Cornell law students Teri L. Menke '96, left, and Carol A. Timm '97 flank Eric Bergster, the organizer the 1996 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Competition, which the students won.
By Darryl Geddes
Cornell law students Teri L. Menke '96 and Carol A. Timm '97 are world champions of a sort.
The duo out-argued law students from 38 other universities representing 19 countries in the 1996 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Competition, held in March at the International Arbitral Center in Vienna.
Menke and Timm will be honored for their efforts by the U.S. Solicitor General in a ceremony May 20 at 2:15 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
The students were selected to represent Cornell after they received the highest scores in last fall's campus competition.
In the international competition, each school prepares and submits a claimant's brief and a respondent's brief and argues each side over the course of four arbitration rounds. The rounds, similar to moot court proceedings, are then scored, and four semifinalists are selected.
The Cornell team defeated teams from King's Inn, Ireland, in the semifinals and Deakin University, Australia, in the final.
The issue argued involved a request for the production of documents in an action involving the broken contractual relationship between two international parties. Menke argued for and against the production of documents based on International Arbitration Association rules and the UNCITRAL model law. International arbitration, as opposed to U.S. court procedure, limits the availability of discovery action. Timm's arguments were based on an analysis of contractual terms and application of a United Nations treaty governing the international sale of goods.
For Menke, who will receive her juris doctorate from the Law School Sunday, the international acclaim caps an outstanding academic career. She was the winner of the Cuccia Cup Moot Court Competition in Spring 1995, a semifinalist in the moot court competition in fall 1994 and a finalist in a moot court competition in spring 1994.
"Teri's comparative advantage lies in her oral argument; she has excelled in every aspect of the moot court work," said George Hay, the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and professor of economics, who judged Menke's final moot court competition. "She demonstrates great poise and good organization."
Menke decided when she was in elementary school that law would be the career for her. "I remember watching television at a family gathering and thinking that something I had just seen seemed so unfair," she recalled. "I turned to my aunt and asked why that was so, and she said blame the lawyers for the problem. I told her I wanted to change that."
Much of the good related to lawyers' work gets little notice, Menke argues. "Many attorneys spend their lives supporting indigent clients and doing community service work for all causes.
Practicing what she preaches, Menke has volunteered for the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen in Ithaca and also has worked in the local Law Guardians Office, handling cases involving claims of child neglect and abuse.
The 1993 Tulane graduate will join the prestigious Baltimore law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll this summer. But first, she'd like to return to Europe and get some traveling in before she begins reviewing municipal bonds.
"I'm trying to get my parents to pay for my trip to Europe," she said, admitting that this case will surely test her persuasion and oral-argument skills.