South Texas College of Law (STCL) took home top honors in TYLA’s recent State Moot Court Competition. The competition, which began in 1975, is held annually in connection with the State Bar of Texas annual meeting. STCL has become a state and national powerhouse in its moot court program, but it faced fierce competition from St Mary’s Law School in the final round before claiming the state title.

Eight of the nine Texas law schools competed in this year’s competition, which involved a fictional criminal law case. The issues related to the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause and the Fourth Amendment’s Search and Seizure Clause. The teams were required both to submit written briefs and endure seven oral argument rounds. Texas Tech, Baylor, South Texas and St. Mary’s advanced to the semi-finals.

Local Dallas attorneys volunteered to serve as the three-judge panels in the preliminary rounds. Justices from the Fifth Court of Appeals and local state district judges comprised the panels in the semi-final rounds. Eight of the nine judges from the Court of Criminal Appeals and former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Morris Overstreet presided over the final round. It was obvious that the Court of Criminal Appeals judges asked questions no one else had asked, but neither finalist team appeared flustered. In a very close decision, the judges decided for South Texas. It marked the third year in a row that South Texas won the competition.

Co-Chairs Rob Cañas of Dallas and Chad Jones of Bryan organized the event, with the help of State Moot Court committee members: Cori Harbour (El Paso), Kendyl Darby (Dallas), Nicole Rittenhouse (Dallas), Ben Mesches (Dallas), Wendy Humphries (Amarillo), Dean Tailor (Dallas), Natalie Gregg (Dallas), Debbie McComas (Dallas), and Leigha Simonton (Dallas).

By Rob Canas