Luke Charles Moore Invitational Competition
January 11, 2007
On March 2 and 3, 2007, the Luke Charles Moore Invitational Competition (LCMI) will be held in Washington, D.C. The competition is sponsored by the Howard University School of Law’s Charles Hamilton Houston National Moot Court Team and in part by the Howard Law Fair Housing Clinical Program. The chair of this year’s LCMI is Diana Vilmenay.
This year’s competition will address arguments regarding zoning regulations that violate Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
LCMI is held in honor of the Honorable Luke Charles Moore. After graduating from Howard University with honors in 1949, Judge Moore earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law School. He later returned to Howard University School of Law as an adjunct law professor. In 1959, he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Judge Moore to the position of Chief U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, making him the first African American to serve in that capacity since Frederick Douglass in 1877. Ten years later, President Nixon appointed Moore to the Superior Court where he became a senior judge.
Moore was a great trial lawyer that loved the competition of advocacy and mastered its techniques. He spent many Saturdays teaching the art of advocacy at Howard, instilling in his students a responsibility to the legal profession in aiding the least fortunate in our society. Judge Moore’s legacy lives on in many areas, such as the LCMI competition. LCMI is one of two civil rights moot court competitions in the nation.
The Charles Hamilton Houston Moot Court Team, lead by third-year law student, Josephine Harriott, participates in selected competitions nationwide and sponsors an intramural competition in the appellate advocacy setting. Students are selected for participation on the moot court team on the basis of a written brief and by oral arguments.
For additional information regarding LCMI, please feel free to contact Diana Vilmenay at 202-806-8077 or via email at dvvilmenay@law.howard.edu.
