UCC Team Participates in Prestigious Mooting Competition

2 Mar 2022

On Saturday 26 February, the UCC School of Law was represented by five of its students at the national rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, hosted by the Law Society of Ireland at Blackhall Place, Dublin.

UCC Team Participates in Prestigious Mooting Competition

On Saturday 26 February, the UCC School of Law was represented by five of its students at the national rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, hosted by the Law Society of Ireland at Blackhall Place, Dublin. The Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition, featuring participants from approximately 700 law schools and 100 countries across the world. First held in 1960, the competition sees teams of law students compete against one another and present oral and written pleadings, arguing both the applicant and respondent positions, for a fictitious legal dispute between nations before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.

Alongside their coach Dr Luigi Lonardo, Shane Goodman (BCLI IV) and Heather O’Leary (LLB II) argued on behalf of the applicant, the Democratic Republic of Antara. Michael Duffy (BCL II), Laura McSweeney (BCL II) and Laura Lengyel (BCLI II) represented the respondent, the Velan Kingdom of Ravaria, in oral proceedings.

In keeping with the focus on topical issues of public international law, this year the Case Concerning the Suthan Referendum raised important issues such as the protection of free speech on social media, State-sponsored cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and the admissibility of unlawfully-obtained evidence before the International Court of Justice. One of the key themes of the 2022 problem question was how well-established principles of international law can be applied to the rapidly developing cyberspace context.

Shane Goodman shares his reflections on the day.

“The Jessup is perhaps the most famous moot court competition in the world, with competitors from countries as far away as Chile, Vietnam or South Africa. While it was not my first time in a moot court, it was certainly the most interesting. I have been preparing for the oral proceedings along with the UCC team since October, and I really could not have asked for better teammates. We were able to divide the workload between us, so everyone specialised in a particular issue pertinent to the case. I had studied public international law last semester, so being able to apply what I had learned to emerging issues in international law was a really great experience. I would highly recommend it!”

Professor Mark Poustie, Dean of the School of Law, stated:

“Participation in mooting really helps to develop a range of lawyerly skills – legal research, writing and advocacy.  It really gives you an insight into how cases are prepared and argued.  It gives participants excellent experience in thinking on their feet in responding to questions from the bench!  The Jessup International Law Moot is one of the leading mooting competitions globally and it is great that UCC participated, and I’d like to encourage students in the School to join next year’s team.  Finally, I’d like to congratulate UCC’s team and their coach, Dr Luigi Lonardo.  Although they didn’t win, they put up a very good performance to which all team members contributed fully.  I am proud of your performance which was a credit to the School!”

If you are interested in representing UCC at next year's Jessup you can learn more at https://www.ilsa.org/about-jessup/. The problem question for 2023 will be released in September. Knowledge of public international law is an advantage, but certainly not a requirement!