Students from 22 Law Schools Nationwide To Argue Child Welfare, Adoption Law in Moot Court Competition in Columbus March 13-14

Law students from across the country will demonstrate their advocacy skills as they present legal arguments at the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law on March 13 -14, 2009, at the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio Supreme Court.

Capital University Law School’s National Center for Adoption Law & Policy is partnering with four prominent child advocacy organizations to host the fourth annual competition. The winners of the competition will be declared the national champions in the area of child welfare and adoption law. 

Twenty-two teams from throughout the country will argue before a final round of volunteer judges, led by Justice Maureen O’Connor, Supreme Court of Ohio. The other judges will consist of Gerard F. Glynn, director of Clinical Programs and associate professor of law at Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law and representing the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC); LaShanda Taylor, Esq., staff attorney at the ABA Center on Children and the Law; Karen Greenberg, president of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys and attorney at Konowitz and Greenberg, P.C. and a representative from National Association of Counsel for Children.  

Participating teams are:

University of Colorado Law School
University of Illinois College of Law
Capital University Law School
Ave Maria School of Law
University of San Diego School of Law
Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Seton Hall School of Law
University of Dayton School of Law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Whittier Law School
Wayne State University Law School
University of Michigan Law School
Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
University of Akron School of Law
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
University of Cincinnati College of Law

All preliminary rounds will be held in the Ohio Senate and Ohio House hearing rooms at the Ohio Statehouse, on Friday, March 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be held on Saturday, March 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the final round will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., all at the Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Judicial Center.

For more information, please visit the Moot Court Competition Web site at http://www.law.capital.edu/adoption/mootcourt.htm#schedule, or call the National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at (614) 236-6730.