DJDS Secures yet Another State Championship Victory

After securing a finalist spot at the statewide moot court competition, Denver JDS moot court participants Ari Erlich and Mia Wexler, current seniors, will travel to D.C. this April to argue in the Marshall-Brennan National Moot Court Competition & Conference.

Moot court is a process where students simulate arguments at the appellate court level in front of a panel of judges. This is done by high school and law students worldwide. 

Dr. Jeremy Golubcow Teglasi, also known as Dr. G.T., now the current DJDS upper division principal started moot court last year during z-flex, a period that occurred every Wednesday where students could come before school started, and enjoy a selection of clubs. 

Dr. G.T. believes that his past experience as a lawyer gives him the ability to be able to coach this team. “I’m all about creating activities that students are going to pour their hearts and souls into,” Dr. G.T. said. “It feels good to work with really motivated students.”

Despite low participation in the club last year, it has grown a substantial amount this semester with 13 people from all high school grades, almost doubling the amount from last year. 

“Moot court was an opportunity to actually feel normal and be surrounded by people who have the same interests as me, which gave me a chance to really bond with people,” said Tamar Tsbari, a student from Israel who came to DJDS to escape the war, that participated in moot court. 

This year, Denver Jewish Day School moot court students participated in the Marshall Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, a project where interested high school students can learn about the law and argue against each other in a statewide moot court competition hosted at CU Boulder. 

Both Erlich and Wexler argued in the final round along with the four other finalists against a panel of judges from the Colorado Supreme Court, the U.S. Patent Office, the Colorado Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. 

Erlich ranked first overall and won the award for best performer out of all participants. Wexler placed second after the three initial rounds and went on to win the award for the top performer in the final round. These two awards were the only specific awards handed out in the final round. 

“I feel like I became a better lawyer by teaching the brilliant students at DJDS, as they regularly challenged my own understanding of the law through their thoughtful questions and hypotheticals,” said Lucas Elek, a CU Boulder law student assigned to DJDS as a moot court coach. 

While being the coach for the DJDS moot court team he was also tasked with creating a training program for the judges at the competition. 

DJDS had the unique and special opportunity to be able to compete at the state-wide moot court competition. With the competition taking place during Shabbat, the students traveled up to Boulder the Friday before and stayed at a hotel. 

Dr. G.T. and the moot court participants walked their way to the Wolf Law Building at CU Boulder Law School in preparation for the tournament. “The hardest part of the moot court was the day before the tournament because the pressure was on,” said Koby-Nadel Mansdorf, a DJDS 10th-grade participant in moot court. 

At the competition, DJDS was up against more than a dozen schools including East High School and George Washington High School with more than 200 participants arguing in front of more than 60 judges. 

With mixed emotions, students competed in three rounds arguing in front of judges all leading up to the announcement of the six finalists who would go to nationals in D.C. “Our team put in the time and effort to distinguish themselves at the competition,” Dr. G.T. said. 

With G.T.’s hopes up and the anxiousness of the students, the names were called. Two out of the six finalists were DJDS students, Wexler and Erlich. “[When the finalists were announced] Overwhelmingly there is this pride,” Dr. G.T. said. “I was pretty pumped.” 

“I was a little bit in shock [when I heard my name called],” Wexler said. Despite having the practice and experience Erlich and Wexler had doubts that they would make it this far. “I had absolutely no faith that it was going to be me,” Erlich said. “The night before we [Wexler and Erlich] were just laying in bed watching Tiktok and we were like ‘Okay who do you think is going to win?’”

Wexler and Erlich first joined the moot court team last year during its founding. “I was interested in law and wanted to see if it was something I wanted to pursue later in life,” Wexler said. “It has given me so many skills that I would have not gotten otherwise.” 

Students feel that it has given them many life skills that they can us later in life. “[moot court is] Super special, it’s been one of my favorite things at DJDS,” Erlich said. “It has been a lot more impactful than a lot of the sports and clubs here.” 

“I love that they [moot court students] all have this opportunity to pursue excellence and to see how the work you put into it pays off,” Dr. G.T. said.