Left to right: Micah Fincher, David May, David Maples, Meagan Messina, and Erin Cesta.
Five students from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center beat out teams from 24 other law schools to become the U.S. Southwest Super Regional winners in the 2010 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition held Feb. 11-14, 2010.
The Jessup competition is the largest moot court competition in the world with law school participants from more than 80 nations.
Team captain David Maples along with Erin Cesta, Micah Fincher, David May, and Meagan Messina, as well as coach Jessica Orgeron, traveled to the University of Houston and competed to secure a place in the finals before beating the University of Texas in an exciting final round.
Maples along with teammate Meagan Messina competed in the final rounds to secure the victory for the team, but acknowledged they didn’t do it alone.
“Jessup is ultimately a team effort and the dedication shown by my team this year is truly humbling,” said Maples, noting the team received an award for 6th place overall team brief, and 8th place overall top oralist, Meagan Messina.
Messina praised the local legal community for its assistance as well. “It was a really challenging road making it to this point,” she said. “We would not have been able to get this far without help from the LSU Law faculty, and lawyers and judges within the Baton Rouge community.”
Coach Jessica Orgeron, an attorney with the State’s Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration and a Jessup semi-finalist last year, said she was excited to assist the team in getting ready this year.
“I’m so proud of the team for the stellar combination of talent, sportsmanship, hard work and commitment they demonstrated,” said Orgeron.
The team’s other coach, Kristen Lundin, also a member of last year’s Jessup semi-finalist team and now a Law Clerk for Judge Kathleen Stewart Richey, was unable to attend.
The team will now travel to Washington D.C. for the international rounds March 21-27 where it will compete against teams from all over the world.
