A Team Member's Experience of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2024

Posted on: 30 May 2024 by Claudia Muresan (LLM); Fraser Palmer (2nd year LLB); Olivia Mitchell (Final year LLB); Jamilia Kwajah-Ellimah (Final Year LLB), and Pritpal Bhambra (Final year LLB) in Blog

Earlier this year, a team of students from the University of Liverpool Law School travelled to Lincoln’s Inn, London, to compete in the UK national rounds of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – the largest and most prestigious mooting competition in the world. In this blog, they share their journey of preparation, the challenges they faced and their experiences competing at such a high level.

Jessup is the world’s largest and most prestigious mooting competition, with participants from over 680 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between two States before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. This year’s moot problem focused on the issues of standing before the International Court of Justice, the right to political expression and the right to nationality, consular access, and the scope of United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

Written memorials

In the first stage of the competition, in January, we submitted two 10,000-word memorials in which we outlined arguments in favour of the applicant and the respondent side. This represented over three months of legal research in international law, which most of us had never studied before. It was undoubtedly very challenging at times, as we had to learn and adapt quickly to the system of international law and its challenges! Due to this experience, we acquired valuable knowledge about international law, and we learned how to navigate complex legal issues and arguments and tailor them to each side.

Throughout these couple of months, we experienced significant team growth and unity. Most of our afternoons and evenings were spent researching and having debates between our applicants and respondents. It undoubtedly made us a better team, as we came up with an answer to each of our applicant and respondent points, enabling us to see the strengths and weaknesses in our arguments. Most importantly, it built trust and friendship which were very valuable assets to our experience of the competition.

Oral advocacy preparations

In the weeks leading up to the national competition in February, the team had weekly practice moot sessions before panels of guest judges, made up of academic staff from the Liverpool Law School, PhD students, and Liverpool Law School alumni, who all kindly volunteered their time to help us prepare. This represented an opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge of international law, and to test our critical thinking skills on the spot as we were probed with questions on the strengths and weaknesses of our arguments. It was an intense process through which we learned to be flexible as we were coming up with new arguments and refined them during and after each moot session.

It cannot be understated how much work we put in every week to show up to our practice debates. We found that after each one of these mocks, we had grown more confident, more knowledgeable, and more prepared for the competition. Although it was initially very daunting to plead in front of our trusted teammates and guest judges, by the end, we had overcame this fear, and as a team, we supported each other throughout the preparations for the oral rounds. After two long hours of pleading, answering questions, rebutting and sur-rebutting arguments, often spent another hour or more talking through our performance as a team and the feedback we had received. At times, we even debated some more between ourselves as each applicant and respondent started believing in and taking the side they were representing!

Competition

On 15th February, the team travelled to London to prepare ahead for the competition. At 9.00am the following day, each team was present for registration at Ashworth Centre in Lincoln’s Inn as the first rounds kicked off. Our first moot started not long after in which the applicant University of Liverpool team competed against University of Nottingham. The respondent team competed later in the afternoon against the Queen Mary University of London.

The first day of the competition was very intense. While we were waiting to be called in, it felt like we had forgotten everything that we learned in the past couple of months! The moment that we were greeted by the solemn atmosphere of the room and the judges, however, we each started playing into our roles and found that we were prepared for every challenge we were going to face. We cannot quite put into words what it felt like to go up to the podium and demonstrate the amount of knowledge and expertise we acquired in the past months. When we finished our pleadings, we felt very proud and grateful as our teammates, fellow opponents, coaches, mentors, and judges were taking part in this transformative moment with us.

As we finished with rebuttals and surrebuttals, we exited the room as the judges deliberated on our performances. We were surprised at the positivity and camaraderie shared between the teams and the words of encouragement exchanged in this short period of time. It was a moment in which we realised how important team spirit was, not only towards ourselves but also towards the people we were competing against. This is when we truly understood the essence of the Jessup Competition is about – a competition which links together a network of inspiring and supportive people which will never leave our hearts.

Soon after such moments were shared, we were called inside and given feedback from the judges on how we performed. Once more, we were very surprised at the positive and supportive attitude which we received from the panel. At the end, each team stood up and shook hands with the judges and had the opportunity to network and receive one-on-one feedback from them. After the moot was finished, we went back to our hotel and started preparing for the next day. Although we were quite tired, we were determined to channel our energy and excitement of the day and put in more work for the second day of the competition.

On the Saturday, we had back-to-back moots, our respondents competing first against University of Edge Hill, and our applicants competing after against University of Edinburgh. Although only a day had passed, we felt like we improved exponentially since our last moot.

After the moot finished, we attended a reception where the National Administrator would announce the teams that qualified for the knock-out rounds of the UK competition.  This represented an opportunity to meet and network with other competitors, judges and coaches while nervously waiting for the announcement. Unfortunately, although our team had ranked ninth overall, we were a couple of points away from qualifying for the quarter-finals. This was a pivotal experience for the team as we supported each other through this tough loss. We were unbelievably sad that our journey had come to an end, but nevertheless we were very grateful to have been a part of such an amazing experience.

All in all, it was an honour to be selected to represent our university, and we could not be prouder of our achievements and how far we have progressed both as a team and in an individual capacity since October last year. We would like to thank our coaches for supporting us throughout this journey. Our achievements and experiences reflect their work and commitment to the Jessup. We sincerely encourage everyone to participate in this competition if they have the opportunity to do so, as it will undoubtedly change their lives and perspective of the world!

Finally, we would like to congratulate the University of Philippines College of Law for their victory as Jessup World Champions 2024 and all teams who took part in the competition!

Are you interested in being a member of the University of Liverpool Jessup team in 2025?

To apply, please submit an application, consisting of:

1. A CV (maximum 2 A4 pages), including details of any relevant experience related to international law and/or mooting/debating/public speaking;
2. A writing sample (e.g. an essay/piece of coursework you have previously submitted for an assessment, or a skeleton argument you have submitted for another mooting competition);
3. A personal statement (maximum 2 A4 pages), addressing why you want to participate in the Jessup competition, why you think you would make a valuable contribution as a member of Liverpool’s Jessup team, and how you would ensure you are able to make the necessary commitment to participation in the competition.

Please send your application to Dr Ben Murphy (b.l.murphy@liverpool.ac.uk) and Dr Katie Johnston (katie.johnston@liverpool.ac.uk). Please ensure you include ‘Jessup application’ in the subject line of your email. The deadline is 5pm on Sunday 9 June 2024.

“Competing in the Jessup represented one of the most enriching experiences of my academic journey. It cannot be understated how much I have grown in a personal and academic capacity throughout this competition. I gained an in-depth insight into the intricacies of international law, developed a lot of self-confidence, and pushed the boundaries of what it means to work under pressure. This competition taught me to be a better advocate and showed me a glimpse of what being an international lawyer is really like. It was a privilege to work and compete with exceptional people, without which this experience would have been different.” – Claudia Muresan (University of Liverpool Jessup Team 2024)