Our students were successful in the national round of the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
Young and talented law students competed for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition title at the end of February in Bratislava
This competition is one of the greatest and most prestigious events of its kind worldwide. Young law students from more than 500 universities from all around the world annually participate in it. Firstly, teams composed of three to five students compete at the national level against other teams from the same country and subsequently the champions advance to the grand international finals held in the USA.
The competition focuses primarily on international law. However, the practical experience and skills that the students acquire in the course of the competition undoubtedly help them in their future career as legal practitioners.
In preparing for the competition the students practice their critical legal thinking, analysis of relevant sources of law, drafting of persuasive and arguments-based legal texts and, furthermore, they practice their professional expression skills and performance. The entire competition is in English and this could also be seen as a great benefit of this competition.
Two ambitious student teams from established Slovak law schools – Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava and Faculty of Law at Pan-European - competed against each other in the Slovak national round of the competition. The competing students were undoubtedly experiencing some tense moments. In fact, many of them presented their speech of this kind in public for the very first time. However, the initial nervousness quickly disappeared and they all demonstrated their legal skills and talent for speech to the audience.
The panel of judges composed of three members representing both domestic as well as foreign experts with invaluable experience gained in the course of their practice in international organizations, domestic law firms and during their studies was very demanding and asked the students lots of questions to test the consistency of their argumentation and deeper knowledge of related areas of law.
There were a number of areas of law which the students had to become familiar with. This year's case (i.e. a fictitious dispute between two fictitious countries) was concerned with many current legal issues, such as protection of environment and natural resources, protection of cultural heritage, protection of the rights of minorities and indigenous people, enshrining the right to water in domestic and international law or the indemnification of states which suffered from the higher migrants influx.
The two rounds of oral presentations were followed by an informal reception along with the announcement of results. This was held on the premises of White & Case s.r.o., the general partner of the event. Finally, the team from the Faculty of Law at Comenius University in Bratislava won the champion trophy. Prizes for the Best Oralist were awarded as well to one member from each team.
The team from the Faculty of Law at CU can start its thorough preparation for representing the Slovak Republic from 9 April 2017 to 15 April 2017 in the international finals of the competition which will be held in Washington DC.
Congratulations to the winning team! We believe that this competition will undoubtedly help them become successful lawyers improving our Slovak (and European) legal environment in the future.