Young Lawyers Division Conducts Law Day Celebration
Students from across the state gathered in Raleigh on Friday, May 6, as the North Carolina Bar Association observed Law Day 2022. The culminating awards ceremony and all of the Law Week events were conducted by the NCBA Young Lawyers Division and supported by the North Carolina Bar Foundation Endowment through the Beverly C. Moore and Douglas Carmichael McIntyre II Justice Funds.
Moot court finalists argued their cases at the Supreme Court.
Middle and high school students were recognized for their efforts in essay writing and moot court while elementary school students competed in the poster art category. The finals of the moot court competition were conducted in the morning at the N.C. Supreme Court and speeches by the four finalists in the McIntyre Youth Leadership Challenge were presented at the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Cheryl Howell, who serves as the Albert Coates Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government, received the Liberty Bell Award. The award is presented annually by the Young Lawyers Division in recognition of an individual “who has strengthened the American System of freedom under law.”
The national observance of Law Day was first proclaimed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on February 3, 1958, and is celebrated annually by the NCBA on the first Friday in May.
This year’s student winners are:
Poster Contest – Elementary (Kindergarten-5)
1st Place – Claire Schoolfield, Hunter Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh
2nd Place – Samyukta Mukund, Morrisville Elementary School, Morrisville
3rd Place – Evan Doetsch, Hunter Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh
Essay Contest – Junior High (Grades 6-8)
1st Place – Haytham Osama Khatib, Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences, Wilmington
2nd Place – Averil Boren, Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences, Wilmington
3rd Place – Isabel Garcia, Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences, Wilmington
Essay Contest – High School (Grades 9-12)
1st Place – Avery Braithwaite, John T. Hoggard High School, Wilmington
Moot Court (Grades 9-12)
Runner-up – Michael Harris and Joshua Hall, Calvary Day School, Winston-Salem
Champion – Hannah Beckman and Ava Cresto, Calvary Day School, Winston-Salem
Mcintyre Youth Leadership Challenge Finalists (Grades 6-12)
1st Place – Krish Attaluri, Mills Park Middle School, Wake County
2nd Place – Nisha Kasturi, Mills Park Middle School, Wake County
Finalist – Liam Campbell, Jay M. Robinson Middle School, Mecklenburg County
Finalist – Avary Herman, Hanes Magnet School, Forsyth County
President Jon Heyl presents Law Day Proclamation.
Program participants included NCBA President Jon Heyl, who read the Law Day Proclamation; Congressman Mike McIntyre who provided the history of the McIntyre Youth Leadership Challenge; and Wake County District Court Judge Christine Walczyk who presented the Liberty Bell Award.
Representing the Young Lawyers Division were Will Quick, chair, who provided the welcome; Nicholas Sorensen, who chaired the Essay Contest Subcommittee and presented the awards; Chris Flurry, who chaired the Poster Art Contest Subcommittee and presented the awards; Kadija Locklear, who chaired the Moot Court Competition Subcommittee and presented the awards; Ashley Oldfield, who co-chaired the McIntyre Youth Leadership Challenge Subcommittee along with Ashle Page and presented the awards; Vince Walton, who chaired the Liberty Bell Award Subcommittee; and Law Week Committee Co-chairs William Walton and Sidney Thomas, who provided the closing remarks.
Chief Judge Donna Stroud, Judge Lucy Inman, and Judge Hunter Murphy of the N.C. Court of Appeals judged the McIntyre Youth Leadership Challenge. Judge Toby Hampson, Judge Darren Jackson, Judge John Arrowood and Judge Chris Dillon of the N.C. Court of Appeals judged the Moot Court finals.