The Howard Payne University Moot Court team received numerous awards and ranked highly at the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association competition hosted by Texas Wesleyan Law School in Fort Worth. There were 46 teams from 13 schools represented at the competition, which was held October 15-16.
All five HPU teams placed in the top 17 at the competition, with four teams advancing to “octofinals,” the round of eight teams. Three teams advanced to the quarterfinal round including the team of sophomore Kelley Miller, from Boyd, Texas, and senior Robert Davis, from Universal City, Texas; the team of sophomore Jake Aschmutat, from Corpus Christi, Texas, and junior Adam Hardy, from Corpus Christi; and the team of junior Angela Haney from Denison, Texas, and junior Chandler Raine, from Mesquite, Texas.
Haney and Raine advanced to the Final Round and took runner-up in the competition. Furthermore, HPU received five of the top 10 speaker awards. Davis was named “Top Speaker” for the entire tournament. Also earning speaker awards were Aschmutat with second place, Raine with third place and Hardy with fifth place.
“This was one of the most dominant performances that I ever recall from our HPU Moot Court team,” said Dr. Justin Murphy, dean of the School of Humanities.
Additional HPU teams competing were the team of senior Bethany Peterson, from Lake Jackson, Texas, and freshman Bethany Berry, from Post, Texas; and the team of sophomore Elizabeth Davidson, from Georgetown, Texas, and freshman Elizabeth Rogers from Grand Junction, Colorado.
Under the director of Mandy Locker, J.D., assistant professor of criminal justice at HPU, the team will travel to Texas Tech Law School on October 22 and 23 for the Southwest Regional Tournament.
Moot Court is simulation of the appeals court process before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Gary D. Elliston Moot Court Endowment Fund was established in 2006 to provide funding for the HPU Moot Court program. The endowment covers costs incurred by the organization such as travel, lodging, entry fees, organizational dues to the TUMCA, and other costs related to participating in regional and national competitions.
