Center For Excellence in Advocacy Annual Awards Ceremony

Washburn University School of Law held its Center for Excellence in Advocacy Annual Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, at the Bradbury Thompson Center on the Washburn University campus.

The keynote speaker for the event was the Honorable J. Thomas Marten, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Kansas.

ABA Law Student Division Client Counseling Competition

This spring Washburn University School of Law hosted the American Bar Association Law Student Division Regional Client Counseling Competition on February 9th, 2013. This event requires teams of two law students to competitively complete a series of initial client interviews. We had teams from 7 different law schools across Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition Teams: Ellen J. Grennier & Matthew C. McGregor; Marissa M. Frederick & Jessica L. Watts

ABA Law School Division Negotiation Competition

ABA Regional Competition Teams: Steven L Goaslind & Ryan M. Smith; Jesse L. Haller & Jonathan R. Myers

KsAJ Raymond Spring Award

The Raymond Spring Award is given annually to the Washburn Law Clinic intern who has demonstrated the highest commitment to providing legal services to clients in need. The award was established in 2002 by the Kansas Association for Justice (formerly Kansas Trial Lawyers Association) in remembrance of Washburn Law alumnus Raymond Spring, ’59. Spring worked in private practice for six years and taught at Washburn University School of Law before becoming dean of the law school in 1970. Spring drafted the grant proposal to establish a legal clinic program and conducted negotiations with the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility which awarded Washburn University a $35,500 grant to establish a legal clinic program.

2012-13 Recipient: Amy Ahrens

UMKC Show Me Challenge National Voir Dire Tournament

Team 1: Joshua Garrett, Ben Jackson, Jenna Seematter

Team 2: Jaclyn Cannaday, Will Lawrence, Ashley Iverson

First Year Advocacy Competition

The Center for Excellence in Advocacy hosted its second 1L Opening and Closing Statement Competition. This competition is exclusively for first-year law students and allows them to test their advocacy skills early in their law school career. The students receive valuable feedback from judges and att orneys who evaluate their opening and closing statements. The top two finishers in the opening division and the top two finishers in the closing division are each awarded a cash prize.

2012-13 Recipients: Sam Blasi

Jessup International Moot Court Competition

Philip C. Jessup International Law Competition Team: Norah C. Avellan, Joshua M. Conway, Marissa M. Frederick, John D. Hatcher, Kaitlin M. Marsh, Megan T. Williams

Moot Court Awards

The Lester M. Goodell Awards

Since 1969, the Topeka law firm Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer, L.L.P. has sponsored the annual Lester M. Goodell Memorial Intramural Moot Court Competitionconducted each fall.. Initially, the Goodell Award recognized the top oralist in the competition. In 1979, a second award was created to recognize the top brief writer. The name of each recipient is engraved on the Goodell trophies and plaque, which are permanently on display at Washburn University School of Law. The tryout competition includes a final round in which the top four oralists from the preliminary round competed for the Lester M. Goodell Best Oralist Award. This year's final oral argument round, held in the Robinson Courtroom, was presided over by The Honorable Lee A. Johnson, The Honorable Tom Malone and The Honorable Stephen D. Hill all from the Kansas Court of Appeals. In addition, Gerald Goodell, from Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer, L.L.P. and son of Lester M. Goodell, also judged the final round.

2012-13 Recipients of the Lester M. Goodell Awards
Top OralistJoshua Conway
Top Brief WriterJohn Turney

John K. Kleinheksel Prize for Excellence in Oral Advocacy

This endowed prize fund has been established through a gift to the Washburn Law School Foundation from John K. Kleinheksel. The prize is divided among the members of the Moot Court team who achieve the highest final ranking in an interschool competition.

2012-13 Recipients: Nick Templin, Kyle Sollars, Norah Avellan, Joshua Conway, Marissa Frederick, J.D. Hatcher, Kaitlin Marsh, Megan Williams

Faculty Brief Award

The Faculty Brief Award is presented each year to team members who author the best intermural competition brief. The Moot Court Faculty Committee chose from among briefs written by Washburn Moot Court interscholastic competition teams.

