The tradition isn’t as old as the annual gridiron clash in Jacksonville between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia that began in 1933, but law students from the schools met Friday morning on their own field of battle in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals courtroom at the Bryan Simpson U.S. Courthouse.
For the past 36 years, teams have argued a theoretical appellate motion before a panel of federal judges the day before the football game in the Florida/Georgia-Hulsey/Gambrell Moot Court Competition.
After more than an hour of argument in a case concerning the constitutionality of an ordinance regulating the licensure of tour guides and of another banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, the team from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law was declared the winner.
Law students Austin Sherman and Logan Opsahl were presented the trophy by Smith Hulsey & Busey shareholder Lanny Russell.
The competitors from the University of Georgia College of Law were Bethany Edmondson and Michael Parrish.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan of the Middle District of Florida and the presiding officer pointed out the panel included two judges from Florida jurisdictions and two judges from jurisdictions in Georgia.
He said he wasn’t sure why he was presiding over the hearing because his colleagues are more distinguished than he is.
Perhaps it was because he graduated from the Duke University School of Law “and that’s as close as we could get to neutral,” Corrigan offered.
The other members of this year’s panel were U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard and Senior District Judge William Terrell Hodges, representing the Middle District of Florida, and U.S. District Judge William Moore Jr. and Senior District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, representing the Southern District of Georgia.
When he announced the decision, Corrigan explained it was not unanimous due to the quality of the arguments.
He complimented both teams on their preparation and presentation and for how they responded to some very probing questions from the judges about the case law and precedents that were cited in the arguments.
“We are hearing from the cream of the crop,” he said. “All of you will have bright futures in the legal profession.”
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