Boyd Students Take Second Place in National Moot Court Competition

Boyd School of Law students Ellen Harr, Karlee Phelps and Teri Vela, coached by Professor Sara Gordon, placed second overall in the UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition on Feb. 6, 2010. They formed their team in class by choosing similar topics that appealed to them.

The topic of asylum and refugee law caught Vela's attention. She did her externship last summer at the Las Vegas Immigration Court, and her parents are immigrants.

"I'm an immigration advocate and I want to go into immigration law," Vela said. "It's a hot topic."

The team received their competition problem on Dec. 1 and had to turn in their brief by Jan. 15. They decided to split the work load. Harr and Vela wrote most of the brief, and Phelps wrote preliminary parts of it and edited the entire brief.

"It was a really great experience and teaches you usable tools," Vela said.

Linda Bell, an Eighth Judicial District Court Judge in Clark County, helped the students by practicing different problems with them at the Regional Justice Center.

"It was great to get feedback that wasn't from an academic setting," Harr said.

Once they turned in the brief they had the task of converting it into an oral presentation.

"This is an opportunity to go before the judges and have them ask you questions about your arguments," Phelps said.

The case broke down into two main issues: Vela argued on brief for one, and Harr argued off brief for the other. Phelps argued both on and off brief.

"For competition purposes you also argue the off side," Phelps said.

The team advanced to the semifinals and later to the finals, but only had an hour to prepare in between the two. In the finals they took second place out of 18 teams and earned second place for brief writing. The team will be given an engraved trophy for their placement.

"It was a great honor to get second in brief writing," Harr said. "I learned how to collaborate with my classmates because law school is usually an individual thing and this was a team effort."

"This experience has given me exposure to immigration law," Phelps said. "Maybe I'll practice immigration law in my career."

All three teammates said they would love to do another competition again and that this competition has taught them many new outlooks on the law.

"We could not have done as well as we did without the help and support of numerous members of the law school community," Phelps said. "The law school really came together to help us prepare. As a result, our victory is a victory for the entire law school."

Harr, Phelps and Vela are members of Boyd's moot court team, known as the Society of Advocates (SOA). First year full time students and second year part time students can compete in the Clark County Moot Court Competition this spring to qualify to join SOA.

The UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition is the only immigration law moot court competition on the West Coast, and the only competition in the nation devoted exclusively to the topic of asylum and refugee law. The competition offers students the unique opportunity to test their advocacy skills against distinguished judges, attorneys and legal scholars who specialize in the areas of immigration law and/or appellate advocacy.