Kiki Council (’17) and Nic Cordova (’18) won this year’s Carrigan Cup Mock Trial Competition after advancing through preliminary rounds, a semi-final round, and finally earning the judges’ verdict in the final round on September 19 in Wittemyer Courtroom.
Council and Cordova argued on behalf of an insurance firm in the fictional case Harbour v. Southern Comfort Life Insurance Company. They competed against Kristen Blodgett (’17) and Rebekah Stern (’18) in Colorado Law’s most prestigious in-house competition for aspiring litigators.
The case involved Southern Comfort’s policy in regard to an alleged suicide. Council and Cordova argued that the defendant’s husband, Clint Harbour, died of suicide, which Southern Comfort’s policy does not cover, while Blodgett and Stern argued that he died of accidental causes, enabling Harbour’s wife to collect a $1,000,000 insurance statement.
The judges ruled that Harbour’s death was more likely than not a suicide, thereby disqualifying surviving family members from receiving life insurance benefits, which earned Council and Cordova the title of 2016 Carrigan Cup champions. The judges for the final competition were The Honorable Philip Brimmer, Judge, United States District Court for the District of Colorado; Jessica Brown, partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP; and Michael Carrigan (’94), Regent, University of Colorado and partner, Holland & Hart, LLP.
The competition commemorates Michael Carrigan’s father, The Honorable Jim R. Carrigan, for his service to the University of Colorado Law School and to his profession. The Carrigan Endowment also directly supports the University of Colorado Law School’s National Mock Trial Team.
“The Carrigan Cup is important for two reasons,” said Kelsey Waldorf (’17), chair of this year’s competition and member of Colorado Law’s National Mock Trial Team. “First, it serves as valuable practice for the third-year (law student) members of our team that will be traveling to external competitions around the country in the coming three to four weeks. Second, it serves as a mentorship in that third-year students are encouraged to partner with second-year law students interested in joining the team. This way the second-years get the benefit of the third-years’ experience, and the third-years can see the skills and talents each second-year can potentially bring to the team.”
Council and Cordova each received a $1,000 scholarship for winning the competition. Blodgett and Stern received $500 scholarships for placing second. Additionally, the top three individual speakers of the competition all received punch cards donated by the Hearsay Café.
