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Alumnus wins moot court competition

Danny Lewin, class of 2006 GBS alumnus, won the moot court competition at the University of Michigan (UM) Law School April 2.

According to Lewin, moot court is a “simulated oral argument” in which attorneys argue in front of a mock United States Supreme Court.

However, moot court is different from a traditional mock trial in several key ways, according to Lewin.

“Moot court simulates the appellate process where it’s just two people talking about the law and arguing about different cases instead of trying to prove one thing or the other,” Lewin said.

This year, the moot court topic was whether or not the individual mandate of the health care reform bill was constitutional. In President Obama’s health care bill, the individual mandate is a provision that requires citizens to purchase health care and threatens punishment for those who do not.

In the final round, Lewin defended the constitutionality of the law, but he argued both sides of the topic at different times during the competition.

Moot court took place within UM and did not involve other schools. The competition sporadically occurred from November to April, and it involved a traditional tournament structure, according to Lewin.

“We have a preliminary round, where you have four or five arguments, and then [the judges] just rate you on your speaking, and not your legal analysis,” Lewin said. “Then the top however-many-people move on to quarter-finals, and from there it’s elimination.”

According to Lewin, he felt prepared for the writing section, which is another component of moot court.

“[…] You have to write a 15-page legal brief about the issues,” Lewin said. “I wrote for the newspaper in college, and that was a really helpful thing.”

However, Lewin attributes his success in moot court mostly to his time on the GBS debate team.

“Debate is definitely a huge part of it,” Lewin said. “That’s sort of what really had me primed to go. And I think in this tournament a lot of successful people had done debate before – that’s a huge component in it.”

According to Tara Tate, GBS head debate coach, who coached Lewin at GBS, debate provides a number of skills that can lead to success in other areas, specifically in the legal field.

“Critical thinking skills is probably the first one that comes to your list,” Tate said. “Certainly, attorneys most directly mirror what we do in debate, because it’s about advancing arguments and the ability to cross-examine your opponent, and debate translates over to law research – and also sometimes being able to defend positions that you may not personally believe, which is a huge part of debate.”

According to Lewin, debate can help with public speaking and strategizing for arguments.

“You have to think about which arguments are most important for you to win and how you could beat the other side’s arguments,” Lewin said. “There are a ton of different ways to distinguish yourself at Michigan, and this is essentially our ‘debate tournament.’”

According to Lewin, nothing external comes from winning, but his overall experience proved memorable.

“It was a wonderful honor to participate and win,” Lewin said. “I got to meet Federal Appellate judges and shake hands with the dean, but at this point, it’ll be a nice memory and a line on my resume.”

Although nothing more results from winning moot court, Lewin appreciated the honor and was excited about the outcome.

“I felt great,” Lewin said. “It was really wonderful. I was not expecting to go even to the quarterfinals, so it was a surprise every step of the way, and it was really a wonderful feeling.”

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