The Religious Freedom Moot Court team clockwise from left: Jackson Blais, Megan Ball, Cristina Sanchez, and Lawrence Wesco.
A team of four Notre Dame Law School students won an international religious freedom moot court competition last week in Bologna, Italy.
Notre Dame 2Ls Lawrence Wesco, Megan Ball, Cristina Sanchez, and Jackson Blais won the competition, which was held March 6-7 in conjunction with a conference on freedom of religion at the European Academy of Religion. The competition was organized by Professor Andrea Pin of the University of Padua.
The competition included teams from Russia, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The judges – Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Justice Michael J. Wilkins, formerly of the Utah Supreme Court, and Professor Michael P. Moreland of Villanova Law School – complimented the Notre Dame students on their briefs and oral advocacy skills. Wesco was awarded "Best Oralist."
The students received funding from the Law School's Program on Church, State & Society and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies to enable them to compete.