G’day in Gdynia: Winston Coaches New York High School Team to International Moot Court

New York Partner Aldo Badini and Associates Johanna Rae Hudgens, and Matt Olsen coached a team of New York high school students to the final rounds of the Justice Resource Center’s 2020 International Moot Court Competition in Gydnia, Poland.

Starting in October, the Winston team, along with colleagues from Schulte, Roth and Zabel, worked with eight “all-star” students from area high schools to prepare them for the competition. After weeks of practices and coaching, the students traveled to Poland with Aldo, Johanna, and Stephen to pit their oral argument skills against ten teams of students from Venezuela, Scotland, Mongolia, Russia, Bulgaria, and other countries around the globe.  After three days of preliminary rounds in front of local Polish judges, lawyers, and law students, the New York and South Africa teams were declared the finalists. 

The final arguments were held at the European Solidarity Center in Gdansk, Poland, before a panel of judges that included Alphons Orie, a former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Although the South Africa team was declared the victor, the New York students had an unforgettable experience and greatly impressed the judges and their international peers.

The Justice Resource Center is a public/private partnership established in 1991 with the mandate to develop, implement, replicate, and evaluate law-related education projects that positively impact the school age population in the United States. Programs are geared to a diverse population representing great disparate ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups, and enable students to learn about the functions of government and their roles and responsibilities as citizens, and to develop a heightened respect for the law. New York Partner Aldo Badini serves as Treasurer for the Justice Resource Center.