Published: Dec. 14, 2012

Surbhi Garg (’13) and Leah Gould (‘14) won the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s (NAPABA) National Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C in November 2012. The first team ever from Colorado Law to enter this competition, Garg and Gould competed against 12 top teams from law schools across the nation, each of which were top teams among 50 teams that competed in five regional competitions.                    

Garg and Gould won all four of their preliminary rounds before emerging victorious in the final argument, which was judged by a panel of seven distinguished members of the bench, including Chief Judge Randall Rader (Federal Circuit), Chief Judge Susan Mollway (District of Hawaii), Judge Denny Chin (Second Circuit), Judge Jimmie Reyna (Federal Circuit), Justice Goodwin Liu (Supreme Court of California), Judge Jacqueline Nguyen (Ninth Circuit), and Colonel Joseph Perlak (United States Marine Corps).

“I truly loved the challenge of answering questions from the panel,” Gould said. “My background as a Naval Intelligence Officer definitely prepared me for this experience.”

“In addition to functioning as a great networking opportunity, the competition experience has provided me with excellent talking points for interviews with potential employers,” Gould said. “The intellectual exercise of being able to successfully argue both sides of a complex issue will make me a better attorney.”

As national champions, Garg and Gould each received a $2,000 scholarship courtesy of the NAPABA Foundation. The team was coached by Professor Todd Stafford, Professor Gabrielle Stafford, and assisted by Stephen Baumann, Esq.