2009 OHS grad excels on moot court stage

by Angie Asam-Staff Writer

Hailey Kimball, a 2009 graduate of Onaway High School (OHS) and former Miss Onaway (2008) continues to enjoy success as a college student at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU).

Hailey Kimball

 

The senior, who will be graduating in the spring with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, is enjoying success on the stage of moot court.

Along with her partner, Kevin Lorentz, the team was among the top in the nation at the 2013 American Collegiate Moot Court Association National Championship advancing to the second day of competition and competing in the round of 32.

The competition was held at Regents University Law School in Virginia Beach, Virginia on January 18 and 19.

Kimball and Lorentz were one of three teams from SVSU to win a bid to nationals, and the only team in the history of the SVSU Moot Court program to make it through to the second day of competition. Kimball also competed at the 2012 national competition.

To qualify for nationals, a team must place in the top 25 percent of teams at a regional competition. Kimball and Lorentz placed fourth at the Great Lakes Regional hosted by Saginaw Valley State University in December.

More than 300 teams competed nationwide. Eighty teams competed at the national competition. On the first day, Kimball and Lorentz placed thirteenth, securing a bye in the first round on the second day.

They were eliminated in the second round, losing on a two-to-one decision. A team from Patrick Henry College won the competition for the fifth year in a row.

The moot court competition is a simulated court proceeding, where students act as attorneys arguing in front of a panel of judges as if they were arguing in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. They are given a fictional case problem and a set of actual Supreme Court cases from which they develop their arguments. Each t

eam has to prepare and deliver an argument for both the Respondent and the Petitioner.

This year’s case was about a female high school senior who was denied admittance to a university because the university employed an affirmative action program favoring males. Kimball said that she was very proud of how far she and her partner had come. “Our goal was to make it into the second day of competition because no one from Saginaw Valley has done it so far, and we achieved that.” Lorentz concurred. “I am proud of what we accomplished. It’s a great feeling knowing all the work we’ve put in paid off.”

Kimball was the valedictorian of the OHS class of 2009 and will be attending the Michigan State University (MSU) College of Law next fall. Kimball was awarded the Dean Charles H. King Scholarship at MSU, a full-tuition scholarship with a three-year value of $105,000.