Moot Court

First Place in ABA Law Student Tax Challenge

Western New England University School of Law is proud to celebrate the outstanding achievement of third-year students Rachel Lang and Kelsey Oleksak, who secured first place in the J.D. division of the prestigious 2024-2025 Law Student Tax Challenge. Hosted by the American Bar Association (ABA) for Law Students, this national competition featured 67 teams, making their victory a remarkable accomplishment.

Under the guidance of Professor Fred Royal, Lang and Oleksak demonstrated exceptional skill in both their written work and oral advocacy, earning top honors in this highly competitive event. Professor Royal has a distinguished history of success at the Tax Challenge, having now coached three teams to first-place finishes and two teams to second-place honors. His students have also won Best Written Memorandum three times, further highlighting the excellence of Western New England University’s tax law program.

National Moot Court Team Finalists in Regional Competition 

The Western New England University School of Law National Moot Court Team placed as finalists in the 2024 regional competition. The team included Sean Francis, Alexander Ramos, and Stephen DePalma, and they were coached by Professor Jessica Mahon Scoles.

ABA Tax Challenge

Joy Vincenzo and Brendan Morrison participated in the 2023 ABA Tax Challenge Competition held in San Francisco. Joy and Brendan won the Best Written Submission prize. Their written solution was judged as the best out of the 64 teams entered in this national competition. Professor Fred Royal was their coach.

The Tax Challenge is an alternative to traditional moot court competitions and is organized by the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. The Tax Challenge asks two-person teams to solve a complex business problem that might arise in everyday tax practice. The competition has two components. First, teams are evaluated on their written work. Each team must submit a memorandum to a senior partner and a letter to a client explaining their solution to the problem. Secondly, based on the written work product, six teams are chosen to orally defend their solution before a panel of judges consisting of some of the country’s top tax practitioners and government officials, including tax court judges.

National Environmental Moot Court 

The Western New England University School of Law 2023 National Environmental Moot Court Team advanced to the Quarterfinals, and Joy Vinceno was named Best Advocate for one of the rounds.  

This year's competition required the team to draft an appellate brief on four complex issues revolving around hazardous waste clean-up, federal agency authority, and state jurisdiction.

The team consisted of Katie Bertrand, Andrew Loin, and Joy Vincenzo with Professor Julie Steiner as coach.

National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition

An all-veteran team of students represented the WNE University School of Law for the first time at the Fall 2022 National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition hosted by GWU Law and the relatively recently created (1988) Court of Appeal for Veterans Claims. The team represented the school well, learned about ways they can continue to help their fellow veterans, and had some fun. The team included Jaymie White, Milagros Fonseca, Catherine Richardson, Alisha Henderson, Tom Ford, Patrick Gaynor, and coach Prof/Col Bob Statchen.