{"id":3807,"date":"2025-04-30T15:18:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T20:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/ndlaw\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2025-04-30T15:20:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T20:20:56","slug":"und-ip-moot-court-students-return-to-semi-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/ndlaw\/2025\/04\/und-ip-moot-court-students-return-to-semi-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"UND IP Moot Court Students Return to Semi-Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six students from UND Law recently competed in the Giles Rich IP Moot Court Southern Region Competition, held in the Bob Casey federal courthouse in Houston, Texas.<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
L-R: Joseph Banash, Bridget Grathwohl, Erin Weightman, Professor Nikola Datzov, Hunter Cowdrey, Justin Penney, and Liam Waugh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team of Joseph Banash (3L), Bridget Grathwohl (3L), and Erin Weightman (3L) advanced to the semi-finals to face off with the other three best teams at the competition. After a strong performance on both briefs and oral arguments, the team consisting of Liam Waugh (2L), Justin Penney (3L), and Hunter Cowdrey (3L) won their preliminary round, but\u2014under heartbreaking circumstances\u2014narrowly missed qualifying for the semi-finals by less than one point. Both teams were coached by UND School of Law Associate Professor Nikola Datzov.<\/p>\n

In what the judges remarked was a very close semi-final round, Banash, Grathwohl, and Weightman were edged out by the team from Duke University School of Law, who eventually proved to be the best team in the country after advancing from the Regional Competition and taking first place at the National Competition. The other team that reached the finals at the Regional Competition was the University of Texas.<\/p>\n

As part of the competition, each team was required to submit two briefs and present 30 minutes of oral argument on patent law and trade secret law issues. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of all our students who put in a ton of work into the competition,\u201d said Professor Datzov. \u201cThey performed exceptionally well and rose to the occasion at every opportunity. While there is an argument to be made that both teams deserved to advance beyond where they did, the field of teams was incredibly strong, and like in the practice of law, the judging of advocacy is inevitably subject to some variability. The students demonstrated advanced advocacy skills throughout and were right on par with students from top-ranked law schools\u2014they represented UND in the best possible way, and I have no doubt that each of them has a very bright future ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participating in moot court is not only an excellent opportunity for students to hone their advocacy skills, it also provides meaningful opportunities for students to advance their writing skills and become more confident and clear communicators. Grathwohl reflected after the competition that \u201ccompeting in IP moot court was both challenging and rewarding. Our practice sessions pushed us to refine our arguments and think strategically about how to best persuade and inform the judges on complex legal issues. I’m proud of our team, grateful for Professor Datzov\u2019s dedicated coaching, and honored to represent UND alongside such talented advocates.\u201d Waugh offered a similar perspective that \u201cthe significant analytical reasoning skills and meticulous attention to detail demanded by patent law made this competition invaluable for refining my legal research, brief-writing, and oral advocacy skills to present persuasive arguments. The mentorship and feedback from our coach and guest judges made this external moot court one of the most rewarding experiences law school has to offer.\u201d And Banash echoed the impact of the experience on his legal career: \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to compete in my final Moot Court competition, which was a highlight of my law school experience. It was an honor to represent UND alongside an incredible team, with the unwavering support of Professor Datzov.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second year in a row in which UND Law made it to the semi-finals at the Regional Competition, with three of four UND Law teams advancing to the semi-final rounds over the past two years. Last year, UND Law advanced to the National Competition after earning second place at the Regional Competition (https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/ndlaw\/2023\/04\/und-students-shine-at-national-ip-moot-court-competition\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six students from UND Law recently competed in the Giles Rich IP Moot Court Southern Region Competition, held in the Bob Casey federal courthouse in Houston, Texas. The team of Joseph Banash (3L), Bridget Grathwohl (3L), and Erin Weightman (3L) advanced to the semi-finals to face off with the other three best teams at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":3808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[509],"tags":[952,1150,1151,1105],"class_list":["post-3807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-intellectual-property","tag-ip-moot-court","tag-moot-court","tag-nikola-datzov"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUND IP Moot Court Students Return to Semi-Finals - North Dakota Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Six students from UND Law recently competed in the Giles Rich IP Moot Court Southern Region Competition, held in the Bob Casey federal courthouse in Houston, Texas.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/ndlaw\/2025\/04\/und-ip-moot-court-students-return-to-semi-finals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UND IP Moot Court Students Return to Semi-Finals - 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