Alongside celebrating New York Law School’s 135th anniversary, our community is also marking 50 years of hosting the Annual Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition—a national appellate advocacy competition named in honor of Robert F. Wagner Sr., Class of 1900. Senator Wagner was a principal architect of modern American labor policy and the sponsor of the landmark National Labor Relations Act.
The Wagner Competition focuses on evolving issues in labor and employment law and is run entirely by NYLS students who author the fact pattern and the bench brief, score the written part of the competition, and organize the extensive series of oral rounds judged by distinguished practitioners and members of the bench.
Over the years, the competition has welcomed leading jurists, federal officials, practitioners, and academics as judges, including United States Supreme Court Justices, federal appellate judges, members of the National Labor Relations Board, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission officials. Below is a selection of distinguished judges, along with their titles at the time of their participation:
- Anthony Cannataro ’96, Associate Judge and former Acting Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals
- Gregory W. Carman, Judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade
- Raymond J. Dearie, Judge of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- Patricia Diaz Dennis, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission
- Maria Echaveste, White House Deputy Chief of Staff to President Clinton; former Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor
- David N. Edelstein, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- Boyce F. Martin Jr., Presiding Justice, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Joel Slomsky ’70, Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- Dolores Sloviter, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Kenneth W. Starr, Former U.S. Solicitor General
- Nadine Strossen, President of the American Civil Liberties Union; Professor of Law at NYLS
- Sonia Sotomayor, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- John C. Truesdale, Chair of the National Labor Relations Board
- John M. Walker Jr., Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Congratulations to all of the winners and awardees of the 50th Annual Wagner Competition!
- Winner: Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Team 137
- Runner-Up: University of Miami School of Law – Team 116
- Best Final Round Oral Advocate: Ella Schnake, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Team 137
- Best Petitioner Brief: Georgia State University College of Law, Team 129
- Best Respondent Brief: University of Miami School of Law, Team 116
- Best Petitioner Preliminary Round Oral Advocate: Ella Schnake, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Team 137
- Best Respondent Preliminary Round Oral Advocate: Emma Vargas, Indiana University McKinney School of Law, Team 128
- Best Preliminary Round Team: Elizabeth Raehpour and Carson Cargill, University of Kansas School of Law, Team 102