3/02/01--Boston College Law School's advocacy teams proved to be tough to beat in 2000-2001, with more competitions still to come, including later rounds of the National Mock Trials in Texas and the Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court. Also coming soon is the internal BCLS Grimes Moot Court Competition, which begins on March 5th.

Highlights of the year so far include:

The National Moot Court Team won Best Brief and Best Oralist (Pat Manzo) at the regional competition in New York, and finished in second place, advancing to the national finals. At the national competition last month, the team advanced to the quarterfinals. The team consists of Patrick Manzo, Hollis Crowley, Hank Bullock, and Paul Guggina.

Both BCLS National Mock Trial teams won the regional competition, making them "New England Regional Co-Champions." The two teams, which include Courtney Dumas, Tara Hotchkiss, Frances Impellizzeri, Allison Puri, Bill Kitsilis, and Neil Smith, will go on to compete in Dallas, Texas on March 22nd at the National Competition.

The Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Team placed second overall and won three "Best Oralist" awards, including overall "Best Oralist" of the competition, which took place February 16-18 at Harvard University. The team was also awarded a "Best Brief" award. The members of the Jessup team are Wes Holmes, Casey Mattox, Kurt Mullen, Jen Placzeck and Allison Puri.

The Braxton Craven National Moot Court team of Mahvesh Qureshi, Whitney Roberts and Erica Valenti placed 3rd at the National Competition in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The National Environmental Law Moot Court Team performed extremely well at the competition in New York recently. The team of Peter Bilowz, Will Sellers, and Stacy Silveira made the quarterfinals, and were defeated by the team that ultimately was Finalist in the entire competition.

"I'm very pleased and proud of the performance of all of our advocacy teams," said BCLS Dean John H. Garvey. "We pride ourselves on fully preparing our students for careers in the law and in the courtroom, and the performance of our teams in national competitions is a good indication of the success of that approach."

Boston College Law School advocacy teams have traditionally performed extremely well in national competitions. In 1999, for example, The BCLS National Moot Court Team won the Regional Competition and received the "Best Brief" award. And in 1998, the BCLS team won the J. Braxton Craven National Moot Court Competition and was also awarded the "Best Brief" award.