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W&L Law Team Reaches Semis at National Appellate Advocacy Competition

A team from Washington and Lee University School of Law was among four teams in the nation to advance to final rounds of the recent National Appellate Advocacy Competition. In the end, the W&L team was fell just one point shy of vying for the national title.

W&L students Matthias Kaseorg 13L, Alex Sugzda 13L, and Tiffany Eisenbise 14L made up the team that represented W&L at the competition finals in Chicago in early April. They faced off against teams from the law schools at Ohio State, South Texas and Texas Tech. In all, 27 law schools were represented at the national competition.

All members of the W&L team were recognized for their performance at the national level. Kaseorg and Sugzda earned honors as fourth and sixth best oral advocate, respectively, and along with Eisenbise received the award for fourth best brief.

The National Appellate Advocacy Competition is sponsored by the American Bar Association and emphasizes the development of oral advocacy skills through a realistic appellate advocacy experience. The competition involves writing a brief as either respondent or petitioner and then arguing the case in front of a mock U.S. Supreme Court.

3Ls Amy Conant and David Miller served as coaches for the W&L team.