Tulane BLSA Moot Court team clinches national championship title – again
The BLSA Moot Court Appellate Team is once again the national champions of the Thurgood Marshall National Moot Court Competition, the third time in four years.
Tulane Law School’s BLSA team – comprised of second-year law students Daevon Adams and Robert Morrison III – took home the top prize at the 57th Annual NBLSA National Conference and had earlier become the Southwest Regional BLSA champions, sending them to the national competition. This win solidifies Tulane Law’s legacy with the National Black Law Student Association where teams have successfully won the competition almost every year since 2022.
Adams and Morrison were coached by head coach August Simien and assistant coach Ehsun Qamar, both 3Ls.
“With this win, the Tulane BLSA Appellate program has asserted its dominance by winning the last four consecutive regional championships and three out of the last four national championships, solidifying us as having the best moot court program in the country,” said Simien.
Adams and Morrison argued a case that centered around whether the restriction of medical treatments for transgender minors violates parental rights under the Due Process Clause and their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The championship round, held at the Richard B. Russel Federal Building and U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Atlanta, pitted Tulane Law against a team from New York University Law, and was heard by Federal Immigration Judge Winfield Murray, and attorneys Caambridge Horton and DeAngelo A. Levette (the author of the case packet).
“Daevon and Robert delivered a passionate and persuasive argument supported by an abundance of caselaw and cites to the record,” said Simien. “Although it seems as if winning is expected, I'd like to emphasize that this is no easy feat. We logged a tremendous amount of hours perfecting our arguments and preparing for any questions that might be asked. The key was that we were more prepared than everyone else, and we were rewarded for our hard work and determination.”
The BLSA Moot Court Program, which formally merged with the Tulane Moot Court Program in 2020, has had extraordinary success. In the past five years, it has placed teams in the top rankings, including a clean sweep in 2022 where the Tulane national champs won the Appellate Competition, First Place overall, Best Brief, and Best Oralist titles.
“Taking top honors in a national contest as prestigious as the Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition takes an extraordinary amount of work and talent,” said law Dean Marcilynn Burke. “The success of our BLSA Moot Court is a testament to the hard work of our student leaders in the program and we are enormously proud of their achievements!”
