KU News Release

KU moot court team wins spot in national competition

KU Law students, clockwise from bottom left, Michael Crabb, Brian Nye, Lindsey Heinz and Daniel Morris competed last weekend in the regional rounds of the National Moot Court Competition.

LAWRENCE — A moot court team from the University of Kansas School of Law will compete in the national rounds of the National Moot Court Competition after advancing to the finals of the regional contest over the weekend.

Lindsey Heinz and Michael Crabb will travel to New York City in January to represent KU in the oldest and largest competition of its kind. They earned their spot during the Region IX competition Nov. 14-15 in Lincoln, Neb.

A second KU team composed of Brian Nye and Daniel Morris also performed well at the regional level. Both teams were undefeated in preliminary rounds, and both advanced to the semifinals — defeating teams from Washburn University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Nebraska, the University of Arkansas and others along the way.

Nye and Morris lost in the semifinals by a narrow margin to a St. Louis University team. In the final round, Heinz and Crabb argued their case before Joseph Bataillon and Lyle Strom, U.S. District Court judges for the District of Nebraska, and Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican. Heinz and Crabb finished second and ultimately won the award for the best respondent brief.

The KU advocates won the right to compete in Lincoln after emerging as the top two teams in the law school’s in-house Moot Court Competition last spring. The competition requires second-year students to analyze legal issues similar to those currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Students must write a brief and make an oral argument as if they were appearing before the court. Heinz, Crabb, Nye and Morris couldn’t have had a more realistic experience, as Chief Justice John Roberts presided over in-house arguments in May.

More than 130 law schools participate each year in the National Moot Court Competition, co-sponsored by the Young Lawyers Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American College of Trial Lawyers. The competition encourages the art of appellate advocacy among law students.

KU teams have historically performed well in the national competition, reaching the quarterfinals twice in the past decade and placing first in the nation twice.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Overland Park
Michael Crabb, a third-year law student, graduated from Blue Valley High School and received a bachelor’s in public relations and speech communication from Kansas State University. He is the son of Tony and Carol Crabb.

Brian Nye, a third-year law student, graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School and received a bachelor’s in political science from KU. He is the son of Mike and Jana Nye.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita
Daniel Morris, a third-year law student, graduated from Wichita High School West and received a bachelor’s in language and literature from Sterling College. He is the son of Michael and Donna Morris.

OKLAHOMA
From Norman
Lindsey Morse Heinz, a third-year law student, graduated from Norman High School and received a bachelor’s in English from KU. She is the daughter of David and Judy Morse.

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