A total of 28 students on 14 teams participated in the 2012-2013 Traynor Moot Court Competition. Each team submitted an appellate brief, and on February 23 all 28 students presented two oral arguments before various panels of volunteer judges.
Eight teams advanced from the first weekend to participate in the second round held on March 8. Those eight teams were:
- Oriene Shin and Alexandra McCallum
- John Palmer and Adam Knorr
- Stephen Dent and Jeremy Christiansen
- Shane Stroud and Tegan Troutner
- Ian Quiel and Taylor Mosolf
- John Robinson and Kirsten Allen
- Preston Christensen and Jonathan Gold
- Daniel Boyer and Nathan Marigoni
The eight teams above presented two more oral arguments before more seasoned panels of volunteer judges. Two of those teams advanced to the final round:
- Stephen Dent and Jeremy Christiansen
- Daniel Boyer and Nathan Marigoni
On April 4, those two teams will argue before a distinguished panel of three judges that will include the 2013 Jurist in Residence, Justice Christine M. Durham of the Utah Supreme Court. Justice Durham was Chief Justice from 2002 to 2012, and in 2007 she received the William H. Rehnquist award for judicial excellence. She will be joined by two other judges to be announced soon.
Organizer Troy Booher, an adjunct professor at the College of Law, thanked a number of people who make the competition possible: “Carolynn Westenskow did her usual amazing job. The National Team also helped greatly on both Saturdays as well as by coaching the teams as they prepared their oral arguments. The members of the National Team are Laurie Abbott, Dick Baldwin, Nate Mitchell, Adrienne McKelvey, Ryan Beckstrom, and Jeff Van Hulten. Also, a number of first year students served as bailiffs each Saturday. Thank you to all of them as well.”