A Short History of Moot Court at CSULB

CSULB is one of seven schools to win a national moot court championship.  It did so in 2003 when CSULB juniors Tommy Hartnett and Ja’Nene Hall finished first at that year’s American Collegiate Moot Court Association (ACMA) tournament.  In the year’s since six additional CSULB teams have reached the elimination rounds: three of which reached the sweet sixteen.  On student, Katelyn North, advanced to two sweet-sixteens.  In addition, several CSULB students, including Hartnett, Jalyn Wang and Kirstin Brown have won individual oratory or written brief awards at the national tournament.

Starting in 2006-07, teams had to earn bids to the national championship through a series of automatic and at-large-bids.  In addition, the national finals adopted a seeding system in 2006-07.  These changes have made it more difficult to reach, and succeed, at the national tournament.

In 2006-07, CSULB senior Michalyn Thomas, paired in a hybrid team with Will Glaser (a junior from Patrick Henry College), became the first CSULB student in history to be on a team that earned an automatic bid. Paige McCormack and Shelia Soroushian and Kristin Hallak and Jillian Martins became the first CSULB teams to earn an at-large-bids. CSULB’s three teams performed ably at the national event (held in VA) against stiff competition.

2007-08 proved a better year at nationals for the CSULB squad.  The program again earned three bids to nationals.  A hybrid of Mason Taylor and Anna Accomazzo (a freshman from Patrick Henry College) earned an automatic bid.  In addition, CSULB teams of Paige McCormack (the only CSULB student to earn two bids to nationals) and Muhammad Ataya and  Melissa Sanchez and Ted McNamara earned at-large-bids.  Traveling to Iowa in January, CSULB took along an alternate, senior Lindsay Nelson.  When fate (and the weather) kept two teams from attending the national tournament, Nelson teamed with Justin Jenkins (a junior from Patrick Henry College) to form a hybrid.  The two hybrids survived to the elimination rounds with Taylor and Accomazzo missing a trip to the Sweet Sixteen by a mere two points.  The team of McCormack and Ataya just missed becoming CSULB’s third member of the round of 32.

In 2008-09, three teams from CSULB garnered automatic bids.   Heather Pegg and Tim Appelbaum, Laila Nikaien and Reema Abboud, and Nicole Wilson and Edgar Gutierrez competed at Chapman Law School in Orange County.  Two teams advanced to elimination rounds with one, Pegg and Appelbaum, reaching the sweet 16.  These were the first non-hybrid CSULB students to earn automatic bids and the first to reach the elimination rounds since the tournament went to a bid and seeding system. 

The following is a list of CSULB students who have reached elimination rounds at the national tournament:

Year                    Team                                              How far the team advanced

2003                    Hartnett and Hall                        National Champions

2005                    North and Banchero                   Sweet 16

2006                    North and Koegel                       Sweet 16

2009                    Pegg and Appelbaum                  Sweet 16