University of Wisconsin Law School second-year students Amesia Ngialah and Sai Lui won second-place honors at the Regional Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition in St. Paul in October 2008.

Ngialah and Lui will advance to the final competition, November 21 and 22 in Seattle, which is held in conjunction with the annual conference of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).

Lui and Ngialah were one of five teams sent by the UW Law School to the regional event. They were coached by Professor Carin Clauss and students Maya Ganguly, Payal Khandhar, Sophy Chhun, and Jennifer Lee.

Ngialah also was the recipient of the award for fourth best oralist.

The other four UW teams competing consisted of Dan Allen and Michael Trepanier, Matt Jalandoni and Yesha Sutaria, Neeraj Agarwal and Megha Desai, and Kenneth Chung and Kyung Jin Lee.

A total of 16 teams competed in the regional competition. Judges and attorneys from Minneapolis and St. Paul served as competition judges, with two justices from the Minnesota Supreme Court judging the final round: Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and Justice Lorie Gildea.

Lui comments, "It was a privilege and an honor to argue in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court justices. Their questions were thoughtful and genuinely reflected their concerns, rather than merely attacking weak arguments. Also, the volunteer attorneys and judges were open and supportive throughout the competition. All of the competitors forced us to research and practice to improve our on-stage performance."

After taking a week off to relax after the October regionals, Lui and Ngialah are in training again for the Seattle competition. They have planned numerous practice sessions with coaches and faculty members.

For more about the competition and NAPABA, see http://www.napaba.org/napaba/showpage.asp?code=home .

Submitted by on November 3, 2008

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