March 2008
March 27, 2008
Contact John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A Michigan Law tradition dating back more than 80 years culminated in honors for Marcus Bach-Armas and Dario Borghesan, whose arguments at the Henry M. Campbell Moot Court finals March 27 netted them the championship.
The questions involved whether the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides an individual right to possess firearms, and whether it’s legal for police to detain a bystander outside an apartment where a search warrant is being served. Bach-Armas and Borghesan, both third-year students, argued for the petitioner, while fellow 3Ls Brittany Parling and Jeff Kelsey argued for the respondent.
Both teams left Moot Court judges Pierre Leval, Diana Motz, and Brett Kavanaugh – all federal appeals court judges – impressed. The teams did “a fantastic job,” Kavanaugh said, and are “a credit to the school, to you, and your professors.”
Kelsey was chosen Best Oralist, and a pair of second-year students, Manoj Ramia and Steve Robinson, captured Best Brief honors for a piece written in an earlier round.
The Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition was established in 1926 and honors the 1878 Michigan law graduate who founded the Detroit law firm that became Dickinson Wright. Competition lasts much of the year, and is open to all second- and third-year students, as well as to LL.M., visiting, and dual-degree students.
March 20, 2008
Contact John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With a highly sought-after appeals court clerkship under his belt, 2007 Michigan Law graduate Shiva Nagaraj has added to an already formidable resume with a coveted Bristow Fellowship at the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office.
Only four Bristow Fellows are chosen every year, according to the Justice Department. All are required to have excellent academic records, and most also have completed a one-year judicial clerkship.
Bristow Fellows help draft briefs in opposition to certiorari filed against the United States in the Supreme Court, and also make recommendations to the Solicitor General about potential appeals in lower courts. They also work with staff attorneys to write briefs on the merits in Supreme Court cases and help prepare for oral argument in the Supreme Court.
The Bristow Fellowships are named after the first U.S. Solicitor General, Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky. He was appointed shortly after the Civil War by President Ulysses S. Grant after serving as U.S. Attorney in his home state, where he had helped quell a tide of Ku Klux Klan violence that arose after the Civil War. He also helped break up a burgeoning trade in illegal Kentucky whiskey.
After a successful career as Solicitor General he became Treasury Secretary before retiring to private practice, where he founded one of the East Coast’s prominent law firms. He also served as president of the American Bar Association.
Nagaraj comes to the Bristow Fellowship after a year-long clerkship with Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
March 19, 2008
Contact John Masson, 734.647.7352, jpmasson@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Finalists in Michigan Law’s 82-year-old Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition are putting a last coat of polish on their finely-honed arguments as the day of the finals in the annual competition approaches.
Final arguments before judges Pierre Leval, Diana Motz, and Brett Kavanaugh – all federal appeals court judges – are scheduled for 4 p.m. March 27 in Hutchins Hall’s Honigman Auditorium. Two teams of third-year Michigan Law students will face off in the case: Brittany Parling and Jeff Kelsey on one side, and Dario Borghesan and Marcus Bach-Armas on the other. Both teams have already survived two rounds of preliminary competition.
This year’s fictitious case resembles a real one being argued this week at the U.S. Supreme Court. Participants will address, among other issues, whether the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution recognizes an individual right to possess firearms. They’ll also try to sort out the legality of police detaining a bystander outside an apartment where a search warrant is being served – even if the officers had no particular reason to believe that person was involved in the criminal activity covered in the warrant.
The Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition was established in 1926 and honors the 1878 Michigan law graduate who founded the Detroit law firm that became Dickinson Wright. Competition is open to all second- and third-year students, as well as to LL.M., visiting, and dual-degree students.
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