On Oct. 1, attorney David Frederick argued the case of Lozman v. the City of Riviera Beach, Fla., before the U.S. Supreme Court. To prepare, he argued it in a moot court convened at Cornell Law School Sept. 20.

Four Cornell law professors served as judges during the simulated court proceedings, with students observing and asking questions afterward.

"I greatly appreciated the skill and dedication of the professors who mooted me," Frederick said. "The student interest in the event was fantastic, and I enjoyed the opportunity to answer so many excellent questions from them after the moot court ended."

Frederick, a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel PLLC, has argued 38 cases before the Supreme Court, including 11 in the past three terms.

In the Lozman case, Frederick represented the City of Riviera Beach, which has been embroiled in a six-year legal battle with resident Fane Lozman over a houseboat once moored in the city's marina. For the Supreme Court, the issue raised by the case was one of jurisdiction: whether a floating structure that is indefinitely moored, receives power and other utilities from shore and is not intended to be used in maritime transportation or commerce, constitutes a "vessel" and thus falls under federal maritime law.

"While [the issue] may seem arcane, the case presents, on the procedural side, much more universal issues," said Kevin Clermont, the Robert D. Ziff Professor of Law, who wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the City of Riviera Beach. "I wrote the amicus brief on the nature of subject-matter jurisdiction; this goes to the heart of both the limits on the judicial branch and also the division between federal and state authority." Clermont served as one of four judges in the moot proceedings.

Also on the bench were Cornell Law professors Michael Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, who has written extensively on constitutional law and has served as a counsel and an amicus curiae in Supreme Court cases; John Barceló III, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law and a leading scholar in international trade and international commercial arbitration; and John Blume, professor of law and the Law School's director of clinical, advocacy and skills programs, and director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project, who has argued many cases before the Supreme Court.

After Frederick made his arguments, extending the session beyond the 30 minutes allotted in official proceedings to receive as many questions as possible from the panel, the judges concluded the mooting and switched gears to offer observations and advice. Frederick then took questions from the students who packed the lecture hall. Frederick was invited to visit the Law School by Bruce Bryan, adjunct professor of law. This was Frederick's third visit to the Ithaca campus.

Owen Lubozynski is a freelance writer for the Law School.