The Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Program hosted its 6th annual William M. Tendy Federal Criminal Trial Competition, the group’s advanced intraschool mock trial competition, on April 10–11.
In the final round, Mike O’Leary and Stella Gilliland, students in the Advanced Trial Advocacy course taught by assistant U.S. attorneys Amanda Kramer and Tim Kasulis, competed against Brendan Moore Trial Advocates Daisy Sexton and Paul Skydel, who were coached by Brendan Moore alumni Ben Bergin and Jason Tortora. Sexton and Skydel, representing the defense, won, and Sexton received the Best Advocate award for her performance in the final round.
Competitors in the final round were evaluated and critiqued by a distinguished panel of attorneys including Michael Garcia, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and current associate justice on the Court of Appeals; Robert Fiske, Jr. former U.S. attorney for the SDNY and Fordham-Stein Prize winner; Eugene Kaplan, former assistant U.S. attorney; William Tendy’s daughter Sheila Tendy of Tendy Law Office, LLC.; and Tendy’s granddaughter Krystyn Tendy, assistant district attorney for Kings County.
In the preliminary rounds, the award for Best Advocate went to Brendan Moore Trial Advocate Ted Becker, who was coached by Brendan Moore alumni Cassandra Rohme and David Mou.
Preliminary rounds took place at the Southern District of New York courthouse, located at 500 Pearl Street; semifinal and final rounds were held in the Law School’s moot court and trial advocacy courtrooms.