Miami Law’s nationally ranked #3 moot court program won the Robert Orseck Moot Court Competition, beating Florida State University in the final round. The group, consisting of rising 3Ls Gabrielle Argimon and Joely Arai, argued in front of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz and Justices Renatha Francis, John D. Couriel, Charles T. Canady, Jorge Labarga, Jamie R. Grosshans, and Meredith L. Sasso. Argimon was named the Best Oral Advocate in the final round.
“When the Chief Justice said my name for Best Oral Advocate, I just felt a huge wave of gratitude and happiness,” said Argimon. “I remember wanting to treat my argument like an authentic, passion-infused conversation with the justices, because it was such a rare and immense privilege to talk about the contours of a difficult legal problem with all of them at once.”
The competition stresses appellate advocacy and culminates with oral arguments held at the annual convention of the Florida Bar. Each team submits a brief based on the moot court problem. The Florida Supreme Court hears the oral arguments, as well as members of the
State District Court of Appeal, Florida Circuit Court judges, Florida County Court judges, and members of the Bar.
“Hearing the Florida Supreme Court announce that our team won the competition was such an exciting feeling,” said Arai. “But even before getting to this point, we both felt so lucky to have the privilege to argue before the Florida Supreme Court. Our goal throughout the competition was to make it to the final round and to just have fun from there, so winning the competition was the cherry on top.”
Amazing Alumni Coaches
A unique aspect of the Papy Moot Court Board are the alumni who coach teams for competitions. For the Orseck moot, the team was coached by Freddi Mack, J.D. ’14, and Deesha Smart, J.D. ’20, both former moot court members. Argimon and Arai spent 14 days practicing and polishing their arguments before the competition.
“Our amazing coaches, who were also available for all our phone calls at even inconvenient times, planned and attended practice rounds for us to argue before practitioners,” said Arai. "Moot court board members also generously volunteered to judge practice rounds alongside these practitioners.”
After the spring semester ended, the team met and made a brief writing schedule.
“We met hours into the night, including up to midnight during the workweek,” said Argimon who is a summer associate at Greenberg Traurig. “When oral arguments started, we scheduled every opportunity to practice with our coaches and other practitioners. It was difficult balancing work and moot court, but I really think a huge part of our success came down to us sticking to a schedule, solving big legal issues way in advance, memorizing our roadmaps as soon as possible, and last but certainly not least, every single one of the attorneys and students who guest-judged and gave us stylist and substantive feedback.”
The occasion marks the first time since 2014 that a Miami Law team has won the Orseck moot competition.
The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division unanimously elected to memorialize the annual state moot court competition after Robert Orseck, a noted appellate attorney who met his untimely death in June 1978. Orseck contributed substantially to developing the common law in Florida through his appellate practice.
Read more about Miami Law’s moot court teams
