April 12, 2011
Contact: John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Second-year student Samuel Rudman emerged as the winner of Michigan Law's Henry M. Campbell Moot Court competition Monday, the last student standing of more than 120 entrants who started competing early in the winter term.

(See a slideshow of April 11's Final Argument of the Moot Court competition.)

Rudman, who was also named the competition's Best Oralist, argued for the petitioners in a First Amendment case involving the rights of homeschooling parents to choose not to teach a state-mandated sex education curriculum. A panel of three sitting federal appellate court judges—Gerard E. Lynch of the Second Circuit, David B. Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit, and Helene White of our own Sixth Circuit—heard the arguments.

Rudman, of Charlestown, Mass., was pitted against 3L Michael Huston of Phoenix, who represented the fictitious State of Hutchins in the case.

Other honorees in the competition included:

BRIEF AWARDS
Best Petitioner Brief—Preliminary Round
Tomek Koszylko & Naomita Yadav

Best Respondent Brief—Preliminary Round
Caitlin Annatoyn & Jamie Grischkan

Best Petitioner Brief—Quarterfinal Round
Hilary Holland

Best Respondent Brief—Quarterfinal Round
Steven Shellenbarger

SEMIFINALISTS
Fifth Place
Michael Adler

(Tied) Third Place
Zach Dembo
Steven Shellenbarger

The Campbell Moot Court competition was established in 1926 and honors the 1878 Michigan Law graduate who founded the prominent Detroit law firm that became Dickinson Wright. Henry M. Campbell, the son of a renowned Michigan Supreme Court justice, helped draft Michigan's 1908 constitution. He also maintained close relations with the University of Michigan and argued the case that established the institution's constitutional autonomy in 1911. After Campbell's death in 1926, his law partners established the Campbell Moot Court competition to help train students at his alma mater in the finer points of appellate advocacy.