2012-13 Recipients: John Myers & John B. Turney; J.D. Hatcher & Megan Williams

2012-13 Moot Court Executive Council

Steven L. Goaslind, President

Moot Court Executive Council: Steven L. Goaslind, President; Kyle P. Sollars, Vice President; Brent A. Jepson, Co-Secretary; Jonathan R. Myers, Co-Secretary

Members: Joshua M. Conway; Brian W. Cox; India E. Keefover; Joseph T. Laski; Lauren M. Schulz; Nickolas C. Templin; John B. Turney; Jonathon M. Wood

Moot Court Competitions

Regional Competition of the National Moot Court Tournament: Kyle P. Sollars and Nickolas C. Templin

William E. McGee National Civil Rights Competition: Jonathan R. Myers and John B. Turney

Craven Constitutional Law Competition: India E. Keefover and Joseph T. Laski

John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Competition: Steven L. Goaslind, Brent A. Jepson, and Jonathon M. Wood

Evan A. Evans Constitutional Law Competition: Joshua M. Conway and Lauren M. Schulz

Trial Advocacy Awards

ABA Labor and Employment Trial Advocacy Competition Team: Jaclyn N. Cannaday, Joshua M. Conway, Joshua L. Garrett, Heather L. Gelsinger, C. A. Benjamin Jackson, William R. Lawrence IV, Jenna R. Seematter, Christi M. Somers

Texas Young Lawyers Association Competition Teams: Team 1:Dayton L. Hall & Ashley R. Iverson; Team 2: Matthew W. Parker & Ashlyn L. Yarnell

American Association of Justice STAC National Trial Advocacy Competition Team: Tyler E. Patterson, Jaclyn N. Cannaday, Christopher M. Ray, James H. Thompson

Max Rowinsky Award for Outstanding Student

This award honors the late Max Rowinsky, a noted trial lawyer who practiced in the Shawnee and Johnson County Public Defenders Offices. The award is presented to the outstanding student in the current year's Trial Advocacy class.

2012-13 Recipients: Joshua L. Garrett, Heather L. Gelsinger

Trial Team Leadership and Excellence in Advocacy Award

This award was created by Jay Hall, ’07, and Danielle Hall, ’09, two former trial advocacy team members. This award recognizesa student from each trial advocacy competition and promotesleadership and teamwork above self.

2012-13 Recipients: Dayton L. Hall, Jaclyn N. Cannaday, and Tyler E. Patterson

The Order of Barristers Award

The Order of Barristers is a national honorary organization whose purpose is the encouragement of oral advocacy and brief writing skills through effective law school oral advocacy programs. The Order seeks to improve these skills through interscholastic sharing of ideas, information, and resources. The Order also provides national recognition for individuals who have excelled in advocacy and service at their respective school.

The Order originated in 1965 at the University of Texas School of Law. It became a national organization in 1970. Washburn University School of Law is a charter member of The Order. Schools having charters in The Order include those nationally recognized for outstanding moot court programs.

An individual selected to The Order receives the highest honor a law student can attain for distinction in oral advocacy. Since 1973, this honor has been one of the few law school achievements recognized by Martindale-Hubbell in its biography of lawyers.

2012 Inductees: Amy Ahrens, Whitney Casement, Kevin Kemp, Andrew Newcomer, L.T. Obozele, Robert Rojas, Jessica Stabler, Drew Steadman, ReAnne Wentz, John Westerhaus
Photograph: Professors Michael Kaye and Myrl Duncan with bobblehead.
Trial Advocacy students presented Professor Michael Kaye with a bobblehead that resembled both him and Professor Myrl Duncan.
Photograph: Judge J. Thomas Marten.
 J. Thomas Marten, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Kansas was the keynote speaker. He entertained the group by playing the guitar and singing. His message was, what is seen as a failure for some is a success for others.
Photograph: Heather L. Gelsinger and Joshua L. Garrett.
The Max Rowinsky Award for Outstanding Student was presented to Heather L. Gelsinger and Joshua L. Garrett.
Photograph: Dayton Hall and Jaclyn Cannaday.
The recipients of the Trial Team Leadership and Excellence in Advocacy Award were Dayton Hall, Jaclyn Cannaday and Tyler Patterson (not pictured).