LU students top advocates at Moot Court Tournament

History was made Oct. 17, 2020 at Lamar University when one of its Moot Court Teams advanced to the championship round at the University of Texas at Dallas Invitational Moot Court Tournament.

Four Lamar University teams participated in the tourney, which hosted a total of forty undergraduate students, but the team of Katey McCall and Ali Hamza, who were both also  ranked as top ten advocates of

the tournament, advanced to the championship round.

Moot court competitions involve two student advocates arguing constitutional issues before a mock Supreme Court. Students work together in their team to construct their legal arguments and present these arguments to judges throughout the competition. Based on preliminary round showings, teams advance to elimination rounds. Students are evaluated on their knowledge of the facts of the case, the case law, presentation skills and court room demeanor. Based on their individual scores, student advocates also receive individual speaker awards.

Based on preliminary round scoring, individual awards were given to the top ten student advocates. Katey McCall was ranked number nine best overall speaker, and Ali Hamza was ranked number one best overall speaker. This is only the second time that a Lamar University student has received the top advocate award in moot court. McCall and Hamza, both Reaud Honors College students at LU, will receive gavels for their impressive showings.

Several LU students narrowly missed the threshold to receive an individual speaker award.

After preliminary rounds, the top eight seeded teams advanced to elimination rounds. The team of McCall and Hamza went undefeated in preliminary rounds and were the first ranked team of all twenty teams in the tournament. In the elimination rounds, McCall and Hamza defeated two teams from the University of Texas at Dallas to advance to the championship round of the tournament.

“Katey and Ali were narrowly defeated by a team from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in a very close round,” said Craig Tahaney, director of the LU Moot Court Program. “This was the first time that a Lamar University team advanced to the championship round of a moot court tournament, and there were several other students who narrowly missed the threshold to received individual speaker awards. I’m very proud of the hard work of these students.”

McCall and Hamza will compete in the Texas Tech University School of Law Regional Moot Court tournament on Oct. 24-25, 2020, along with Zandra Barker and Abbey Chirafis.

Lamar University Participants

Katey McCall
Senior Reaud Honors College political science major/legal studies minor

Ali Hamza
Junior Reaud Honors College political science major/legal studies minor

Brendon Camp
Senior Reaud Honors College political science and criminal justice major/legal studies minor

Maissa Salibi
Junior Reaud Honors College political science major/legal studies minor

Zandra Barker
Sophomore political science major/business minor

Abbey Chirafis
Senior political science major/legal studies minor

Aaron Martinez
Senior political science major/legal studies minor

Wesley Stapleton
Senior political science major/legal studies minor