This Wednesday, Nov. 15, three distinguished justices — the Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court; Goodwin Liu, associate justice of the Supreme Court of California; and Rachel Kovner, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York — will preside over the final round of Harvard Law School’s 2023 Ames Moot Court Competition.

One of the most prestigious competitions for appellate brief writing and advocacy in the country, the Ames Moot Court Competition will take place in Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall.

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The two teams competing in this year’s final round are the Patsy Takemoto Mink Memorial Team, which will represent the petitioner, and the Judge Laurence H. Silberman Team, which will represent the respondent.

The teams will argue a hypothetical case, United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration, et al. (OSHA) v. Federici Contracting, LLC., written by Joseph Posimato ’17, an associate at Elias Law Group, and William V. Bergstrom ’17, an associate at Cooper & Kirk.

The students participating in the final round started the competition in fall of their second year. The teams progressed through qualifying rounds in the fall, the semi-final rounds in the spring of their second year, to the final round.  

Since the early 1900s, students have competed in the Ames Moot Court, demonstrating their skills in oral argument before an illustrious panel of distinguished jurists. In advance of Wednesday’s competition, can read more about past Ames coverage and view a full archive of Ames arguments on YouTube, including historical digitized footage, from 1974 to the present.

Meet the Teams

The Patsy Takemoto Mink Memorial Team (Petitioner)

Team members Daniel Flesch (oralist), Derek Choi, Kunal Dixit, Phoebe Kotlikoff, Monica Wang (oralist), and Yusuke Tsuzuki will serve as counsel for the petitioner in this year’s competition.

The Judge Laurence H. Silberman Team (Respondent)

Team members Jessica Flores, Eric Bush, Hayley Isenberg (oralist), Richard Dunn (oralist), Max Alvarez and Brandon Sharp will serve as counsel for the respondent in this year’s competition.

“All Rise!”

Reflections on the Ames Moot Court Competition

This look back on the Ames Moot Court Competition at Harvard Law School features historical footage and photographs spanning the competition’s 100-plus year history. Interviews with past participants include Gov. Deval Patrick ’82, Kathleen Sullivan ’81, Hon. Reena Raggi ’76, Guhan Subramanian ’08, Elizabeth Prelogar ’08, Tejinder Singh ’08, and Amanda Mundell ’17.