Cultural Heritage Moot Court Champions Crowned

Chicago-Kent College of Law won this past weekend's National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition held at the Dirksen federal courthouse in Chicago. The annual competition is sponsored by the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation and DePaul University College of Law.

Hon. Warren Wolfson, Hon. Warren J. Bauer, Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr.,
and Hon. Mary L. Mikva hear oral arguments from the moot court champions.

This year's moot court problem addressed legal topics surrounding the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, the law that implements the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Twenty teams from across the country submitted briefs.

Judges for the moot court finals hailed from two federal circuit courts of appeal and two Illinois state courts. They crowned Kelly O'Neill, Hannah Tuber, and Paulina Lopez the moot court champions. Lopez also won the award for best oralist.

Law professor and Cultural Property Advisory Committee Chair Patty Gerstenblith organized the competition, now in its fifth year. Contributing to the success of the program, which serves to educate law students about the nuances of cultural heritage law, were Lubna El-Gendi and eighty-four legal professionals who served as competition judges and brief graders.

CHL was honored to judge the quarter-final and semi-final rounds, which were skillfully argued by the law student contenders.

This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com