March 19, 2013
SMU Dedman School of Law overcame a tough challenge from Florida
Coastal School of Law to win the 21st Annual
Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court
Competition. Sixty teams from law schools around the country
competed in New York from March 9-11, 2013 at the nation’s only
moot
court competition devoted entirely to bankruptcy. Sponsored by St.
John’s School of Law and the American Bankruptcy Institute, the
Competition is named for distinguished St. John’s alumnus and
former ABI Director, Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein, who passed
away in 2005 at the age of 90. Widely viewed as one of the premier
moot court competitions, it draws the nation’s most competitive
moot court teams in addition to teams of students interested in
pursuing bankruptcy careers. All four of the winning schools in
this year’s competition were ranked among the top 25 national moot
court programs last year.
The ABI Endowment Fund provided the first and second place teams
with a $5,000 and a $3,000 prize, respectively. The Stetson
University College of Law and the University of Florida Fredric G.
Levin College of Law each received $1,500 for their third place
tie. SMU’s winning team also won $1,000 for Best Brief. Nicholas
Andrews, a member of the third place University of Florida Fredric
G. Levin College of Law team, won the $1,000 Best Oral Advocate
award. Many of the teams were sponsored or coached by bankruptcy
bar associations or local law firms. In addition, regional
bankruptcy bar associations and law firms sponsored warm-up
competitions in Texas, Florida, Las Vegas, and New York.
More than 200 lawyers and judges helped judge the event, which
included eight rounds of arguments. In addition to New York area
Bankruptcy Judges, the ABI brought in a dozen Bankruptcy Judges
from around the nation to judge the advanced rounds. The final
rounds were held at the Conrad Duberstein United States Bankruptcy
Courthouse in Brooklyn. The final round was judged by a panel of
distinguished federal jurists that included:
- Hon. Edith Hollan Jones of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals
- Hon. Steven Colloton of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals
- Hon. Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of
Appeals
- Hon. Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court,
S.D.N.Y.
- Hon. Cecilia G. Morris, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court, S.D.N.Y.
- Hon. Carla E. Craig, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court,
E.D.N.Y.
Each year, the competition problem focuses on two sophisticated
cutting edge issues of bankruptcy law. Past competitions addressed
such topics as: environmental cleanup costs, channeling injunctions
in mass tort cases, state sovereign immunity, the constitutionality
of the bankruptcy courts, religious entity bankruptcies, and the
constitutionality of speech restrictions imposed on consumer
bankruptcy attorneys.
This year’s problem considered whether a prohibition against
filing bankruptcy that is included in a corporation’s by-laws
constitutes an unenforceable bankruptcy waiver, and whether the
automatic bankruptcy stay blocks an action for an injunction
against on-going patent infringement. The judges, lawyers and
students agreed that the fact pattern and quality of competitors
was outstanding. “This year’s problem forced the students to
grapple not only with some of the most difficult concepts in
bankruptcy law, but to integrate them into complex questions of
both corporate and patent law. They did a fabulous job,” said
Professor
G. Ray Warner, Associate Dean for Bankruptcy Studies at St.
John’s School of Law and a faculty advisor to the competition. “In
addition, the competition helps advance the development of
bankruptcy law by giving the judges an outstanding presentation of
issues that they will soon see in their own courts.”
The event culminated with the gala awards banquet at Pier 60,
Chelsea Piers, in New York City. More than 1,000 guests, including
many of the leading New York bankruptcy judges and practitioners,
attended the event.
To learn more about this year’s Duberstein Competition, and for
information about next year’s event on March 1 – 3, 2014, please
visit the
competition website.