The University of Texas School of Law won the 32nd Annual Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, held March 2-4 in New York City. The competition is co-sponsored by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and St. John’s University School of Law. Florida International University College of Law took second place in the competition, and teams from Fordham University School of Law and the University of Memphis-Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law shared third-place honors. Florida International University College of Law won for Best Brief, and Tansy Nicholson of Baylor University School of Law won the Best Advocate award.

The competition consisted of eight rounds of oral arguments and final rounds. ABI practitioners and academics coached many of the teams, and nearly 200 lawyers and federal judges donated their time and expertise to help judge the event. The fact pattern for the competition focused on two key developments in bankruptcy law. The first issue looked at whether any post-petition, pre-conversion increase in equity in a debtor’s property inures to the benefit of the debtor or to the bankruptcy estate upon conversion of a case from chapter 13 to chapter 7 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 348 and 541. The second issue looked at whether a chapter 7 trustee may sell, as property of the bankruptcy estate, the ability to avoid and recover transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 547 and 550.

Final-round judges for the 2024 competition were Bankruptcy Judge Jil Mazer-Marino (E.D.N.Y.), Chief Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn (S.D.N.Y.), U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil (S.D.N.Y.) and Chief Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Paul Hage of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP (Southfield, Mich.) and Bankruptcy Judge John T. Gregg (W.D. Mich.; Grand Rapids) drafted this year’s fact pattern.

The Duberstein Competition, named for the late Judge Conrad B. Duberstein, a St. John’s alumnus and former ABI director, has grown into the largest appellate moot court competition in the nation. ABI’s Endowment Fund awarded $13,000 in cash prizes for the winners during a gala reception held at the New York Marriott Downtown on March 4. The gala featured a special memoriam for retired St. John’s University Law School professor Robert M. Zinman, who helped found ABI and the ABI Law Review, and establish the Duberstein Moot Court Competition. Zinman passed away on Saturday at the age of 92.

For more information on the Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, please go to https://www.stjohns.edu/law/academics/centers-institutes/center-bankruptcy-studies/32nd-annual-duberstein-bankruptcy-moot-court-competition.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes nearly 10,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abi.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abi.org/calendar-of-events.