Jacob Mojica, of Freeland, finishes 59th in national moot court tourney

2015 Jan 23

Jacob Mojica, of Freeland, was one of two Saginaw Valley State University students who placed 59th during January's American Collegiate Moot Court Association national tournament, the top national competition for moot court.

Mojica, a poltical science major, was on a team with student Rachel Cahill, a political science major from Niagara Falls.

The competition was Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16-17, in Miami.

"This was our best year at nationals, and both teams received a lot of positive comments for their professionalism and their behavior," said Julie Keil, the moot court team's advisor and an SVSU assistant professor of political science.

Mojica's team wasn't the only SVSU team competing at the tournament. Samantha Jackson, a political science major from Goodells, and Rachel Stocki, a business major from St. Clair, together placed 21st in the tournament. They advanced to the tournament’s second day before being eliminated by a team from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, which eventually won the tournament.

In a moot court competition, students act as attorneys in teams of two. They make arguments to a panel of judges by drawing from constitutional law and Supreme Court cases. Judges then decide winners based on public speaking ability, knowledge of cases and of law, and the ability to answer questions.

The two pairs of competitors earned the national tournament berths after performances during an earlier regional tournament at SVSU.

SVSU has qualified nine teams in national tournaments from 2010 to 2015.

Despite having a program for only a few years, SVSU is quickly establishing itself as one of the top undergraduate moot court programs in the country, finishing 2014 ranked No. 20 out of 75 colleges and universities competing in the American Collegiate Moot Court Association. In 2013, the university was ranked No. 25.