Students from 23 Law Schools Nationwide Argued Child Welfare, Adoption Law in Moot Court Competition

February 23, 2007

Law students from across the country presented legal arguments at the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law, February 16 & 17, at the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio Judicial Center, home of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Capital University Law School’s National Center for Adoption Law and Policy, along with its Moot Court Board, partnered with four prominent child advocacy organizations to host the second annual competition. Twenty-three teams from throughout the country participated. The final round of judges was composed of leaders from:

· The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys;
· The National Association of Counsel for Children
· The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges;
· The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law;

Students from 23 law schools nationwide presented arguments on issues pertaining to the rights of fathers who have not legally established paternity (putative father’s rights); the right to appointed counsel in civil cases; and conflicts of law in putative father registries. Over 100 attorneys, judges, magistrates and law professors from across the country volunteered to judge the oral arguments and briefs filed by the teams.

The following law schools participated:

• Capital University Law School
• Loyola University Chicago School of Law (defending national champions)
• Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law
• Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Huntington, N.Y.
• St. John’s University School of Law in Jamaica, N.Y.
• University of Dayton School of Law
• University of Michigan Law School
• University of Missouri Kansas City
• Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va.
• New England School of Law in Boston, Mass.
• Seton Hall School of Law in Newark, N.J.
• University of Colorado Law School
• University of Mississippi School of Law
• University of Pennsylvania Law School
• University of San Diego Law School
• University of South Carolina Law School
• University of Tennessee College of Law

The 2007 National Champions in Child Welfare & Adoption Law are Krista Gundersen, who won the Best Oralist Award for the final round, and Vanessa Campagna, both law students from Seton Hall School of Law, Newark, NJ. In a closely contested competition, the runner-up team was Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law, comprised of law students Ashley Baird, Megan Maxfield, and Scott Van Nice.