Fordham Law Moot Court Board competition teams had an outstanding season this past school year with victories at competitions around the nation and individual accolades for law students.
Left to right: Josh Solomon ’26, Kate Bundy ’26, and Matthew Lista ’26 at the Duberstein competition at the Eastern District of New York Bankruptcy Courthouse.
Around 120 second- and third-year law students took part in 10 competitions, ranking second place at the 33rd annual Duberstein Bankruptcy competition and garnering a regional victory at the 75th annual National competition in New York.
“Moot Court has really shaped my career aspirations,” said Moot Court Board Editor-in-Chief Abigail Conroy ’25. “I’m a first generation law student, and at first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but through doing Moot Court, I realized that I really wanted to do litigation.”
In addition to taking the top prize at the National Moot Court Competition regionals, the team of Annika Jorgensen ’25, Emily Stubblefield ’25, and Matthew Salavitch ’25 won the regionals Best Brief Award. They took on a case examining an amusement park’s compliance with the ADA, advocating for a family whose four children have disabilities. Stubblefield earned the Best Oralist Award for her outstanding performance, and the team later secured a quarter finalist position in the national competition.
The inaugural Elon competition team, Cosette McLaughlin ’26 and Nick Erickson ’26, with their Best Petitioner Brief and Semifinalist plaques.
This year’s other accolades included:
- Placing second at the 33rd annual Duberstein Bankruptcy competition with the team of Kate Bundy ’26, Matt Lista ’26, and Josh Solomon ’26.
- Reaching the semifinals at the UCLA Williams Institute Annual Competition, a gender and sexuality law competition, where team members Isabela Vidal ’26 and Katherine Bartley ’26 were recognized for their “exquisite” and “unflappable” performance.
- Making it to the semifinal round of the 15th Billings, Exum & Frye National Competition in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Nickolas Erickson ’26 and Cosette McLaughlin ’26 took the Best Petitioner Brief award.
- Earning an Outstanding Brief Award for their arguments on a civil rights case at the 18th Annual Civil Rights and Liberties Competition in Atlanta, Georgia, where Alexa Bornstein ’26 and Sam Horowitz ’26 were quarterfinalists.
- Reaching the quarterfinals at the Cardozo FAME Center Intellectual Property Law Competition with team Teresa Clark ’26 and Arielle Saddik ’25.
- Earning a quarterfinals berth at the William B. Bryant-Luke C. Moore competition in Washington, D.C., with Jack Froude ’26 securing the Best Oralist Award for his argument on a civil rights case.
- Winning fifth Best Oralist award by Emily Gwydir ’25 at the John J. Gibbons Criminal Procedure Competition hosted by Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J.
“Working with all the people in Moot Court, cultivating relationships with them through writing their briefs, and getting to see them shine at their competitions has been very rewarding,” said Conroy.
Conroy’s successor for next year’s season, Teresa Clark ’26, agreed. “Working to moot all of our competition teams and see them improve from the early stages to the later stages, as well as going through my own process of improvement, was really rewarding,” said Clark. “It’s been great working on a team to make a really strong impression for Fordham.”
This year’s Executive Board at the annual Alumni Dinner: Angelica Ceballos Arias, Hooman Yazdanian ’25, Samantha Lask ’25, Mikaylah Dunbar ’25, and Abigail Conroy ’25
“I’ve become a lot better at legal research and talking about legal topics, and I look forward to developing as a leader in this coming year,” said Clark of the Moot Court season.
Mastering the art of writing persuasive briefs and making successful oral arguments demands intense focus, a deep understanding of the facts and the law, and technical precision. Fordham Law’s Moot Court prepares students to step into the role of litigators, facing off in mock appellate arguments that test their ability to think, write, and argue under pressure.
