Annual Rutgers Law–Camden Student Moot Court Competition Serves Up Fictional Casino Case

Since 1989, the Rutgers Law Hunter Moot Court Competition offers a yearlong five-credit course, focusing on written advocacy in the fall and oral advocacy in the spring. The program culminates in the spring, when 64 students, selected from 175, compete in two-person teams to present a winning oral argument.

This year’s simulation is set at a science fiction-themed casino in Atlantic City, conjured by the student board members.  The plaintiff sued for pregnancy discrimination after being removed from her lucrative “Neon Nymph” position, when she returned to work with a Caesarian scar and unfit abdominal area that was exposed in her required outfit.

Grappling with whether or not a business can sell sex a little bit, the simulation was argued in front of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. During the final round on April 3, held at the federal courthouse in Camden, actual presiding judges included the Honorable A. Kent Jordan, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; the Honorable Anne M. Patterson, Associate Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court; and the Honorable Jerome B. Simandle, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

According to Ruth Anne Robbins, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Lawyering Programs at Rutgers Law–Camden, who taught the program with colleagues Professors Barbara K. Gotthelf and Louis R. Moffa, Jr., all of the students in the finals represented Rutgers exceptionally well. “They demonstrated the depth of talent that our students offer to the bar and to future clients,” says Robbins. “Students remained poised, respectful, and yet, confident and persuasive, in answering no matter what questions the judges asked.”

Rutgers Law students Keith Nagy and Meha Siaym, who represented Futura Casino, were selected by the judges as the winners, and Dan DeFiglio, who with Aysha Ames represented the plaintiff, identified as best oralist.

All three judges praised the student attorneys for their arguments, and Judge Jordan in particular expressed his admiration for the students’ efforts in the annual competition that is dedicated to lifelong South Jersey resident the Honorable James Hunter III. “I wish I had talent in law school that you do now,” he said. Another judge added, “Thank you Rutgers–Camden for putting together this terrific problem.”

The problem was so terrific that the law school faculty at University of Nevada-Las Vegas has borrowed the simulation and adapted it for the Ninth Circuit.