmental legal issues.  More than 200 competitors from diverse law schools and 200 attorneys attend the competition.  This year's problem focused on the issues surrounding overseas recycling of environmentally hazardous United States electronics products.

Congratulations to the team for bringing home our third Best Brief award of the year!  Thanks also to alumni coach and appellate specialist Gary Watt, and to student coaches Samir Abdelnour and Michael Smith for their experience, expertise, and dedication.  Samir and Michael were members of last year's award-winning Pace team; along with teammate Colin Barreno, they brought home a quarterfinal finish and multiple preliminary round Best Oralist awards in 2009.

Other Hastings Moot Court teams are preparing now for upcoming competitions, and they need your help!  Please visit www.hastingsmootcourt.com <http://www.hastingsmootcourt.com/>  to find out how to be a volunteer judge or host for a team practice.  Also, please contact Toni Young, younga@uchastings.edu <mailto:younga@uchastings.edu> , to hear about other ways you or your firm can continue to support the strong tradition of Moot Court success at Hastings.