Loree Nelson and Ted Appel Judge Drake Law School’s First Year Oral Argument Competition

Of Counsel Loree Nelson and Attorney Theodore T. Appel judged oral arguments conducted by first year law students at Drake Law School on February 28 and March 2, 2023. These oral arguments are designed to give first year law students at Drake Law School the practical experience of appellate advocacy and receive real time feedback on their presentation and arguments from members of the legal community. The arguments focused on whether a convicted criminal defendant must present evidence of their actual innocence that was newly discovered after their conviction or that exonerating evidence that was available but was not presented to the jury in order to successfully pursue a petition for habeus corpus, claiming they are wrongfully imprisoned, after a statute of limitations had expired on such a petition.