Gonzaga's two moot court teams competed successfully in the regional competitions. They are, from left to right: (back row)  Joe Brown, Ryan Ellersick, Coach Bryan Harnetiaux, Gabe Boenecke; (front row) Katherine Georger, Mike Kitson, Carissa Greenberg

A team fielded by the Gonzaga University School of Law  won the National Moot Court Regional Competition at the University of Washington in Seattle this past weekend and will represent Gonzaga at the national competition in New York, N.Y., Feb. 2-5.

The team of Joe Brown, Ryan Ellersick and Mike Kitson went undefeated in the weekend's competition and Brown was named Best Oralist.

A brief submitted by a second GU team was judged third-best in the competition. That team, comprising Gabe Boenecke, Carissa Greenberg, and Katherine Georger, defeated teams from the University of Idaho and Lewis and Clark State College in Portland, Ore., before narrowly losing in the quarterfinals to a team from the University of Montana Law School.

Since 1950, the New York City Bar Association and the American College of Trial Lawyers have sponsored the National Moot Court Competition. This nationally recognized competition allows students to hone their appellate advocacy skills by arguing before prominent members of the profession.

More than 150 law schools compete annually in regional rounds, with the top two teams in each region advancing to the finals, which are hosted by the New York City Bar Association.

In New York, Brown, Ellersick and Kitson will compete against 27 other teams. Each team competes in two rounds before the competition switches to single elimination.

Co-advisors for Gonzaga’s National Moot Court team are Bryan Harnetiaux and Lynn Robinson.