Robertson and Curtis Win 2023 Altheimer Moot Court Competition

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From the left: Jack Curtis, Lexie Robertson, the Hon. Kenneth S. Hixson, the Hon. Courtney R. Hudson, the Hon. Mark E. Ford, Taryn Bewley and Rylie Slone.

Second-year law students Lexie Robertson and Jack Curtis successfully represented their client against second-year students Taryn Bewley and Rylie Slone in the final round of the 2023 Ben J. Altheimer Moot Court Competition. The competition took place Feb. 24 in the school's E. J. Ball Courtroom.

Bewley was named best oralist of the competition, and Robertson and Curtis were recognized for submitting the best brief.

The finalists presented their cases before U of A Law School alumni the Hon. Mark Ford J.D.'85, magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas; the Hon. Kenneth S. Hixson J.D.'85, judge for the Arkansas Court of Appeals; and the Hon. Courtney R. Hudson J.D.'97, associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.     

This year's case, City of Suburbia v. Avery Taylor, centered on two questions: first, does a city's ordinance targeting panhandling and other kinds of direct solicitations for money violate the First Amendment, and second, does a peremptory strike exercised against a potential juror on the basis of perceived sexual orientation violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.      

The annual competition is named for Chicago attorney, philanthropist and native Arkansan Ben J. Altheimer (1877-1946). The student-run organization known as the U of A School of Law Board of Advocates organizes three internal competitions annually — the William H. Sutton Barrister's Union Trial Competition, the Altheimer Competition and the Negotiations Competition. In addition to the internal competitions, the Board of Advocates also sponsors numerous moot court, trial advocacy and ad hoc competition teams that travel to regional and national competitions.