Two teams from Wayne State University Law School competed in the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition’s St. Louis Regional moot court recently. The team of Bonnie Smith (Farmington Hills) and Frances Murphy (Royal Oak), oralists, and brief writer Nick Ranke (Bloomfield Hills) advanced to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated by the team from Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, which won the regional contest.

Also competing were Wayne Law students Kyle Kamidoi and Ryan Fishman, oralists, with brief writer Stephen Frey.

The teams are made up of third-year students selected through competitive tryouts, and work hard throughout most of the year to get ready for the event, which involves a hypothetical appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. This year’s topic was false arrest, malicious prosecution and the Fourth Amendment.

Murphy said that her team was “ranked in the highest of the middle brackets, thanks to Nick’s well-written brief.”

Legal Writing Instructor Amy Neville travelled with the teams and served as faculty advisor.

The competitors said they were grateful to her and other faculty members, alumni and local practitioners who helped them prepare in practice arguments, and also thanked the Law School’s Business Office staff for helping arrange their funding, travel and accommodations.

The teammates have selected their successors for next year: oralists Lauren Saad, Kevin McQuillan, Wade Fink and Katie LaForest; and briefwriters Blair Gould and Katie Morin. Evan Malinowski was selected as alternate.

Photo caption: (Left to Right) Wayne State University Law School ABA national moot court teammates Bonnie Smith (Farmington Hills), Frances Murphy (Royal Oak) and Nick Ranke (Bloomfield Hills) share a moment after the competition in St. Louis.