A screenshot of the 2020 Tullis Moot Court Competition; (left to right, top to bottom) Sarah Perkins, Katie Fox, Cullen McDonald, Brennan O’Keefe, Ben Aguiñaga, Hon. Erin Wilder-Doomes, and Walt Green.
Second-year LSU Law students Katie Fox and Sarah Perkins won the 2020 Tullis Moot Court Competition on Monday, Oct. 26.
More than 100 people tuned into a Facebook live stream of the final round of competition, which was held via Zoom and in which Fox and Perkins competed against second-year LSU Law students Brennan O’Keefe and Cullen McDonald.
Serving as judges during the competition finals were the Hon. Erin Wilder-Doomes (’99), United States Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana; Walt Green, a partner at Phelps Dunbar and former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana; and Ben Aguiñaga (’15), an associate at Jones Day and former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
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 at the LSU Law Center since 1936. Teams of second-year law students write an appellate brief in a hypothetical 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.
