On Tuesday, May 8, 2012, beginning at 7:30 p.m. and lasting till dawn of the next day, the University of Texas Tower was illuminated in burnt orange with lit windows spelling out a “No. 1” in recognition of the School of Law’s national championship at the twentieth annual Conrad B. Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, held at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, March 9-12, 2012.
Third-year students Brian Cumings and Eric Werlinger won first place at the competition, surviving a field of fifty-four teams. Two other members of the team representing UT Law, third-year students Gabriel Markoff and Zachary Popovich, advanced to the final day of the competition and ultimately placed as finalists. Cumings was further recognized among the competition’s outstanding speakers. Coaches of the team are Debbie Langehennig, ‘88, Chapter 13 trustee for the Western District of Texas, and Jay Ong, a shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC. The 2012 competition marks Langehennig’s ninth year, and Ong’s sixth, as coaches of the Law School team. Professor Jay Westbrook, Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Business Law, serves as Law School advisor to the team.
“The Law School is enormously proud of our students and coaches winning yet another national championship for the Law School,” said UT Law Interim Dean Stefanie Lindquist. “Their win is a well-deserved recognition of their hard work and talent, and it demonstrates the strength of our Advocacy Program and bankruptcy law classes. We are delighted to have such wonderful ambassadors for UT Law.”