The 2019 Tullis Moot Court Competition bracket (click to enlarge)
Two teams of second-year LSU Law students will square off at 6 p.m. this evening in hopes of winning the 2019 Tullis Moot Court Competition.
A small reception recognizing the finalists—Emiley Dillon and Mary Katherine Loos, who will face classmates Kendall Dicke and John Parker—will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Lounge, with the finals to follow in the Robinson Courtroom.
Open to the public, the competition will also be livestreamed on the LSU Law Center Advocacy Programs’ Facebook page.
The final round of competition will see the teams presenting oral arguments in a hypothetical United States Supreme Court case, Brittney Cooper v. United States of America.
Set against the backdrop of the national opioid epidemic, the case asks the Supreme Court to consider: Whether individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in prescription drug records held in state databases of controlled substance prescriptions; and whether the administrative search and special needs exceptions to the probable cause and warrant requirements under the Fourth Amendment apply to searches of state databases of controlled substance prescriptions.
The final round will be judged by a panel of eminent attorneys and judges, including Jeff Landry, Attorney General for the State of Louisiana; Hon. Patrick J. Hanna, United States Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana; and Lindsay Blouin, Deputy District Defender, East Baton Rouge Parish Office of the Public Defender.
Named in honor of the late Dean Emeritus of the LSU Law Center, the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition has been a tradition of honor since 1936. Teams of second-year law students write an appellate brief in a hypothetical United States Supreme Court case and then argue the case to panels of attorneys and judges in an oral advocacy tournament. This tournament consists of two preliminary rounds, with the top 16 teams advancing to the elimination rounds. Those teams then compete in a one-loss elimination bracket until a champion is determined.
The two winners of the Tullis Competition have their names inscribed on the Tullis plaque, which is located outside the Law Center’s Robinson Courtroom. All four finalists receive automatic invitations to membership on the Board of Advocates in the following year. Awards are also given to the top oralists and best briefs, with the winners of the Best Brief and Best Oralist awards also receiving automatic invitations to membership on the Board of Advocates.
