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Baylor University School of Law Wins ABI’s 14^th Annual Moot Court Competition

MARCH 22, 2006, Alexandria, Va. —A team from the Baylor University School of Law won the 14th Annual Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition, defeating a team from the Mississippi College School of Law in the final round. A record 53 teams, comprised of 2-3 students each, from 38 American Bar Association (ABA)-accredited law schools took part in this year’s competition in New York from March 17-20. The competition, the nation’s only moot court competition devoted entirely to bankruptcy, is jointly sponsored by American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and St. John’s University School of Law, and is named for St. John’s alumnus and former ABI Director Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein.

The ABI Endowment Fund provided the first-place winners with $5,000 and the second-place team with a $3,000 prize. University of Tennessee College of Law and Hofstra University each received $1,500 for their third-place tie. The Mississippi College team also won for the Best Brief. Jose Jiminez, a student at the University of Miami School of Law, earned recognition as Best Oralist.

Leading  bankruptcy lawyers and judges helped judge the event, which included eight rounds of arguments. The final-round judges were Judge Thomas Ambro (U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit), Judge Stuart M. Bernstein (Chief Bankruptcy Judge, S.D.N.Y), Judge Melanie Cyganowski (Chief Bankruptcy Judge, E.D.N.Y.), Judge Edith Hollan Jones (Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit) and Judge Jeffrey Sutton (U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit).

This year’s event also commemorated the late Chief Judge Duberstein’s lifelong contributions to the bankruptcy system during a special tribute at the Gala Awards Banquet on March 20.

Further information on the 14^th Annual Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition, as well as information on previous winners, can be found at http://www.abiworld.org/moot/details.html.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 11,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.