Contact: Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu

2/4/04

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A Michigan State University-DCL College of Law student and an alumnus have won the American Bar Association's Annual Law Student Tax Challenge for their impeccable tax knowledge and outstanding verbal skills.

Third-year student Melissa Bridges and December 2003 graduate Matt Rockey-Hawley also won accolades from the panel of lawyers who scored their written and oral arguments.

"They applauded Matt and Melissa for their impeccable tax knowledge," said Michele Halloran, an MSU-DCL clinical professor of law and director of the tax clinic who served as faculty coach through the competition. "Their ability to work flawlessly as a team in making their presentation was another winning point. The team also had outstanding verbal skills, according to the judges.”

The competition is open to students from all ABA-accredited law schools.

“Winning gave us a remarkable feeling of empowerment and confidence,” Rockey-Hawley said. “Walking away as national champions was amazing, especially considering that we competed against schools such as the University of Michigan, which won the competition last year.”

While in law school, Rockey-Hawley participated in MSU-DCL’s tax clinic, where he dealt with real clients seeking representation on a variety of tax issues. Bridges also learned about attorney/client interactions at the tax clinic.

Bridges, who will graduate in May with concentrations in both taxation and corporate law, is president of the Tax and Estate Planning Society, president of the Public Interest Law Society, co-president of the Women’s Law Caucus and editor of events for the Women’s Legal Forum and Gender Review.

“The key to our success,” she said, “was teamwork and communication, and that impressed the judges. We actually could finish each others’ sentences.”

The MSU-DCL team competed against the University of Michigan, University of Tennessee, Southern Methodist University, Western New England Law School, and New York Law School. University of Tennessee took second-place honors, and Southern Methodist University came in third.

The issue for this year’s competition involved a client who was a farmer. He wanted to split up a corporation involving his wife and sister. The farmer wanted to know the tax ramifications of a split and was interested in minimizing his tax consequences. Rockey-Hawley and Bridges prepared a written memorandum to the fictitious senior partner of their law firm and a letter to the client discussing numerous tax issues related to the corporate split. The six semi-finalists were chosen based on these written documents.

A plaque was presented to the winners at a Jan. 31 luncheon. They also will receive three-year memberships to the ABA’s Section of Taxation.

Michigan State University-DCL College of Law affiliated with Michigan State University in 1995 but remains the oldest continuously operating independent law school in the country. Founded in Detroit in 1890, MSU-DCL affiliated with MSU to extend its academic excellence and provide a greater variety of interdisciplinary programs for its students. The law college resides on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Mich.