2026

Law students working under the supervision of Professor Scott Maurer secured a victory for a Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center (KGACLC) client, with positive implications for all consumers.

Last spring, Dylan Crosby Moghadam ’26 was part of a team that reached the finals of the Honors Moot Court Internal (HMCI) competition. And last December, he stepped into an even bigger arena: arguing a real appeal before a three-judge panel of the Santa Clara County Appellate Division. On December 8, 2025, the court issued a unanimous published opinion reversing the judgment entered against his client.

“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to argue this appeal and to secure a positive outcome for our client, and I am proud to have been involved in a decision that will help protect future consumers facing similar issues,” Moghadam shared. 

This ruling is more than a victory for one client. “The panel correctly held that debt buyers who don’t disclose witnesses and rely on hearsay evidence aren’t entitled to judgments,” said Professor Maurer, Moghadam’s supervising attorney at KGACLC. “Only about 10–15% of civil appeals are successful, so the students really accomplished something remarkable here.”

The result was the culmination of work by multiple students. Hanchel Cheng, J.D. ’25, who recently passed the bar, served as lead trial counsel and was the primary author of the winning appellate brief, with additional research and drafting support from Kaelin Olson ’27. “Writing an appellate brief for our client brought my classroom learning to life. It was a privilege to help advocate for them and to see our work make a real impact,” shared Cheng. 

The decision also extends an extraordinary record: KGACLC remains undefeated in collection-defense litigation. In the past year alone, KGACLC students saved their clients more than $250,000 by winning or settling every single collection case they handled.