Florida State Moot Court team wins two more national competitions

The Florida State University College of Law Moot Court Team has won two more first-place victories in national moot court competitions, bringing the team’s total number of first-place finishes to four in 2010.

“We are thrilled to be celebrating two more victories by our Moot Court Team,” said College of Law Dean Don Weidner. “For one school to have placed first in four national moot court competitions in a matter of weeks is an extraordinary feat.”

The team won the Gabrielli National Family Law Competition held Feb. 26-27 at Albany Law School in Albany, N.Y. The winning team members were Lauren Davis, a second-year law student from Fleming Island, Fla., Jennifer Gutai, a third-year law student from Syracuse, N.Y., and Rebecca Swindull, a second-year law student from St. Augustine, Fla. Tallahassee attorney Arthur Stern III coached the team. The team defeated Valparaiso University School of Law in the competition’s final round. This is the third time Florida State has won the Gabrielli National Family Law Competition.

The team also won the Luke Charles Moore Civil Rights Invitational held Feb. 26-27 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Winning team members were Yordanka Nedyalkova, a third-year law student from Bulgaria, and Tiffany Roddenberry, a second-year law student from Tallahassee. Judge James Wolf of the Florida First District Court of Appeal coached the team. Nedyalkova also was named best oralist in the competition. The team defeated the University of Maine School of Law in the competition’s final round. This is the second time Florida State has won the Luke Charles Moore Civil Rights Invitational.

These first-place victories follow closely on the heels of two other first-place victories in national competitions. Earlier in February, the team won the Religious Freedom Moot Court Competition and the National Security Law Competition, both held in Washington, D.C. Nat Stern, the John W. & Ashley E. Frost Professor, is the team’s faculty adviser.