Contact: Barb Anselmo, MSU College of Law, (517) 432-6848; or Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu
11/30/2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. � The Michigan State University College of Law Moot Court Team was awarded first place in the Annual National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition on Nov. 12-14 at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, Cal. This is the second consecutive year that an MSU Law team has captured the championship at the event.
With the help of persuasive oral arguments and a well written brief, the MSU Law team advanced through all six rounds of the competition, defeating Chicago-Kent in the quarter finals, Benjamin Cardozo Law School in the semi-finals, and University of California-Hastings in the final rounds.
Team members, all third-year law students, are William Cook of Otisville, team captain and oral advocate; Jeffrey Formanczyk of Rochester Hills, oral advocate; and Aaron Vorce of Haslett, brief writer.
During each year�s competition, participating teams argue a mock case related to entertainment law. This year�s case involved the development of a product to filter the language and visual displays of a potentially offensive DVD.
The event is especially competitive due to the caliber of the participating law schools and of the judges, who often are Los Angeles entertainment lawyers involved in similar cases. This year, 26 law schools from across the nation, including the University of Michigan, New York Law School and Wisconsin, sent teams to compete.
MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. The college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU�s East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus.
MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with Michigan State University this year, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college remains the nation�s oldest continually operating independent law school and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.