MBA earned the right to compete in the national tournament after winning the local competition sponsored by the CNMI Bar Association this past March.
Forty-eight teams, including representatives from 43 states, Guam, the CNMI, South Korea and Australia, participated in the national event. This was the largest number of participants in the national competition’s twenty seven year history.
The MBA team consisted of students Gino A.P. Benevente, Jodel Katrina Fernandez, Seong Jun Hwang, DongHee Im, Hanbert Jeong, Chan Woo Lee, Manatsu E. Omori and Michael U. Sheu with attorney coaches Jennifer Dockter and Adam Hardwicke.
The team had only a month to prepare the complicated civil case dealing with Native American land rights and environmental issues.
After four rounds of competition over two days, including a decisive win against Connecticut, the team placed 37th overall. The champion was John Adams High School from Indiana with MICDS from Missouri as runner up.
Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provided opening remarks to all the students during an awards banquet following the championship round.
Before the banquet, one CNMI student, Chan Woo Lee, had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with the former justice.
