By Lee Kolber '06
Editor-in-Chief

For eight third-years, the quarter-finals of the 77th annual William Minor Lile Moot Competition mark the halfway point in a two-year long process that leads to the final rounds next semester. For eight other participants, the week-long event marks the end of over a year of involvement and an intense last month of preparation.

The quarter-finals took place over four nights from Monday, October 24 to Thursday, October 26. Attendance at the arguments was high each night, and over 80 people showed up on Wednesday evening to watch the team of Michael Buchwald and Chris Kavanaugh square off against Christina Farrell and Eric Reitman. Buchwald and Kavanaugh were selected to advance after a close deliberation.

Buchwald felt Farrell and Reitman “were extremely well-prepared and very calm and smooth in answering questions, so I know it was a tough decision for the judges, and it probably could have gone either way.”

Teammate Kavanaugh also thought the argument was a toss-up and confessed that arguing in front of professor-judges was much more nerve-racking than in front of student-judges.

Other advancing teams include Jack Ewart and Jennifer Kies; Kristen Riemenscheider and Jason Stavers; and Paul Rugani and Scott Tenley.

Third-year Tim Johnson, Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board, pointed out that “you don’t get into the quarterfinals without some real talent.” Johnson thought all the matches were very competitive and wanted to congratulate all the participants in the quarter-finals. The teams of Jonathon Light and Molly Crall; Rich Olszewski and Fred Noyes; Christina Farrell and Eric Reitman; and Thomas Lerdal and David Lobe all have the honor of advancing to the quarter-finals without the worry of returning from Winter Break with a new problem to immediately address.

The problem for the quarter-finals was a Title VII employment discrimination case. An employee of a large corporation issues that are legally challenging, but comprehensive to laypeople.”

The question of how to limit retaliation claims is a real problem in need of resolution, and Professor George Rutherglen emphasized the significance of the major question. Rutherglen, while judging the Thursday night match between Lerdal and Lobe and Rugani and Tenley, noted that the courts cannot be personnel managers for petty disputes. Accordingly, there must be a screening test that allows meritorious claims of retaliation into the judicial system but also restricts access to minor or petty disputes.

The problem, however, was not just a dry exercise in legal analysis. The record included some salacious facts that spiced up the arguments. Appellants Crall and Light had to respond frequently to Professor Robert Nelson Sayler's recitation of the alleged harassing comments from the record. Sayler on several occasions recited “you look hot, baby – I’m gonna rock your world” when questioning appellants on the level of harassment.

The semi-final round will take place February 24 and 25, and the final round will be held April 1. Federal court judges will preside over the final two rounds. At least one team already has a plan for the next round. Kavanaugh reported, “We’re looking forward to the semi-finals, in fact, I think we’re going to have a Feb Club party called “U.Va.’s Moot Court ‘05” and we’re going to sit on our couch with some tall-boys and try to write a 60 page brief. It’s going to be radical.”