Contact: John Hartgen
703-739-0800
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MISSISSIPPI
face='Times New Roman' size='3'> COLLEGE
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face='Times New Roman' size='3'>OF LAW CAPTURES NATIONAL MOOT COURT
TITLE
size='3'>March 12, 2008,
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size='3'>Alexandria
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Mississippi College School of Law overcame a tough challenge from the
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Lawto win the
16th
Annual Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National
Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition. Forty-four teams from law
schools around the country competed in
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York from March 8-10 at
the nation’s only moot court competition devoted entirely to
bankruptcy.
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size='3'>Mississippi
year follows its strong second-place finish in last year’s
competition, in which
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size='3'>Brooklyn
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Law
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first.
The competition is
sponsored by
John’s
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>University
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American Bankruptcy Institute and is named for distinguished
size='3'>St. John’s
size='3'>alumnus and former ABI Director Chief Judge Conrad B.
Duberstein, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 90. Many of the teams
were sponsored or coached by bankruptcy bar associations or local law
firms.
The ABI Endowment Fund
provided the first-place team with $5,000 and the second-place team with
a $3,000 prize. The
University of Houston Law Center and a second team from the Mississippi
College School of Law each received $1,500 for their third-place
tie.
size='3'> The Emory University School of Law
won $1,000 for the Best Brief.
size='3'>Megan C. Connor, a student at the University of Miami School of
Law, won the $1,000 Best Oral Advocate award.
“This is a
wonderful educational event that exposes young law students to the
complexity and excitement of bankruptcy law and pushes them to a level
of excellence they did not realize they could achieve,” said
Prof. G. Ray
Warner, director of the LL.M. in Bankruptcy
Program at St. John’s and a faculty advisor to the
competition. “In
addition, the competition helps advance the development of bankruptcy
law by giving the judges an outstanding presentation of issues that they
will soon see in their own courts.”
Nearly 200lawyers and
judges helped judge the event, which included eightrounds of
arguments.
size='3'> In addition to New York-area
bankruptcy judges, ABI brought in a dozen Bankruptcy Judges from around
the nation to preside over the advanced rounds.
The final round was held
at the Brooklyn Bankruptcy Courthouse in the Duberstein
Courtroom.. The final
round was judged by a panel of distinguished federal jurists that
included: Hon. Mary M.
Schroeder, Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals; Hon. Marjorie O.
Rendell, Third Circuit Court of Appeals;
Hon. Jeffrey S.
Sutton, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals;
Hon. Stuart M.
Bernstein, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court, S.D.N.Y.; and Hon.
size='3'>Carla E. Craig, Chief Judge of the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court, E.D.N.Y.
Each year, the
competition problem focuses on two sophisticated cutting-edge issues of
bankruptcy law. Past
competitions have addressed such topics as environmental clean-up costs,
channeling injunctions in mass tort cases, state sovereign immunity, the
constitutionality of the bankruptcy courts, religious-entity
bankruptcies and the constitutionality of speech restrictions imposed on
consumer bankruptcy attorneys.
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This year’s problem
again raised two timely unresolved issues of bankruptcy law: (1) whether
class-skipping gifts are permissible in chapter 11 plans, and (2)
whether a provision of an intercreditor agreement authorizing a senior
creditor to vote the claim of a junior creditor is
enforceable. The fact
pattern and information about previous competitions can be accessed
at
face='Times New Roman' color='#0000ff'
size='3'>http://www.abiworld.org/moot/index.html
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>or
href='http://www.stjohns.edu/law/bankrutpcy'>
size='3'>www.stjohns.edu/law/bankrutpcy.
The event culminated with
the gala awards banquet at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers. More than 800
attended the event, including many of
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York’s leading
bankruptcy judges and practitioners.
###
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>ABI
size='3'>is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to
insolvency.
was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public
with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The
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size='3'>ABI
nearly 11,700 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors,
lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals,
providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For
additional information on
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>ABI
size='3'>, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference
information, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html'>
size='3'>http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>.