Accolades: Jessup Moot Court Team Advances to International Rounds

The University of Virginia School of Law’s Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team has advanced to the international rounds, among other achievements and recognition for members of the Law School community.

The Jessup team — Daniel Elliott ’24, captain Claudia Frykberg ’25, Daisy Johnston ’26, Neil Noronha ’26 and Jessica Williams ’25 — advanced to the semifinals in the U.S. Eastern Regional competition after starting 4-0 in the preliminary rounds. The international rounds begin March 30, where a record 674 teams will represent 100 jurisdictions.

The team’s honors in the regional competition included ninth place for memorials, or written pleadings, and sixth place for Elliott and 14th place for Noronha for best oralist out of 190 candidates. A cadre of alumni, faculty and other advisers supports the team each year, said coach Megan Strand ’08.

Competitors not only hone their writing and argument skills, but also learn about international law and national security law topics along the way.

“The team tackled issues relating to traitors and crooks, the right to political expression, statelessness, the right to a nationality and the scope of the U.N. Security Council’s authority in the pacific settlement of disputes,” said Strand, who coaches alongside Lauren Sandground ’18.

The competition was co-founded in 1959 by members of the Law School’s J.B. Moore Society of International Law. One of the best brief awards is named in honor of former UVA Law contracts professor and dean Hardy C. Dillard ’27.

Block To Research Youth Gun Violence

Professor Andrew Block will conduct research into youth gun violence prevention as one of 21 Spring Point Partners Learners in Residence. He will partner with UVA psychology professor Lucy Guarnera, who is on the faculty of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy. The program is providing them 18 months of funding.

Block directs the State and Local Government Law Clinic, and formerly served as director of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice.

Brown Visiting at Trinity College Dublin

Professor Darryl Brown ’90 is spending the spring semester as a visiting scholar at Trinity College Dublin, where he is working with Irish colleagues on issues related to challenges for criminal justice administration in the context of states experiencing forms of democratic erosion.

Brown is the O. M. Vicars Professor of Law and Hunton Andrews Kurth Professor of Law. He is the author of “Free Market Criminal Justice: How Democracy and Laissez Faire Undermine the Rule of Law.”

3Ls Win Essay Competition

The Virginia Law Review Online announced the winners of the 2023 Student Essay Competition on Jan. 25. Samantha Blond ’24 won for “Cyber Vulnerabilities as Trade Secrets,” and Hayley Brower ’24 and Daniel McCray ’24 won for “20/20 Hindsight and Looking Ahead: The Vision of the Five Eyes and What’s Next in the ‘Going Dark’ Debate.” The contest focused on how technological advances have created or enhanced certain problems, and how the law may address these concerns.

1Ls Advance to NBLSA Moot Court Nationals

Rachel St. Louis ’26 and Kasey Michaud ’26 will compete in the national Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition, hosted in Houston by the National Black Law Students Association, from March 6-10 after finishing third in regionals this month in Baltimore. Kelsey Frizell ’26 and Miles Cooper ’26 won for Best Respondents’ Brief in the regionals.

Library Archives Clinic’s Work

The State and Local Government Policy Clinic’s work for the Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia Law has been preserved with a new archival collection maintained by the Arthur J. Morris Law Library. Professor Andrew Block, the clinic’s director, was vice chair of the commission, established by Gov. Ralph Northam in 2019. The commission’s reports analyzed Jim Crow laws that were never repealed, examined the lingering effects of these laws and recommended a series of policies to address racial inequities. The commission’s work resulted in the repeal of segregation-era laws, the passage of legislation to address ongoing racial disparities, and budgetary actions and proposals by the Northam administration.