National moot court team advances, one of just 26 teams in U.S. to do so

Brandeis Law School national moot court team’s success in the regional rounds of the National Moot Court Competition has made it possible for it to advance to the Region IV final round. 

The team, made up of 3Ls Andrew Denning and Jeremy Stochaj, advanced to the National Finals to be held in New York Jan. 29-31, 2024. Denning and Stochaj earned their place as one of only 26 teams from around the country who will represent their schools in New York. 

During the tournament held Nov. 15-17 in Richmond, Va., the team faced opponents from some of the best law schools in not only the region, but the nation. In advancing to the finals, they defeated teams from Washington & Lee and Duke in the preliminary rounds and then Campbell in the quarter-finals and Wake Forest in the semi-finals. “Each of their performances was superb, earning both high praise and high scores from the judges, as well as great compliments from their opponents and other schools’ coaches,” Professor and Moot Court Coach Sam Marcosson said.

In the final round, Denning and Stochaj participated in a renewal of the Bluegrass rivalry, facing a team from the University of Kentucky.  It was an extremely close round, in which the judges gave the nod to UK by less than a point.  The great part of the result is that the region will be represented at Nationals by both of the Kentucky schools.

“I couldn’t have been prouder, not only of the result they achieved, but also of the quality of their performance and the literally hundreds of hours of work they put in writing an outstanding brief and then preparing for the oral arguments” Marcosson said. “It is a great example of how hard work plus talent can pay off in a wonderful victory, validating for both Jeremy and Andrew that they are more than able to compete with and succeed against the best students from law schools around the nation.  They were also wonderful ambassadors for the law school, being gracious and friendly to everyone involved in the competition.

“I also am proud of our other team.  It was made up of second-year students Irie Ewers and Rezin Tuttle,” Marcosson said. “They faced the major hurdle of competing against teams made up almost entirely of third-year students who had more experience and more classes under their belts to prepare them to tackle the legal issues presented.  Although they didn’t advance to the elimination rounds, their work in every phase of the competition was terrific as well.”