National Appellate Advocacy Team Wins Moot Court Competition

Rutgers Law School’s National Appellate Advocacy Team members Brian Clark (3LE) and Joe Grushko (3L) took the top prize in the Thurgood Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition in Washington, DC. The team won the competition out of a highly competitive field of 40 schools.

To win, the team was evaluated on their U.S. Supreme Court brief and on their performances in six rounds of oral arguments against different teams and different panels of judges. The team defeated every law school it faced, including Howard University School of Law, University of California College of Law San Francisco, St. Mary's School of Law, University of Dayton School of Law, and UCLA School of Law.

This year's problem involved an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that asked whether excessive force claims should be evaluated under the “moment of the threat” doctrine and whether police officers enjoyed qualified immunity for breaking an elderly woman’s arm while executing a search warrant. The team collectively wrote a 25-page brief, which included thorough analyses of Fourth Amendment and qualified immunity precedents.

The final round featured intense questioning from five judges, including the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Kevin A. Ohlson. Each of the judges praised our advocates’ responsiveness to the bench's questions and their ability to give cogent arguments. The judges also commended our advocates’ passion and mastery of the case law.

In addition to winning the competition, Grushko won best advocate in the competition, besting more than 75 other advocates. Clark and Grushko also won the award for the second-best brief, beating out 38 other law schools.

“The team represented Rutgers Law superbly,” said Distinguished Practice Professor Andrew Rossner, Associate Dean for Professional Education.

“We are thrilled that our hard work was rewarded with a championship against elite competition,” Clark said. “This title is one of the many invaluable experiences provided by the National Appellate Advocacy Team that will benefit our legal careers.”

Grushko added, “Our win is a testament to our coaches not only enabling us but also encouraging us to be creative in our arguments.”

The Rutgers Law School National Appellate Advocacy Team is based in Newark and directed by Stephen Marietta ’17, with assistance from Collin Schaffhauser ’23 and Joe Bavolar ’24, both former appellate team members. The Team represents Rutgers Law in intermural appellate advocacy competitions around the country.

“Brian and Joe put in countless hours in preparation and were a joy to coach,” Marietta said. “The pair fully committed themselves to mastering the finer points of appellate advocacy—and the results show it. They should be very proud.”

Since the appellate team was revamped several years ago, it has continued to raise Rutgers Law’s profile in appellate advocacy. Under Marietta’s direction, the team has become a model for training appellate advocates in written and oral advocacy.

The championship at the Thurgood Marshall Competition is the third win for Rutgers Law School in intermural appellate competitions in the past three years. Clark and Grushko’s second-best brief award is also the seventh brief award Rutgers has won during Marietta’s tenure.

Many thanks to Sylvia Cohn '81 for her generous support of the National Appellate Team and the Law School's Appellate Advocacy program through the David and Albert L Cohn Appellate Advocacy Fund.