Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia School of Law recently won the first annual Emory National Civil Rights and Liberties Moot Court Competition.
Third-year law students Jennifer S. Blakely, Shunta R. Harmon and Cameron D. Hawkins took first place against teams from other schools such as the University of Virginia School of Law, the University of California Hastings College of the Law, the Mercer University School of Law and the New York Law School, to name a few.
“It is always great to start the season with a win, especially in a national competition,” Georgia Law Director of Advocacy Kellie Casey Monk said. “It makes it extra special that this was a new competition and our law school will be recorded as the first to ever win it.”
The case argued by the team from Georgia Law involved issues surrounding the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Equal Protection Clause.
The competition took place at Emory University from Oct. 19-21. Judges for the final round of the competition included Judge Martha C. Daughtrey of the Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Senior Judge Jane R.Roth of the Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit and Senior Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
