UH Law Students Win Top Awards at Columbia University Moot Court Competition

University of Hawai‘i law students will bring home coveted awards from a national competition held at Columbia University Law School on February 25 and 26.

• Second year law student Elika Stimpson won 3rd Place in the Best Oralist category.


• Third year Law students Keani Alapa and Maxwell Kopper won 1st Place in the Best Advocate (formerly Best Overall) category.

Another third year law student duo composed of Jeannin Russo and Mark Jensen argued in the semi-final (“final four”) round; the UH law school represented one-half of the top four teams at the competition.

The competitionʻs elimination rounds began at 9am on February 26 with the top 16 teams. The William S. Richardson School of Law had four teams participating representing one-quarter of the top 16 teams.

Bill Meheula, a Honolulu attorney who accompanied the team said, “All our students were awesome, everyone did very well.” The University of Hawaiʻi team is composed of 11 students: Keani Alapa, Maria Carmichael, Tyler Gomes, Mark Jensen, Sarah Kaopuiki, Maxwell Kopper, Ana Won Pat-Borja, Adam Roversi, Jeannin Russo, Elika Stimpson, and Sherilyn Tavares.

The National Native American Law Students Association has sponsored this competition since 1993. The William S. Richardson School of Law first participated in the competition in 1994. Between 1997 and 2011, the law school has earned a total of 23 awards in this competition.

State v. Pratt - A Native Hawaiian Rights Case

We will livestream the discussion live on this blog on Thursday.

To learn more about the State v. Pratt case, check out Ben Lowenthal's blog post by CLICKING HERE.

Rare Panel of Judges

Last night Richardson law students had an opportunity to argue in front of a rare panel of judges: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Clifton, Federal District Court Judge David Ezra, and Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald. Before oral arguments began Judge Ezra announced to the moot court team and the audience that "This is the first time in the history of Hawaii that you have three of the highest ranking judges on the same panel: the Ninth Circuit, the federal district court, and the Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice."

Climate Change Panel

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Law Students Argue in Front of Justice Alito & Judge Clifton

On January 27th, 2011, law students from the William S. Richardson School of Law's Native American Moot Court team made oral arguments before U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Clifton.

In this photo, third year law student Maxwell Kaanohi Kopper represented Judge Chippewa and the Rabbit River Tribe with his co-counsel Keani Alapa. Maxwell described arguing in front of Justice Alito as an event he'll "never forget."


Pictured above from left to right are Maxwell Kopper, Keani Alapa, Justice Samuel Alito, Judge Richard Clifton, Jeannin Russo, and Mark Jensen.

Justice Alito and Judge Clifton also took a photo with the Hawaii Native American Law Students Association chapter.

Summer Job Opportunities in Native Hawaiian Law

Watch our panel discussion below.