IIT Chicago-Kent wins 2014 National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition

IIT Chicago-Kent students Paulina Lopez Caballero '14, Kelly O'Neill '15 and Hannah Tuber '15 won the fifth annual National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition February 21 and 22 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (IIT Chicago-Kent also won the competition in 2011 and 2012.)

The students argued Wilcox v. United States, a hypothetical case involving the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CIPA). IIT Chicago-Kent defeated Indiana University before Judge William Bauer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Judge Paul Kelly of the Tenth Circuit, Judge Mary Mikva of the Cook County Circuit Court, Chancery Division, and Judge Warren Wolfson. Lopez Caballero won the tournament's best oral advocate award. Malinda Pileggi '16, who competed on another IIT Chicago-Kent team that reached the competition's quarterfinals, received an award as the second-best oral advocate.

Winning team member Paulina Lopez Caballero is an advanced-standing student who earned her law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico. Teammate Kelly O'Neill graduated summa cum laude from Texas Tech University with a degree in political science. Teammate Hannah Tuber graduated cum laude with a degree in acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University. Malinda Pileggi completed her undergraduate education in finance and economics at Loyola University Chicago.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. IIT Chicago-Kent is the only law school ever to win the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year (2008), and the first school to win the National Moot Court Competition in two consecutive years (2008 and 2009).