The two-week competition came to a conclusion with Matt Symons edging out the field to earn best advocate honors. Wabash is one of the only undergraduate colleges in the country that conducts Moot Court competitions as preparation for law school.
“The finals round was a great example of how Moot Court really does exemplify many of the best aspects of a liberal arts education,” says organizer David Timmerman of the Speech Department. “The student advocates had to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of a difficult court case. It really is what Scott Himsel ’85 likes to call “the liberal arts on steroids” because it is action-packed, tense, and just plain fun to see our students rise to the occasion of intense questioning from skillful questioners who make their living asking hard questions.”
Before the finals round took place, a formal dinner was held for all students, alumni and faculty who participated in the preliminary Moot Court round. At the dinner, students were able to meet distinguished Wabash alumni and faculty who had either judged in the Moot Court competition or been a Moot Court participant themselves.
Students and faculty both enjoyed talking about constitutional issues relevant to today’s society. “Even though I didn’t make it to the finals round, I enjoyed the experience and feel that it was very important that Wabash students were able to took a look into this pertinent issue,” James McGuffey said.
The four participants in the Moot Court finals round were: Matt Symons and Abhishek Shah on the side of the government and Seth Zirkle and Tim Flowers on the side of the newspaper.
The case argued this year was the issue of secret deportation hearings. Students were to take either the side of the government, defending the power of the INS to hold these hearings in secret for national security or the TSN newsgroup, which defended a First Amendment right of access to these deportation hearings. This issue dealt with a specific case of an individual who was accused of terrorist activity and denied access to an open hearing due to the government’s fear that national security would be compromised.
Symons, a petitioner on the logic portion of the government’s argument in this case, was awarded the best Moot Court participant position by the four visiting judges on Tuesday.
“The mock trial experience at Wabash is absolutely incredible, Symons said. “I've had an opportunity to hear about and see some of the other programs around the country and through my experience, Wabash clearly has one of the best programs around. I would encourage everyone to do Moot Court at least once while they’re here at Wabash. It teaches you how to think clearly and to explain your ideas effectively, which is important skill no matter what you study.”
Judging the finals round were the Honorable Frank Sullivan, Jr., of the Indiana Supreme Court; the Honorable Michael P. Barnes of the Indiana Court of Appeals; the Honorable Matthew G. Hanson ’91 of the Morgan Circuit Court; and Professor William C. Placher ’70 of the Wabash College Philosophy and Religion Department.
Present at the finals round was a class from Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis and teacher Ronald Klene. After observing Wabash’s Moot Court program, Klene established a similar competition at Lawrence North and uses Wabash alumni lawyers and judges to judge the competition.
In addition, alumnus Matthew Griffith was honored for his work in leading the alumni for the last 10 years of Moot Court competitions. Without Griffith’s efforts, the program would not involve the large number of Central Indiana attorneys who make the program so successful.
Overall Moot Court has continued to offer Wabash students the chance to demonstrate their critical thinking skills through engagement in academic debate on issues that are relevant to current events. Not many students around the country are offered this opportunity at the undergraduate level, and so Wabash encourages all students to take part in this great program.