The 37th annual Florida/Georgia moot court competition is Oct. 27 at the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse.
The late Mark Hulsey, a partner with Jacksonville’s Smith Hulsey & Busey and a UF graduate, established the competition.
The event, now sponsored by Smith Hulsey & Busey and Atlanta-based law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell, is named the Florida/Georgia-Hulsey/Gambrell Moot Court Competition to honor Hulsey and E. Smyth Gambrell.
A tradition in the Jacksonville legal community, the competition between teams from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and University of Georgia College of Law is held annually on the Friday before the Gators vs. Bulldogs football game.
It replicates, through theoretical appellate motions, arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court that are based on a current but unresolved issue of federal constitutional law.
The motions for this year’s competition concern the constitutional right of a private citizen to video police officers during a traffic stop.
The panel of judges in this year’s competition comprises Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges from Ocala and U.S. District Judges William Moore from Savannah, Timothy Corrigan and Marcia Morales Howard from Jacksonville and Lisa Godbey Wood from Brunswick.
They were the panel that heard last year’s competition, which was won by the University of Florida, snapping a two-year losing streak for the Gators in the courtroom.
The public is welcome to attend the competition, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Courtroom on the 13th floor of the federal courthouse.