April 3 , 2006

Cooley Team Wins Honor at National Pace Competition

A team of Cooley students advanced to the quarter-final rounds at the recent Pace National Environmental Moot Court Competition in New York City. Moot Court teams from over 75 schools battled it out in the tough competition.

Cooley's contingent of John Zevalking, Matt Hoffer and Jennifer Martin won each preliminary round and, on the basis of that performance and their brief, advanced to the elite quarterfinal round, besting over 50 other law schools.

Charles Cercone, Associate Dean of Faculty at Cooley, coached the team and was markedly impressed. "I have never had a team that worked so well together. Where one was weak, the other had their back. Where one was strong, they lent a hand to the other. It was truly a delight to see a team work in such symphonic harmony," he said.

At the end of the quarterfinal round, John Zevalking was named Best Oralist of the competition, beating 230 competitors from 75 elite law schools both in Michigan and throughout the country.

"It was arguably the best performance ever by a Cooley student in a national moot court competition," Cercone said, "and it was truly amazing to witness Cooley history in the making."