The LSU Law John R. Brown National Admiralty Law Moot Court Competition team of Katelyn Bayhi, Hannah Crosby, Sarah Day, Michael Maldonado, Sarah Simmons and Jordan Zeringue in a Zoom practice with team coaches Dean Sutherland and Phillip Smith, and guest judge LSU Interim President Tom Galligan.
Competing virtually in the John R. Brown National Admiralty Law Moot Competition this weekend, a team of LSU Law students finished among the top four teams in the nation and brought home the Most Outstanding Law School award.
The team of law students Katelyn Bayhi, Hannah Crosby, Sarah Day, Michael Maldonado, Sarah Simmons and Jordan Zeringue had been set to travel to Portland, Maine, for the competition, but the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency changed those plans and forced all teams to compete virtually.
The LSU Law team won the Most Outstanding Law School award, which goes to the law school whose two teams combine for the best overall score. To commemorate the achievement, the team will be presented with a ceremonial oar mace—a replica of the colonial New York ViceAdmiralty Court’s silver oar mace that dates to the early 1700s and includes the English crown and anchor as engraved on the silver oar’s reverse side. LSU Law teams also won the award at last year’s competition.
The Most Outstanding Law School award won by the LSU Law team.
The top-seeded team from Duke University School of Law that bested the LSU Law team of Bayhi, Maldonado and Zeringue in the semifinals went on to win the overall championship. LSU Law team member Day was ranked as the seventh-best oral advocate in the competition.
The LSU Law team is coached by Adjunct Professor Dean Sutherland (LSU Law ’75), of counsel at Jeansonne and Remondet LLC; and Phillip Smith (’16), an associate attorney at NeunerPate.
LSU Law and its team would like to thank all of the guest judges who helped the team practice for the competition in the week leading up to the competition: LSU Interim President Thomas C. Galligan; U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles; former Admiralty Moot Court National Champions Arielle Minor Anderson (’17), Caroline Darwin (’17), Sara Kuebel (’18) and Jessie Finley (’18); and Chris Ortte and B. Lance Person, both of NeunerPate.
Three law firms—Jones Walker, Liskow & Lewis and Taylor Porter—had planned to host practices, which ultimately were forced online by COVID-19. LSU Law and its team gratefully acknowledges the support and generosity of Jeffrey Tillery and Sara Kuebel of Jones Walker; Gene Fendler of Liskow & Lewis; and “Skip” Phillips and Caroline Darwin of Taylor Porter.
