Morris Tyler Moot Court Finals December 7

The Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals at Yale will be called to order at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, December 7, in the Yale Law School Auditorium. Four students will compete in the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize Finals of the competition. Doors open at 4 p.m. A reception in the Alumni Reading Room will follow the competition.

The Honorable Judge Thomas L. Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Honorable Judge Barrington D. Parker of the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Judge Diane S. Sykes of the Seventh Circuit will hear the case of Skilling v. United States, which is being argued before the Supreme Court this term. The case involves an appeal from the criminal convictions of former Enron CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling on counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, making false representations to auditors, and insider trading.

“We are very excited about this semester’s final round,” said Moot Court co-chairperson Robert Heberle ’10. “We have a distinguished panel of federal appellate judges and four impressive student competitors. Considering the high-stakes issues in the case—including the breadth of federal anti-fraud laws and the effects of extreme jury pool bias—we expect a fascinating set of arguments.”

Ben Johnson ’10 and Alexander Schwab ’11 will argue for the petitioner, Jeffrey K. Skilling. Joshua Braver ’11 and David Zhou ’10 will represent the respondent, the United States. The competitors’ briefs will be posted on the moot court website approximately one week before the date of the oral argument.

The Morris Tyler Moot Court competition takes place each semester at Yale Law School, culminating in the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize Finals in the fall and the Thurman Arnold Prize Finals in the spring. All second- and third-year law students are eligible to participate.