Toledo Law Team Receives Honors at China IP Moot Court Competition
by Diana Case | May 31, 2018
Walter Starghill, Billy Jeffers, Gregg Byrne, Sabrinne Gibson, and Adrianne Larbus
Students at The University of Toledo College of Law recently received honors at the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU)-Wan Hui Da Cup Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition held in Beijing, China on May 26-27, 2018. This is the seventh time a Toledo Law team has been selected to compete in this prestigious competition.
The competition problem was based on an actual case involving Chinese copyright law, with briefs and oral arguments in English. The student team of Gregg Byrne (4L), Sabrinne Gibson (3L), Billy Jeffers (3L), and Adrianne Larbus (4L) earned an honorable mention overall. Byrne won the Best Oralist Award for his round.
“This has been an enriching experience being immersed in Chinese culture and learning Chinese law has given us a more diverse perspective of the international legal community,” observed Gibson.
Walter Starghill, a second-year law student, coached the team. Professor Llewellyn Gibbons, Distinguished University Professor and intellectual property expert, served as faculty advisor. Gibbons helped prepare students for the competition and for oral advocacy in their future legal careers. Both traveled with team members to Beijing.
"Professor Gibbons did an amazing job preparing us for the competition and for our travels in Beijing,” said Jeffers. “Because of Professor Gibbons we were able to compete in front of China's highest appeals court judges and interact with brilliant Chinese attorneys."
The BFSU-Wan Hui Da Cup, now in its eleventh year, is organized by the BFSU School of Law. The competition is one of only two English-language, international moot court competitions involving intellectual property law. This year, the competition hosted twelve teams from China, Australia, and the United States.
“I was very impressed with the hard work of the team and their ingenuity at finding English language translations of Chinese cases and legal materials as well as their writing a well written civil law style brief that that scored better than many law school teams educated in the civil law system,” said Professor Gibbons.
Student travel was made possible with generous funding from The University of Toledo’s Center for International Studies and Programs, Graduate Student Association, and Student Bar Association. The College of Law Dean’s Office provided additional funding for student visas.