from Staff
For the fifth year in a row, a moot court team from Florida Coastal School of Law advanced to the final round of the state’s oldest and most prestigious moot court competition earning top honors for legal writing in the process. The Orseck Moot Court Competition was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Florida Bar in Orlando last week.
FCSL team members included Renatha Francis, Roxie Lovett, Kristina Lawrence and Candace Weeks. Professor Sander Moody coached the team.
“The Coastal Law team’s performance is certainly indicative of the quality of the student body the law school is continuing to attract,” said Moody. “The team members argued at a very high level in front of the Florida Supreme Court justices and DCA and federal court judges who were on the bench.”
The FCSL team outperformed teams from all Florida law schools including: Florida State University, the University of Miami, Florida International University, St. Thomas University and Stetson before advancing to the final round against The University of Florida.
The Robert Orseck Moot Court Competition is held in conjunction with the annual Florida Bar Association Meeting, with the finals being judged by members of the Florida Supreme Court. This year, the entire Supreme Court of Florida was assembled for the final oral arguments.
At the competition, the teams are given a controversial legal topic and must argue both sides of the issue before a panel of different panels of actual Florida judges. The issues this year centered on various issues as they relate to the U.S. Constitution.
In 2005 FCSL garnered the attention of members of the Bar by winning the Orseck competition after competing only a few other years. Setting a new precedent in 2006, FCSL put two teams into the finals. That prompted a change in the rules to limit each law school to sending one team. In 2007, Coastal Law won for the third year in a row and in 2008 the school swept individual honors in the final round.