I fell into this, unplanned. And entirely unprepared for the curious responsibility of photographing – as documentary – these competitive advocacy events and portraits of teammates, their coaches, their mentors, parents, friends and fans.

If you live long enough, you will surely experience people at their very worst; this is a given. Now, try to think of a competitive advocacy contest as people trying to be at their very, very best. Competitors are appraised on things like their demeanor towards the court and the opposing team, and how well they maintained the traditions of mutual respect, civility and professionalism.

Looking at these photos and other media, I’ve been very fortunate to work with these young advocates, to watch them hone their skills and mature into polished professionals. If you enjoy a little backstory with your media, I’ve included some notes from a blog post I wrote about the team below.

Chapman Law Ranks in Top-20 for Moot Court

The competitive advocacy program at Fowler School of Law is a collective effort aimed at achieving excellence in advocacy. It draws on the skills and experience of faculty, alumni, staff and students alike–often working odd hours and weekends to ensure Chapman fields competitive, collegial teams in every contest entered. Launched by fêted competitions coach Nancy Schultz, and now under the watchful eye of her protégé and Chapman alumnus Professor John Bishop (JD ’11), you might say Fowler Competitions teams have come a long way from their humble beginnings nearly thirty years ago.

A recent article by legal blogger Adam Feldman, highlighting rankings of the nation’s leading moot court programs from the University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy Institute, ranks Chapman Moot Court teams–to the delight of Chapman’s contestants, current students and alumni alike–in 20^th place for the 2024/25 season in this incredibly competitive nation-wide field. Chapman’s competitive advocacy teams for Mock Trial, Moot Court and Alternative Dispute Resolution enjoyed a “red letter year” in their most recent competition season, winning the Shark Beach Mock Trial competition in Florida, winning the Cardozo FAME Center Moot Court Competition in New York and placing 2^nd in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC).

Recent graduate Joe Kahn (JD ’25), a fixture in the Moot Court and Mock Trail teams starting in his 1L year showed a clean pair of heels to his competitive rivals this year with a 24-0 unbeaten streak, taking home a 2025 National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators Academic All-American Advocate award along with big wins at the Shark Beach invitational and Cardoza FAME Center.

Yet it was unquestionably Kahn’s classmates, Sophie Jeltema (JD ’25) and Megan Campbell (JD ‘25), who put in the performance of the year as they tore through the NAAC regionals, securing a spot in the NAAC national contest rounds where they narrowly lost out on a first-place finish to take second place behind Californian rivals, USC.

The team of Luke Hottinger (JD ’25), Arianna Burtis (JD ’25), Kahn and Anuj Patel (JD ’25) caused an upset at the Shark Beach Showdown – a national, invitation-only mock trial competition held in Florida and hosted by Nova Southeastern – when they won all four trials during the preliminary rounds, and followed up with a series of close decisions against exceptional advocacy teams from Villanova University and Maryland Carey Law, to clinch first place. This particular win was bittersweet for both the Chapman team and coaches as the Shark Beach contest was a favorite of “Comps Teams” founding coach Nancy Schultz, who’s recent memorial, held at Fowler School of Law set attendance records for a school event, a testament to the impact this well-loved coach and singular faculty member had on the Chapman, and indeed broader, national competitive advocacy community.

Chapman teams took first and second places in the ABA Client Counseling Regional Competition to clinch their spots in the national rounds of the contest. Sophie Laws (JD ’25) and Taline Ratanjee (JD ’25) placed first in the regional contest, with Kevin Lorusso and Jonathan Metry placing second. Both teams’ performances drew lashings of praise from the judges and organizers, naming Fowler’s competition teams as a “top-notch program” thanks to the example set by these four students and their coach, Chapman alumna Elizabeth Kim (JD ’22).

However, their progress through nationals was foiled by inclement weather in the Midwest, and both teams were left with no alternative but to compete virtually over Zoom. In spite of this obvious handicap, both teams made the final round of the competition, where Metry and Lorusso took second place, and Laws and Ratanjee took third, in this fiercely contested national Alternative Dispute Resolution competition.

With Chapman teams attracting national and regional spotlights, the trajectory has been one of “onward and upward,” over the last three years, with the Mock Trial team moving steadily from 65th in 2023, to 40th in 2024, to their most recent Top-20 berth this year. An incredible result for the competition program and the student advocates who compete in it. It has truly been a remarkable year for Chapman’s competitive advocacy teams, with podium finishes in each discipline and trophy cabinets bursting with silver and glassware–definitely a year to remember and one worth celebrating. I’m attaching a gallery of photographs from the year to celebrate the fine achievements of these talented and passionate advocates.