By Beth Shiller
On Saturday, one of the six two-person Youngstown State University moot court groups finished second overall in the American Collegiate Moot Court Association’s Annual Midwest Regional Tournament in Wooster. Seven universities and 80 competitors participated in the event.
The 12 students who competed for YSU received course credit for their semester-long participation. Some of the students had been preparing since May.
Three teams will compete at the national competition in January.
Josh Prest, a member of the YSU moot court, said he was very pleased with this tournament’s outcome.
“We represented YSU quite well this weekend and those of us going to Virginia in January represent YSU again,” he said.
Ron Slipski, director of moot court said he is proud of the work his students have accomplished.
“There was a lot of preparation and it was a lot of hard work, but I feel that the students enjoyed it, and took a lot away from this experience,” he said.
Mike Goldthwait, a member of the team, said he and his colleagues prepared by examining U.S. Supreme Court cases.
“They were usually on 1st and 14th amendment issues. We learned how to shape public speaking and our arguments to learn how the Supreme Court works,” he said.
The six finalists will begin preparations for nationals their course finals.Slipski said preparations for the national competition will be similarly formatted the same, but the questions and arguments will be harder.
“Nationals will be keener because YSU will be there,” Slipski said.
