Students Face The International Court of Justice
This weekend, three sitting judges from the International Court of Justice heard an important case at the Capital Hilton. Unlike the matters generally beforeChina's Judge Hanqin Xue, France's Judge Ronny Abraham, and Uganda's Judge Julia Sebutinde, this one was argued by two teams of law students. It was thefinals of the White & Case International Rounds of the Jessup Moot Court Competition, which started with 126 teams from 83 countries, including the first from Iran (four female students) in Jessup's 54 years.
The National Law School of India University, above, won the trophy after facing off with Singapore Management University School of Law.That came after several days of events at the Hilton, including a "Go-National Dress Ball" and the semi-finals on Friday judged by lawyers including former ICJ President Dame Rosalyn Higgins, Yale Law professor Harold Koh, Australian academic and barrister James Crawford, and White & Case global pro bono headIan Forrester and international arbitration headPaul Friedland.In the increasingly global legal climate, these students' international skills are only growing in importance.
We snapped a bulletin board with encouragement between teams. Perhaps Supreme Court opponents should try this?