Congratulations to Stetson’s Military Law Moot Court team!
Please join me in congratulating Jack Clark, Audrey Hamilton, and Andrew Hetzler, who participated in the Brigadier General Wayne E. Alley Military Moot Court Competition this past weekend. This relatively new competition was hosted by the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps at the United States Army Advocacy Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The competition involved two issues—the applicability of the Fourth Amendment to a search of a cell phone and a home Wi-Fi router and whether the soldier’s statements to an officer, who was also an off-post pastor, were a confidential communication to a clergy member. The judging panels were amazing—Andrew and Jack argued in front of JAG officers, United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals judges, and United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces judges, as well as many trial court judges.
The team received so many positive compliments about how posed, prepared, and professional they were; how conversational their arguments were; and how well they knew the law and the facts. The Stetson team seemed to be the only team who really understood the standard of review. Even our “ambassadors,” two Stetson alums who are now JAG officers at For Belvoir, were very impressed at the quality of the team’s arguments.
Team advanced to the semifinals before losing a very, very close round to Texas Tech (who went on to win the competition). This is the furthest that any Stetson team has made it in this competition. AND the team scored a 97 out of 100 on their brief! In all her years of coaching, Professor Bowman has not seen a brief score that high. The brief judges wrote in their comments, “Arguments’ structure and substance were exceptionally well done. The writing is thoughtful and compelling. An excellent brief.”
Congratulations, Jack, Audrey, and Andrew!