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34th Annual Florida-Georgia Moot Court Competition

A tradition in the Jacksonville legal community, the 34th annual Florida/Georgia moot court competition was held today at the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla.

The competition, held annually on the Friday before the Florida/Georgia football game, is between the Colleges of Law of the University of Florida and the University of Georgia and replicates an argument before the United States Supreme Court concerning a current, but unresolved issue of Federal Constitutional law.

The appeal for this year?s moot court competition concerns a defendant charged with selling a sexually graphic t-shirt. The legal issues include whether the defendant is competent to stand trial and the applicable standard for Internet obscenity.

The panel of participating Federal judges in this year?s competition are: the Honorable Wm. Terrell Hodges, Senior District Judge, Middle District of Florida; the Honorable B. Avant Edenfield, District Judge, Southern District of Georgia; the Honorable Gerald B. Tjoflat, Circuit Judge, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; the Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood, Chief Judge, Southern District of Georgia; and the Honorable Marcia Morales Howard, District Judge, Middle District of Florida.

The competition began 34 years ago at the initiative of Mark Hulsey, a partner with Jacksonville?s Smith Hulsey & Busey and a University of Florida graduate, and Charlie Kimbrell, a Miami lawyer and a graduate of the University of Georgia. The competition is held in Jacksonville, timed with the annual football competition between the universities.

The event was held from 1970 until 2010 and was called the Florida/Georgia-Hulsey/Kimbrell. Following the deaths of both Charlie Kimbrell and Mark Hulsey, Atlanta-based law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP agreed to co-sponsor the event with Smith Hulsey & Busey.

The event is now known as the ?Florida/Georgia-Hulsey/Gambrell? moot court competition in honor of Mark Hulsey and E. Smythe Gambrell, former president of the American Bar Association and a founding partner of Smith Gambrell & Russell.

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