from staff
For the third year in a row a moot court team from Florida Coastal School of Law (FCSL) has won the state’s most prestigious moot court competition. This year marks FCSL’s fourth foray into the 44th Annual Orseck Moot Court Competition, which was held in Orlando last week.
In addition to the Florida Coastal team winning the overall competition, team member Rick Marshall was recognized as best brief Writer, and Rick Lasseter and Valerie Linnen were named best advocates.
“This is a great reward after all of the weeks of preparation that went into this competition,” said FCSL Dean Peter Goplerud. “Our students worked very hard for this and they certainly deserve it.”
Joining Lasseter, Linnen and Marshall on the FCSL Moot Court Team was Kara Samuels, who served as team manager.
The champion FCSL team defeated teams from all Florida law schools, the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of Miami, Florida International University and Stetson.
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.
At the competition, the teams are given a controversial legal issue and must argue both sides of the issue before a panel of Florida Supreme Court Justices. The issues this year centered on the 4th and 6th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
In 2005 FCSL garnered the attention of members of the Bar Association by winning the Orseck competition after competing only one other year. Setting a new precedent last year, FCSL was permitted to send two teams to the competition, taking first and second place in the process.
“The success of our team speaks to the level of their hard work and commitment,” said team faculty advisor and coach Sander Moody. “Florida Coastal has a lot to be proud of.”
Founded in 1994, FCSL is an independent, private and co-educational institution that received full ABA accreditation in August 2002. FCSL’s mission is to distinguish itself as a visionary, forward looking, globally interactive, and culturally diverse institution dedicated to having a positive impact on its students, the community, legal education, the legal profession and the legal system. The institution was recently acquired by Sterling Capital Partners and is in the early stages of an aggressive growth and development program that aims to establish itself as a leadership institution in a time of significant change for the law profession and legal education. For more information on FCSL, visit www.fcsl.edu.