Eighteen teams of NIU law students had to struggle with an argument during the March, 1991 Moot Court competition.

How far can high-school teenagers take the right of free expression and do they have the right to be free from illegal search and seizure in school?

The teams argued the case before a standing-room-only crowd and three judges from various communities in the midwest.

The judges were Shirley Abrahamson, a Wisconsin supreme court justice, former federal district court judge Susan Getzendanner, now a law partner with Skadden & Arps in Chicago, and Albert Alshuler, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

M. Elizabeth Duffy from Geneva and Jay Wiegman from Sycamore were the winners of the College of Law’s ninth annual court contest.

Duffy and Wiegman are second year law students. Both students will receive the Carl W. Cicero prize. The Cicero award was named after a student who died in 1985.

Wiegman was also named best oral advocate along with his peers Scott Salemi of Naperville and Tim Mahoney of Freeport. Wiegman won this honor in the final round of arguments.

Duffy and Wigman were recognized for preparing the best brief. Steven Katz from Buffalo Grove and Elizabeth Boddy of Glen Ellyn, the second place winners, were cited as runner-ups.

The winners received plaques and gavels from the law department. They also received books donated by Callaghan and Co. Publishing in Deerfield, Il.

The Cicero Fund along with the College of Law Student Bar Association financed an award ceremony and luncheon where the winners were honored for their achievements.