Wednesday February 04, 2009

This blog entry is about a really great piece of news here at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Those who follow goings on at our law school may know about our stupendous moot court program. As in other law schools, first-year students compete in a compulsory internal competition. But what happens at UDM is that so many first years enjoy this experience that well over 100 each year then compete to become members of our upper-level external teams.

Those 2L and 3L teams then compete in national competitions against other law schools around the country. And our UDM teams don’t just compete, they triumph! Last year, we sent teams to about a dozen national competitions and we did so well that UDM was named one of the 16 best programs in the nation – which were then invited to compete last month in the first-ever national invitational moot court championship tournament.

The purpose of this invitational tournament, which was held in Houston, was to identify which school was the best of the best and the undisputed national champion. Well, readers of this blog won’t be surprised to read that UDM School of Law beat everyone and emerged as the national champions! That’s right. Our students Jennifer Dukarski and Dan Whittal, together with student coach/brief writer Shannon Snee, argued so successfully in front of judges from the Texas Court of Appeals and the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that they were awarded the national championship.

They brought home a wonderful two-foot high championship cup together with the satisfaction of knowing that they and our program have now been recognized as the best in the country. Professor Michelle Streicher deserves tremendous credit (together with Asst. Dean Cara Cunningham) for their great work in building up our moot court program. And, of course, there are numerous alumni and faculty who have served faithfully as coaches and external advisers over the past several years.

As for me as Dean, well, my wife and I are happy now to have to deliver on our promise that we would buy the victorious students a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. They have deserved it – and more.