RALEIGH — For the first time in the law school’s history, Campbell Law advocates placed in the top 1% of the nearly 400 teams participating in the 27th Vienna Willem C. Vis Moot Court Competition, officials announced today.
“The Vienna edition of the moot officially concluded 2 hours ago, with the announcement of the final awards in all categories,” wrote Professor Raluca Papadima in a congratulatory email. “I am beyond happy to report that, in addition to making it to the elimination round (top 64 teams) and then advancing through the elimination rounds to the 17th place in the overall oral phase of the competition (top 6% out of 280 teams that participated in the online oral rounds), we achieved an even more spectacular result in the written competition.”
Campbell Law advocates won an honorable mention, 4th place ex aequo, for their written memorandum for respondent out of the 398 law schools that participated in the written phase of the competition despite having to compete at all hours of the night and earlier morning on Vienna time.
“That effectively places Campbell Law in the top 1%, said Papadima, who is the team’s coach. “The only other U.S. law school that received an honorable mention was Harvard Law,” she said. “I am incredibly proud of our students and of this result, which also confirms that our law school effectively prepares our students for excellent legal writing and research.
“Once again, the magnificent seven that achieved this result are: Adella Shaffer, Robert Pearson, Oumayma El Hamzaoui, Peyton L. Derrow, Miller Capps and Rebecca Skahen (in no particular order) and their student coach, Daniel Goldstein. They made history for Campbell by prominently placing our law school on the international map.”
You can congratulate the team on their Facebook page, where they have posted their step-by-step journey during the past nine months, according to Professor Papadima: https://www.facebook.com/CampbellVisTeam/.
Dean J. Rich Leonard added, “This is an incredible accomplishment and more than justifies our decision to make the Vis a critical part of our advocacy program. Can’t wait until next year.”
This accomplishment comes on the heels of the team’s stellar showing in March at the virtual 17th Vis East Moot, where they also made history by also earning honorable mentions, or fourth place ex aequo out of more than 130 universities, for both written memoranda: the Claimant’s and Respondent’s.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 4,200 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2019, Campbell Law celebrated 40 years of graduating legal leaders and 10 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.