Post by Sheila Ballato

As the 2025/2026 interscholastic moot court competition season closes, I’ve found myself really reflecting on how many challenges we have had to overcome as a program since COVID left my co-director and I scrambling to even field one team to a virtual competition with no how-to guide on how to navigate that. This season, the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University fielded 18 exceptional students in 7 teams to 5 competitions — 5 of those teams advanced in their competitions, 4 were semi-finalists or better, ultimately placing in 4 out of 5 competitions. The Hofstra University School of Law Moot Court Board has again become quite a force. Every year leading this with Adam Kahn, Esq. is full of laughs and our own learning. I love working alongside my own former coaches who still share their wisdom: Robert Harper, Grant Shehigian and Kim Luckey-Witsell; alongside my fellow classmates and moot court alumna, who let me drag them into this: Melissa Danowski and Jessica Miller Frost; and with my former students-turned coaches: Jennifer Calamia and Robert Pope. To our students, you are rockstars and make us all hold our heads higher. Thank you for the hundreds of hours spent to make us look good ⭐️ Quintin Burian Marissa Tedeschi Jacob Shaffer Elizabeth Gilmartin Caleb Rockhill Julia DeLisse Charlotte Canavor Niaz Najafi Kate Dargan Semba Mwitanti Max Richardson Jacob Shapiro Daniel Graham Joseph O'Hara Jenna Dimech Ray Van Liempt Rachel Sakol Halle Jacobson