FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The final round of the 2019 Ben J. Altheimer Moot Court Competition will take place at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in the E.J. Ball Courtroom at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Members of the public and the legal and campus communities are encouraged to attend.

A battle of wits and reasoning hosted by the University of Arkansas School of Law Board of Advocates, the competition allows law students to hone their appellate writing and oral advocacy skills. Competitors are drawn from both the second and third year law classes. Second year students who excel in the competition will have the opportunity to represent the law school in regional or national competitions and take on leadership roles in the Board of Advocates during their third year.

The Hon. Duane Benton (Kansas City), the Hon. Michael J. Melloy (Cedar Rapids) and the Hon. Bobby E. Shepherd (El Dorado) will preside over the final round. The three judges are members of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals who are on campus to hear oral arguments in three appellate cases earlier in the day.  Shephard is an alumus of the University of Arkanas School of Law, who earned a Juris Doctor in 1976. 

This year's topic is a class action lawsuit brought by persons facing criminal charges who have been assigned state public defenders in the State of Moot. They allege that their Sixth Amendment right to counsel has been violated because the state public defender system is overburdened with clients and under resourced. The issues on appeal are: 

1. Whether the non-convicted plaintiff class has standing to bring suit alleging deprivations of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
2. Whether the public defense system in place in the State of Moot deprives non-convicted criminal defendants of the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment.

The final round will feature team Maggie Geren and Nancy Smith for the respondent and team Kelsey Broaddrick, Josie Graves and Peyton Hildebrand for the petitioner. The teams have emerged from weeks of competition beginning with a legal brief writing contest and ending with knock-out oral arguments.

The competition is named in honor of Ben J. Altheimer, a successful attorney from Pine Bluff, where he practiced law before moving to Chicago in 1910 and starting one of the city's most prestigious law firms. He frequently returned to Arkansas, where he had acquired farmland near Altheimer. The town was named for his father and uncle, who donated land to the railroad for the creation of a depot. He established the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation before his death in 1946 to benefit 35 programs in Arkansas, including several within the University of Arkansas System. Altheimer was the single trustee of the foundation until his death, when five trustees designated by him assumed the responsibility for its continuation. It remained in existence for more than 50 years and was succeeded by the Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation in 1995.

Third-year students and 2018 champions Jake Holmes and Ezra Smith are the 2019 Altheimer Competition co-chairs. They were supported by the 2018-19 Board of Advocates members and executive committee members. Professors Amanda Hurst and Danielle Weatherby serve as faculty advisers, supported by Carl Circo, who holds the Ben J. Altheimer Professor of Legal Advocacy.