On Wednesday. March 9, 2022, MIPLA held another successful version of its annual MIPLA Cup, an oral advocacy competition that serves as a friendly competition between the teams from three local law schools who are also competing in the AIPLA's national Giles Rich Moot Court Competition.
This year, like last year, the MIPLA Cup followed the format of the regional rounds for the Giles Rich Competition by conducting the whole thing remotely – reflecting the reality of arguing a case in the continuing pandemic. We are hopeful that in 2023, we can return to an in-person format. Nonetheless, it was good to be back "in court."
The teams all argued the case well, leading to very close scoring by the judges, but in the end, teams from University of St. Thomas Law School grabbed first and second place. Congratulations to Natalie Thomas and Sara Engemann for winning 1st Place and to Jessica Hughes and Javier Romay for nabbing 2nd Place. This year, MIPLA awarded a total of $3,000 in scholarships for the students' efforts.
We also thank Tony Zeuli from Merchant & Gould and new-to-the-bench Navin Ramalingam from Robins Kaplan. These judges served very well and were generous with their time and advice to the participants. We already look forward to next year's MIPLA Cup!
Submitted by Kevin Conneely
