Zachary Carstens and Joshua Upham Win First Place at Vincent S. Dalsimer Competition 2021

Pepperdine Caruso Law students Zachary Carstens (3L) and Joshua Upham (3L) won first place, and Karin Lang (3L) was the finalist, at the law school's 47th Annual Vincent S. Dalsimer Moot Court Competition, which took place on February 12. Joshua Upham also received Best Oral Advocate in the Preliminary Rounds and Karin Lang was named the Third-Best Oral Advocate in the Preliminary Rounds. Other award recipients were Cassidy Young (3L), who was named the Second-Best Oral Advocate in the Preliminary Rounds, and Uni Kim (2L) and Anne McCarthy (2L), who received the Best Brief award. The two teams who were the semifinalists in the competition were Katelyn Leeviraphan (2L) and Tatum Lowe (2L), and Catherine Urbanek (3L) and Stolle Voigt (3L).

The final round bench judges were Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd of the Supreme Court of Texas, United States Magistrate Judge Karen L. Stevenson of the Central District of California, and Judge Howard D. Sukenic of the Maricopa County Superior Court.

The Moot Court Board student leadership team who organized and planned the 2021 Dalsimer Competition were Nicole Geiser (3L), Dalsimer Competition Co-Chair; Shannon Holden (3L), Dalsimer Competition Co-Chair; Temilola Blessing Akinsilo (3L), Moot Court Board Vice-Chair; and Equiana Brown (3L), Moot Court Board Chair.

The Moot Court Board graded the competition briefs and twelve Moot Court Board students participated as bailiff and timekeepers during the oral arguments. A total of nine teams competed in the oral arguments and six teams of those teams wrote briefs. Kelly Shea Delvac (3L) wrote the problem, which covered the important issues of immigration and the Convention Against Torture. The Moot Court Board Faculty Advisor, Judge Tiffany Williams, supervised the entire competition.

Thank you to all who participated, and congratulations to all the winners and award recipients.