UB Desmond Moot Court Competition Winners Named

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Second-year University at Buffalo law students Patrick Radel of Buffalo and Jennifer Hall of Mt. Morris emerged as the winners in the recent Judge Charles S. Desmond Moot Court Competition.

Radel, judged best oralist, teamed with Hall to win first place for legal briefs in the competition, named for the late Charles Desmond, a 1920 UB law graduate and chief justice for the New York State Court of Appeals.

Organized by third-year law-student members of the Buffalo Moot Court Board, the highly competitive, annual competition provides second- and third-year students with valuable appellate advocacy experience.

The 48 two-member teams who participated this year wrote legal briefs and argued the case of Ferguson v. City of Charleston before voluntary panels of UB law professors, local attorneys and judges.

A ruling on the case by the U.S. Supreme Court will be handed down early next year.

At issue is whether pregnant women can be charged with child abuse for distributing drugs to a minor on the basis of positive results of drug tests taken at a state hospital and provided to police.

Following three preliminary rounds argued in the law school on the UB North Campus, the top eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals and semifinals, held in the Erie County Courthouse.

In the final round, Radel and Hall argued before Federal Magistrate Leslie G. Foschio, Supreme Court Justice Barbara Howe and retired New York Court of Appeals Judge Matthew J. Jasen.

Receiving awards were the top five oralists and top five briefs teams. Students in the competition who received the top 23 combined brief-and-oral scores were selected for membership on the Buffalo Moot Court Board.