Monday, October 29, 2012

Sweet Sixteen

I have a spot of good news to report from GW Law!  I competed in the biggest competition at GW this weekend.  My teammate and I wrote two briefs totaling over 70 pages and then argued our case in front of a judge in two, 30-minute arguments.  Let me just tell you, there's little in this world more intimidating than staring at three judges who are trying purposefully to get you to slip up...  The final two teams in the competition argue in front of a panel of three distinguished judges.  Last year, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was one of the judges.  Justice Scalia and Justice Kennedy have also been past celebrity judges!

Anyway, my partner and I did well and we advanced to the Sweet Sixteen!  Out of all the competitors, our scores on the briefs and argument placed us in the top sixteen, and we are moving on to the next round.  Even if we get no further, I'm proud of mine and Kirk's work on this competition!  It's already a success in my book!

Just look at this work product:
That looks legit, right?

Funny story, after we--the petitioners--argued our piece in the first round, we got to argue a couple minutes of rebuttal to what the other team--the respondents--argued.  The way the competition is split up, my partner argues one issue and I argue the other issue, but in the rebuttal only one person can argue.  I was doing the rebuttal, so I was going to only briefly mention my partner's issue and then move on to talk about my issue.  The judges, however, immediately started asking me a lot of really specific questions about Kirk's issue!  I was in so far over my head when this one judge asked a question that sounded like Greek.  I had ZERO idea what he was talking about...

Judge:  "So is [some super complicated thing I still don't know about] the answer to the Contracts Clause issue?"

Catherine (looks up at her partner in hopes that he'll shake his head yes or no, and he stares back at her with a completely blank expression): .... Yes, your honor, absolutely!  Moving on to the Due Process Clause argument...

Later, the Judge told me after the competition that he could tell I really knew my partner's argument because I answered so confidently!  Hahahahahhaha he had no idea that I totally made up an answer!  Whew... I had a 50/50 shot and I guessed correctly!

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