The Desmond Competition

For over three decades, this intramural competition gives participants the opportunity to argue a constitutional law case related to matters currently pending before the United States Supreme Court.

The Charles S. Desmond Moot Court Competition is the most prestigious appellate advocacy competition at the law school, attracting several local lawyers and judges to volunteer their time as judges. Accomplished lawyers from Western New York and law school professors judge competitors’ oral arguments in the preliminary and semi-final rounds, while federal and state judges evaluate the finalists. Competitors also submit a written brief formatted using the rules to the United States Supreme Court.

Organized by the School of Law's Buffalo Moot Court Board, the Desmond competition is one of the most popular courtroom competitions the school offers. The competition is open to all second-and third-year law students annually.

2022 Charles S. Desmond Moot Court Competition

Our 2022 competition will be held in-person!

Thursday, Oct. 27 to Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022

Volunteer to be a Judge

Buffalo Moot Court Board

LEADERSHIP

President: Carolyn Duttweiler
Vice-President: Eric Klementowski
Treasurer: Joshua Larmon
Public Relations Director: David Burgio
Weschler Competition Co-Chairs: Matthew Mason and Jordan Einhorn
Desmond Competition Co-Chairs: Matthew Mason and Jordan Einhorn

Faculty Adviser: Lucinda Finley

Contact Us
For additional questions or comments regarding the competition, please contact:

Buffalo Moot Court Board
University at Buffalo School of Law
404 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo NY 14260
law-bmcb@buffalo.edu

2021 Competition Results

Our annual intramural Charles S. Desmond Moot Court Competition concluded on Saturday, November 6. After four rounds of arguments, the final rounds were judged by Dean Aviva Abramovsky, Professor Lucinda Finley and Professor Anthony O'Rourke.

Congratulations to Joshua Larmon '23 and Lucy Shephard '23, overall winners. Second place team was Nicholas Ramirez '22 and Kimberly VanOpdorp '22.

Here are the competition results:

Overall Winning Team: Joshua Larmon ‘23 and Lucy Shephard ‘23
Second: Nicholas Ramirez ’22 and Kimberly VanOpdorp ’22 (VanOpdorp was unable to participate in the oral argument portion of the competition.)
Top Brief: Jordan Einhorn '23 and Matthew Mason '23
Second: Joshua Larmon ’23 and Lucy Shephard ‘23
Top Oralist: Joshua Larmon ‘23
Second: Jordan Einhorn '23

Teams that made it to the semifinals and didn't advance were:

Eric Klementowski '23 and Carolyn Duttweiler '23
Alexjandro Ocasio '23 and David Burgio '23

Final arguments were live-streamed, watch a recording of the final-round arguments here.

A big thank you to the Buffalo Moot Court Board, all the teams who participated, as well as to the teams of judges who made this year’s competition another huge success!