News

Earlier this spring, it was announced that for the first time in Law School history, Minnesota Law has been invited to participate in the Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship in early 2025. The Hunton Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship is unique among moot court competitions. An invitation-only event held at the University of Houston Law Center, the competition invites the top 16 law schools to participate based on cumulative results from the most recent moot court competition season.

2Ls Leah Kanihan ’25 and Madeleine Kim ’25 joined Minnesota Law’s Gender and Sexuality Moot Court team, fueled by a passion for advocating for people affected by this deeply personal area of law. So, Kim was disappointed when she learned that their team would represent the petitioners, requiring the pair to make the case for something they do not support.

Three 2024 Minnesota Law graduates capped their law school experience with a first-place finish in a prestigious national moot-court competition.

Maria Pfister ’24, Poojan Thakrar ’24, and Hanna Weil ’24 were members of the Minnesota Law team that took away top honors at the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Pace University in New York. The team competed against 53 other teams in the largest event of its type in the U.S.

Back in November, we reported that two teams of Minnesota Law students performed extraordinarily well in the regional competition of the National Moot Court Competition held in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Both teams advanced to the semifinal rounds and the team representing Petitioner/Respondent advanced to the national rounds of the competition, which was held in New York City in January 2024. The team that advanced to New York had an outstanding showing, reaching the quarterfinals of the national round.

In an exciting first, Minnesota Law’s Environmental Moot Court Competition Team won the Jeffrey Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Pace Law School. The winning team includes Maria Pfister ’24, Poojan Thakrar ’24, and Hanna Weil ’24. All have backgrounds in pursuing environmental law expertise.

Carter Allen ’24 and Jack Tate ’24, along with the team of Spencer Rojas ’24 and Ryan Clemmons ’25, made up the Law School’s first-ever sports law moot court competition team. The two teams competed at Tulane University’s Mardi Gras Moot Court Invitational in early February. Both teams advanced to the quarterfinals, and the Tate/Allen team won the national championship.

Two teams of Law School students performed extraordinarily well in the regional competition of the National Moot Court Competition, held in Cleveland, Ohio on November 10 and 11, 2023.

Both teams advanced to the semifinal rounds and the team representing Petitioner/Respondent advanced to the national rounds of the competition, which will be held in New York City in February, 2024.

On the national moot court stage, Minnesota Law teams have demonstrated that they are no one-act show.      

Simon Earle, 2L, and Dominik Ruch, 2L, argued before Justice G. Barry Anderson '79, Justice Natalie Hudson '82, and Justice Gordon Moore of the Minnesota Supreme Court, in the final round of the Maynard Pirsig Moot Court Honors Tournament. Simon Earle, won a closely contested argument, with both students receiving tremendous praise for their skills. Earle called the tournament “an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Ruch had a similar reaction, calling it “[the] coolest thing I could have imagined for my time in law school.”