In addition to the popular Van Vleck Constitutional Law Competition, the Moot Court Board hosts a number of competitions exclusively for GW Law students each year. These competitions include: the Giles S. Rich Intellectual Property Competition, the Grenadier International Law Competition, the McKenna Long & Aldridge "Gilbert A. Cuneo" Government Contracts Competition, and the First Year Competition.

The Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition is named after a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who was the most distinguished jurist in the field of patent law in the world. The GW Law 2008-2009 Competition Co-Chairs are Erin Murphy and Smriti Kodandapani.

This year, seventeen teams and one solo competitor participated in the law school's intra-scholastic competition. The first round took place on January 10, the semi-finals were the following day, and the final round was January 13. The chairs planned a dinner reception to follow the finals in hopes that it would increase excitement about the competition and bring a bit more prestige to its winners.

The finalists, Yasmine Tarhouni and Deborah Cohen, who argued against Joseph Edell and Christopher Agrawal, were lucky to have such a distinguished panel presiding over this year's final round of competition. Judge Randall Rader of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Donald Dunner, a renowned IP litigator of Finnegan, Henderson, who has argued more patent cases before the Federal Circuit than anyone in history, and Dean John Whealan, GW Law Associate Dean of Intellectual Property Studies, were given the difficult task of choosing a winning team. The victors of this year's competition, who will be representing GW at the regional competition, were Joseph and Christopher. This team also won Best Brief. James Watson was awarded Best Oralist, and Joseph Edell was the Best Overall Competitor. Congratulations to all of you!

The Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition is sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), who publishes the moot court problem in the field of intellectual property (you all know what that is, right?). It is divided into four regional competitions, which will be held in Houston, Silicon Valley, Chicago, and Boston (the northeast regional competition, where GW Law will send its winners) on the weekend of March 20 - 22, 2009. The top two teams from each regional competition proceed on to a national competition. The National Finals will take place in Washington, DC (how convenient!) on April 22 - 24, 2009. We wish you both the best of luck!