King Hall Hosts Immigration and Asylum Moot Court Competition
The UC Davis Asylum and Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition, the only immigration law moot court competition on the West Coast and the only asylum and refugee law competition in the nation, took place February 7 in the United States District Court of California in Sacramento. The event drew competitors from all over the country, with UC Hastings College of the Law taking top team honors.
Students from UC Davis School of Law, UC Hastings, Santa Clara University School of Law, University of Houston Law Center, Southern Illinois University School of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Campbell University Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School, and St. Louis University School of Law participated in the competition. Jaclyn Smith ‘10, Aser Tolentino ‘10, Charlene Krider ‘10, and Eric Yau '10 represented King Hall.
The competition was judged by an impressive panel including the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit, the Honorable William Shubb of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, and King Hall faculty including Professors Courtney Joslin, Dylan Malagrino, Clayton Tanaka, Andrea Bjorklund, and Timothy Schooley. King Hall students Sarah McBride ‘09, Eric Toscano ‘09, Doug Egbert ‘09, Nabil Bisharat ‘09, Jeff Edwards ‘09, and Hielam Chan ‘09 organized the event. Serving on the Moot Court Board were Walter Biggart ‘09, James Litwinovich ‘09, Shae Hill ‘09, Jenny Chang ‘09, Tyler Onitsuka ‘09, Megan Bruce ‘09, Mikayla Gow ‘09, Candice Tong ‘09, and Tom Garberson ‘09.
Special thanks are due to Professor Schooley for guidance and support as Moot Court Program Director; Dean Kevin R. Johnson for grading briefs and introducing the final round panel; Eric Lunsford '09 and Shahtaj Siddiqui '10 for Blue Book-checking briefs; alumna Sarah Fischer '08 (for grading briefs); alumna Erin Haney '08 (for helping to calculate scores); and Craig Baumgartner ‘10, Stephanie Court ‘10, Eric Choi ‘10, and Shuyan Phua ‘10 for serving as bailiffs.