Chapman 1Ls Avinash Gupta (Plaintiff) and Lauren Oliveri (Defendant) were recently awarded the 2023 Rutan & Tucker Golden Quill award.  The annual Golden Quill contest recognizes the best briefs written by Chapman Law first-year students, drawing on their Legal Analysis, Writing and Research II courses.

This year’s brief involved the following two issues: (1) Whether the Plaintiff, who testified in an EEOC investigation regarding his alleged wrongdoing, engaged in “protected activity” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and (2) whether the Plaintiff was subjected to a hostile work environment in retaliation for such participation.

Each finalist received a $500 prize from event sponsors Rutan & Tucker, an Orange County-based law firm that also sponsors the Fowler School of Law’s annual Golden Gavel Competition.