The Syracuse University Outlaw moot court team advanced to the final round of the Williams Project’s Sexual Orientation and the Law Moot Court Competition at the University of California, Los Angeles this past weekend.

The team, comprised of second-year law students Josh Boudreaux and Kristin Mikolaitis and first-year law student Olatakunbo Olaniyan, was funded by the College of Law’s Student Senate, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center and Outlaw: Gay/Straight Law Student Alliance.

Mikolaitis said she is thrilled that the team has made it to the final round.

‘We gave a very strong showing,’ Mikolaitis said. ‘I feel very excited and optimistic about our chances of winning.’

Questions presented in the competition dealt with the Defense of Marriage Act, the Full Faith and Credit Clause and the Fundamental Right to Marry.

Casey Sprock, the coach of the team and a professor at the College of Law, said his team argued the same case for each round of competition, but sometimes the team would argue on the petitioners’ side and other times on the respondents’ side.

To qualify for the team, students had to submit a written brief to a panel of four judges and present an oral argument, based on their submitted brief, to the judges.

Heidi White, one of the four judges on the panel, said she created an evaluation form for the students’ oral arguments and judged the students based on a list of 10 criteria, including the students’ opening, delivery and ability to field questions and an awareness of policy issues.

After the team was formed, they practiced rigorously for about two weeks before the start of the competition.

‘We had practice like none other,’ Olaniyan said. ‘I felt like it was almost too much. We met every night for three or four hours. Our coach had friends in the legal community to speak to us, and I had some of my friends to come and critique us.’

Adrea Jaehnig, director of the LGBT Resource Center, said the issue for legal protection for same-sex couples is a critical issue in today’s world and commends the hard work put forth by the moot court team.

‘For the SU College of Law and our school to be engaged in this national competition is incredible. I think we should be proud of that,’ Jaehnig said.

Although winning in the final round would be a great accomplishment, Boudreaux said the experience he has gained by competing has been more than worth it.

‘Arguing in front of judges of that caliber is something most law students don’t get to do,’ Boudreaux said. ‘It’s something I’ll be able to take into my career if I become a litigator.’

However, this is not to say Bourdeaux is not optimistic about his team’s chances of winning.

‘I think the three of us bring something different to the team,’ Boudreaux said. ‘When combined, I think we have every opportunity in the world to win.’

Part of the reason for the team’s success has been through the strong leadership and expertise of its coach.

‘He was able to ask us questions about our oral arguments that would give us insight into something one of the judges might ask,’ Boudreaux said. ‘Someone without his expertise might not have been able to ask the same questions.’

Jaehnig said she agrees the team owes a lot of its success to its coach.

‘Real-life experience plus classroom experience puts him in position to coach the team and address these important issues,’ Jaehnig said.

Before winning its semifinal round, the team defeated UCLA and the University of Michigan Team II in its two preliminary rounds and St. Louis University in the quarterfinal round.

Sprock said other teams participating in the competition, but not advancing to the finals, include Cornell University, New York University, the University of Southern California and George Washington University.

The team will face the University of California, Davis in the competition’s final round on Feb. 24.

Published on February 16, 2006 at 12:00 pm