Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter (left) and his wife, Sharon (right), congratulate the Ole Miss law school’s winning moot court team, (from left) Meredith Pohl, faculty coach Chris Green and James Blake Kelly. UM photo by Jordan Thomas
OXFORD, Miss. – Two University of Mississippi law students recently successfully argued their case and won a moot court completion as part of the bicentennial of Mississippi’s judiciary and legal profession.
Third-year students James Blake Kelly, of Brandon, and Meredith Pohl, of Houston, Texas, defeated a team from the Mississippi College School of Law in the Sept. 27 event in Jackson. The winning team is coached by professor Chris Green.
The competition featured the largest panel of chief justices and chief judges in the state’s 200 years, Green said.
“It was a huge honor to be able to work with students as hard-working, bright, creative and with such appellate litigation talent as Meredith and James,” he said.
Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. presided over the competition and watched as Kelly and Pohl successfully defended the convicted plaintiff in the fictional “Millstone v. United States” case by proving that he was falsely convicted of criminal negligence.
“The opportunity to argue a case before such a distinguished panel of judges was incredible,” Kelly said. “They asked very challenging questions, which required us to think about and respond to a broad range of issues.”
Pohl said that her moot court experiences have prepared her for a career in appellate litigation.
“Appellate litigation is my chosen career path, and to have this kind of experience at 23 years of age is more than I could ever have dreamed,” she said.
The competition can be viewed online at https://livestream.com/supremecourtofms/Bicentennial-MootCourt. For more information on the Ole Miss School of Law, go to https://law.olemiss.edu/.