St. John's Law Team Achieves at Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition

On November 8, 2013, Jonathan Yi '14 and Lawson Huynh '16 competed for St. John’s Law at the annual Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition in Kansas City, Missouri. Coached by Alison Bomba ’14, the team advanced to the quarterfinals and earned second best brief. Lawson was also named second best oralist.

Administered by the NAPABA Law Foundation and the NAPABA Judicial Council, the Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition honors the late United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Tang, who was “a champion of individual rights, an advocate for the advancement of minority attorneys, an ardent supporter of NAPABA and the moot court competition.”

This year’s Thomas Tang competitors considered two compelling issues:

• Whether a statute that prohibits judges from allowing public defenders and court-appointed attorneys to withdraw for reasons primarily related to excessive caseload, insufficient funds, or lack of resources, violates the Sixth Amendment guarantee to effective assistance of counsel; and
• Whether sanctions imposed upon a Public Defender for refusing a court order to represent an indigent defendant violates her Due Process rights guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and whether a Public Defender's statements given at a press conference held on the courthouse steps, where she described the criminal justice system and referred to the judge's direct order, is protected free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.

“This was a rewarding experience,” Lawson said. “I was very impressed with, and motivated by, the quality of the competition at this level. I look forward to building on our achievements this year with an assist from the Moot Court Honor Society, and to bringing the 2014 Tang Competition national championship home to St. John’s.”