March 24, 2008 (Jackson, Miss.) – Tray Hairston, a 2006 M.B.A. graduate of Belhaven College, and current student at Mississippi College School of Law, was part of the winning team at the 16th Annual Chief Judge Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Memorial Moot Court Competition.

Forty-four teams from law schools around the country competed in New York from March 8-10, at the nation’s only moot court competition devoted entirely to bankruptcy. Mississippi’s team overcame a tough challenge from Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law, to take home the prize.

The ABI Endowment Fund provided the first-place team with $5,000 and the second-place team with a $3,000 prize. The University of Houston Law Center and a second team from the Mississippi College School of Law each received $1,500 for their third-place tie.

Hairston, a native of Jackson, boasts an impressive resume and currently serves as Legislative Advocacy Intern for the AARP and helps to assist them in their lobbying efforts at the State Capitol. Tray worked as a Legislative Liaison for the Department of Education, and as a congressional intern for Senator Thad Cochran in Washington, D.C. He received dual degrees from Tougaloo College in English and Philosophy, and spent a year as an exchange student, attending Fall semester at Brown University and Spring semester at New York University. Before completing his undergrad at Tougaloo, Tray published an academic paper in the Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship Journal 2000, published at Harvard University Press.