Competition Report

Fall 2007 - coming soon!

Chapman has strong showing in early '07 competitions

Spring 2007

During the weekend of March 2-4, in our first ever appearance at the Luke Charles Moore Invitational Moot Court Competition at Howard University School of Law in Washington, DC, Chapman made quite a splash.  Both Chapman teams made the final four (out of 22 teams).  In addition to placing third and fourth overall, the teams took the awards for second place brief (Tom Vogele, Vanessa Brady, Audra Call) and fourth place brief (Paul Stubb, David Clark, Jake Vollebregt). And our own Tom Vogele won the top oralist award!
 
At the inaugural National Black Law Students Association International Negotiation Competition in Boston, both Chapman teams made the semifinal round.  Chapman was ably represented by the teams of Jin Chon and Daniel Kim, and Erica Diaz and Hillary Bunker.
 
Finally, at the AAJ (formerly ATLA) Student Trial Advocacy Competition, the Chapman teams placed sixth (Andy Bugman, Jeff Schwartz, Ashley Pritchett, Richard Lee) and eighth (Lee Roberts, Gino Monteleone, Michele Mathis, Leila Eftekari).  Although they did not advance into the elimination rounds, both teams earned winning records of 2-1 and performed very well.  Many thanks to alumnus Rob Beggs for coaching the teams and accompanying them to Santa Monica.
 
Contrats to Coach Nancy Schultz and the team and a special thanks to alumnus Kerry Franich for helping to coach the teams and accompanying them to DC.

February 2007

In the final week of February, 2007, the moot court team of Marcus Garrett, Katia Benthale and Paige Gosney made Chapman history by advancing to the national finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Katia was recognized as one of the top ten oralists in the competition. Team Destiny, as they like to be known, will compete at the national finals in Chicago at the end of March. Chapman's other team of Rob Webster, Ana Sohrakoff, and Carrie Law also turned in strong performances. Brad Schoenleben accompanied the teams to New York for the regional competition.

Also that weekend, Matt Wechter took second place at the National Animal Advocacy Closing Argument Competition in Boston. Hillary Bunker also competed on behalf of Chapman and turned in a solid performance. Of note, Harvard Law's The Record, gave a mention to Matt and included a picture in an article covering the competitions.  Read the Harvard article ...

On February 17, our client counseling team of Brad Schoenleben and Erica Diaz reached the semifinal round at the ABA regional competition in Las Vegas. Chapman's other team of Bryan Clavecilla and Erica Dement also represented Chapman well. 

Please congratulate all these folks for contributing to Chapman's growing reputation and status as a competition juggernaut!  - Nancy Schultz

Chapman scores big in Fall '06 Moot Court competitions!

Chapman University continues to prove that it has what it takes to compete with the other top California law schools. At the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition regional in Palo Alto held October 21-22, both Chapman teams made the final four, going into the semifinals in fourth place (Marcus Garrett and Matt D'Abusco) and second place (Andy Bugman and Tom Vogele). Andy and Tom advanced to the final round, which ensured them a spot at the national finals in Philadelphia. They then rallied to win the whole competition, beating a team from Hastings, a perennial national powerhouse in moot court! Just for a little icing on the cake, Andy won Best Oralist.

Chapman also sent two teams to the San Diego Defense Lawyers trial competition this same weekend. One of our teams (Jason Burris, Leila Eftekari, Sarah Mitchell, and Andrew Scoble) earned fifth place and an Honorable Mention, just missing the final four. The other team (Lee Roberts, Luigi Monteleone, Michele Mathis, and Austin Holt) placed ninth out of 20 teams.

At the National Finals of the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition on November 12, in Philadelphia, Andy Bugman and Tom Vogele made it to the semifinals!! They lost a tight round to the eventual second place team from Loyola-Chicago and finished fourth overall.  Chapman has been asked to host the Western Regional of the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition next fall. At the Los Angeles regional of the National Moot Court Competition, Chapman fielded two teams--Katia Benthale and Jeff Schwartz, and Paige Gosney and Vanessa Nguyen. Jeff and Katia advanced to the semifinal round, the best a Chapman team has ever done at this competition, and frustratingly close to a berth at the national finals!!  Thanks to Denis Binder for working and traveling with the teams.

We’ll be back for more in the Spring of 2007!