A Win for Team Touro<br/>

Congratulations to the student team of Chelsea McGrath and Dennis Carrion who won the Hon. Elaine Jackson Stack Moot Court Competition, the annual two-day law school competition sponsored by the Nassau Academy of Law (NAL). Additionally, Carrion was awarded the Justice Edward J. Hart Memorial Award for Best Oralist of the competition. A second team of competitors including Jason Cohen and Heather Casale competed and did well in the competition.

 

The competition featured seven teams from local schools including The City University of New York (CUNY), Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and St. John’s Law School.

 

Students argued a problem which involved a surrogate mother who agreed to be artificially inseminated with the birth father’s sperm, carry the baby to term and upon the child’s birth, surrender her custody and parental rights to the birth father. Students argued whether a signed surrender of parental rights executed by the biological mother was valid, and whether the mother should be equitably estopped from denying the existence of a parent-child relationship between the former romantic partner of the illogical father and child.

 

Serving as Chief Judge on the Moot Court Finals Bench was the Hon. Ruth Balkin, Associate Justice, Appellate Division Second Judicial Department, New York State Supreme Court. Other distinguished competition judges included NAL Past Dean Hon. Andrew Engel, Nassau District Court; NAL Dean Mili Makhijanoi, Principal Law Clerk to Justice Randy Sue Marber, Nassau Supreme Court; NCBA President Martha Krisel, Deputy County Attorney, Office of the Nassau County Attorney; and Hon. Elaine Jackson Stack, Of Counsel, Barket Marion, Esptein & Kearon, Garden City, for whom the competition is named.

 

Dean Harry Ballan stated, “The Touro Law community is extremely proud of these students for their hard work and accomplishments. It is a great accomplishment to win such a competition. These students serve as outstanding ambassadors for our law school.”