Students from the University of Hawaii's William S. Richardson School of Law won second place at the National Native American Law Students Association's Moot Court Competition, the school said in a news release.

More than 40 teams from 17 law schools across the United States competed. It was the third year in a row that a UH law school team competed in the final round.

"Once again our students worked very hard and did an outstanding job in this intense national competition," said Avi Soifer, dean of the law school. "We are very proud of all these students and very grateful to all the members of the legal community who helped them prepare so well for the national competition."

The 17th annual Native American Law Students Association's Moot Court Competition was hosted this year by the law schools at the University of Colorado and Denver University. Law students compete by arguing both sides of a simulated appeals court case both orally and in writing.

Third-year law student Ann Otteman and second-year law student Jesse Smith completed five oral argument rounds before reaching the final round. Otteman and Smith took second place in the Best Advocates category, while a team from Columbia Law School finished first. This category represents the top team of competitors in the oral argument portion of the competition.

Other students who competed included third-year law students Rafael Renteria, Christopher Santos and Terrence Thornburgh, and second-year law students Lahela Hite, Chasid Sapolu, Scott Shishido, Kaupena Soon and Kaui Yamane. Six of these students also reached the top 16 team bracket.

Hawaii judges, attorneys and law professors helped to prepare Hawaii's teams. The judges included federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Clifton, District Court judges David Ezra and Michael Seabright, and Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi.