Florida State University Moot Court Team wins national advocacy competition

TALLAHASSEE—The Florida State University College of Law Moot Court  Team has won the 2010 Religious Freedom Moot Court Competition. This year’s competition was held February 5 in Washington, D.C., at George Washington University  Law School. This is the second time in the four-­year history of the competition that  Florida State has won first place. 

The  winning  team  members were  third­-year law  students Ana  Barton, from  Miami, and Steve Muscatello, from Boston. They were coached by Tallahassee attorney Arthur Stern. 

The Florida State University team defeated teams from the University of Minnesota in the semifinal round and Duke University in the final round. Other law schools competing in the field of 18 teams included Boston College, Brigham Young  University, George Mason University, George Washington University, the University of Arizona and the University of Iowa. The final round of competition was judged by Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit  and Milan Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

“We are all very proud of our Moot Court Team’s victory,” said Dean Don  Weidner. “This continues a tradition of extraordinary success.”