ND Law students advance to nationals of Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court tournament

Justin Maroni and Seth Sanders, both third-year Notre Dame Law students, and Henry Lay, a second-year student, won the Chicago regional of the Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition on February 15. Maroni and Sanders were the team’s oralists, and Lay assisted with brief writing.

The team completed virtually in four rounds against teams from Chicago-Kent College of Law, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin before being declared the winners. They move on to the national competition on February 27.

The case problem involved two issues: the applicability of the automatic stay and the apparent conflict between the Federal Arbitration Act and the bankruptcy code.

Adjunct Professor of Law Mark Telloyan, who coaches and advises the team, said, “Oralists Seth Sanders and Justin Maroni were indefatigable. Both improved each round and they were amazingly fluent in answering hard questions from renowned jurists like Eugene Wedoff. It was fun to observe the competition and I’m eager to see how they do at nationals."

The Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition is widely recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent moot court competitions. The competition is sponsored by St. John’s University School of Law and the American Bankruptcy Institute, and promotes and recognizes the finest oral and written advocacy on significant issues in bankruptcy practice.

Notre Dame Law School was a semi-finalist at the competition last year. This is the second time in three years that Notre Dame has won the regional round of the tournament.