King Hall Team Shines in NLLSA Moot Court Competition

The King Hall team of Denise Mendez '12, Chris Magaña '12 and Joanna Cuevas Ingram '12 turned in an outstanding performance at the 2010 National Latino Law Students Association (NLLSA) Moot Court Competition, hosted by Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut on October 2.  UC Davis School of Law placed third in the competition.

 "The team members would like to express our deepest gratitude to the UC Davis School of Law community for the dedication and support that enabled us to attend the NLLSA conference and participate in the competition," said Joanna Cuevas Ingram.

Under the guidance of Professor Miguel A. Méndez, the UC Davis Law LRLSA Moot Court Team worked collaboratively and diligently over the past six weeks to conduct in-depth legal research, write their first joint Official Moot Court Brief, and prepare and practice oral arguments for both Petitioner and Respondent. The team traveled to New Haven, to compete against Loyola Law School Los Angeles, Yale Law School, and Boston College of the Law, advancing to the semifinal round where they faced off with Texas Tech, which ultimately prevailed in the competition.

NLLSA's 2010 Official Moot Court Problem, Flores-Villar v. United States, 536 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2008), cert. granted, 78 U.S.L.W. 3546 (U.S. Mar. 22, 2010) (No. 09-5801), addressed equal protection in the context of immigration law.  Flores-Villar is currently on Writ of Certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court to the Ninth Circuit and official oral argument in the real case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 10, 2010.

NLLSA's Fourteenth Annual Conference opened with a deeply inspiring pre-recorded personal message from the Hon. Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Yale Law School '79), addressing all NLLSA Conference participants as the next generation of committed, dedicated, and ethical community lawyers in the service of justice.  The group also attended several workshops, including "Detained: From Guantánamo to El Paso," featuring the Hon. José Cabranes (U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit), the Hon. Cecilia Altonaga (U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida), Walter B. Ruiz, Jr. (Office of Military Commissions Defense, US Navy), and Michael Wishnie (Professor, Yale Law School, Immigration and Civil Rights Law). 

Additionally, the group participated in a Q&A with panelists regarding constitutional legal arguments for equal protection in immigration law at, "Ahora: The Urgency of Now," a panel workshop featuring the Hon. Eva Guzman (Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Texas), Dean Rachel Moran (Dean, UCLA Law School), Thomas A. Saenz (President and General Counsel, MALDEF), and Toni Smith-Rosario (Senior Assistant, Connecticut State Attorney General). 

Finally, the group attended the NLLSA Banquet, where the Hon. Jose Cabranes received NLLSA's Lifetime Achievement Award; UCLA Law School Dean Rachel Moran received NLLSA's Excellence in Leadership Award; and UC Davis Law's very own LRLSA Moot Court Team was awarded Third Place, along with the other national top ranking teams.