2010 Van Vleck Competition
Braveman and Swartzfager Win Van Vleck Finals Before First All-Female Bench in Competition’s History
Lisa Swartzfager, Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, Judge Susan P. Graber, Judge Debra A.
Livingston, and Adam Braveman
January 28, 2010 -- Third-year students Adam Braveman and Lisa Swartzfager won the 60th annual Jacob Burns Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition, judged for the first time by an all-female bench and held in front of a packed crowd in GW’s Jack Morton Auditorium.
Judges Susan P. Graber and Sandra S. Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Debra A. Livingston of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit praised winning team and their competitors, 3Ls G. Michael Ebell and Marlo Leach, for their poise, grace under pressure, and thorough knowledge of the problem.
“It was obvious that you lived this case,” Judge Graber observed.
The bench also named Braveman as Best Oralist.
Braveman and Swartzfager represented the petitioners of the fictitious case, Michael Ellis v. Rebecca Worth, which addressed the religious foundation of a newly established secular charter school in the state of Rhoads, and whether state and/or municipal taxpayer funds were being inappropriately allocated, as well as possible Establishment Clause violations.
Van Vleck is the largest and longest-running upper-level competition conducted by GW Law’s Moot Court Board, and the finals are historically judged by notable figures, including federal court judges and Supreme Court justices.