Press Release

Final Round of 28th Annual Prize Moot Court Competition to be Held at NIU College of Law

February 24, 2010

DeKalb, Ill.--Northern Illinois University College of Law will host the final round of the 28th Annual Prize Moot Court Competition on Saturday, February 27, 2010.  Arguments will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Francis X. Riley Courtroom, Swen Parson Hall.

The final bench for the competition will be composed of the Honorable William E. Holdridge, Illinois Appellate Court, 3rd District; the Honorable Judith Brawka, Kane County Circuit Judge; and former Moot Court champion Kelly Varsho (’08), Hinshaw & Culbertson.

The pairings for the final round will feature the student teams of Amanda Hamilton & Gabe Casey, representing the Petitioner, against Jessica Fiocchi & Alex Geocaris, representing the Respondent.

Competitors will argue a hypothetical case before the United States Supreme Court for the criminal appeal of Ms. Veruca Salt, an alleged drug smuggler, on the grounds that her Fifth Amendment rights were violated when the government introduced Ms. Salt's decision to remain silent during the officer's investigation as evidence of guilt. Ms. Salt is requesting in the alternative that the Court remand her case for re-sentencing, arguing that when she was sentenced under the Federal Guidelines in place at the time of her trial—and not those in place at the time of her arrest—the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution was violated.

The NIU College of Law’s Prize Moot Court Competition was established as a student organization in 1983 by Associate Dean Lenny Mandell, who serves as its faculty advisor.  The Moot Court Society’s purpose is to organize and run the competition to further the advancement of appellate advocacy.  The Prize Moot Court Competition is offered to second-year students and gives them an opportunity to draft briefs and argue cases in a simulated appellate court before panels of alumni judges.

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For more information, contact:
Melody Mitchell
Alumni Events & Public Relations
(815) 753-9655 or mmitchell@niu.edu