The competition is organized by the International Law Students Association (ILSA) and by the international law firm White & Case.
The contest comprises 2 stages – a written and an oral one. In the course of the Competition every team has to prepare written memorandums to support their positions on the case presented. In the preliminary rounds, every team performs twice on behalf of a claimant and twice on the behalf of a defendant. Each performance is assessed by a chamber of 3 judges. The judges of the Competition are the specialists from the ICJ, representatives of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), famous Russian and foreign lawyers in the sphere of international law.
In 2012 the team of the Law Institute of the SFU performed successfully on the national stage. More than 50 teams from different universities of the country participated this year in the competition.
Our team won the reputable 6th place in the written rounds. The team’s memorandum fully complied with the requirements, and the team was not punished with penalty scores. It should be indicated that the qualifying standards of the memorandum are extremely strict, and penalty scores are charged on the progressive scale. For instance, the absence of quotation marks in citation and incorrect arrangements of the text on the page are considered as mistakes and are punished with additional penalty scores. Plagiarism is prohibited; in case of being charged with plagiarism, a team is disqualified.
Furthermore, our team won the 8th place in the oral rounds, leaving behind the teams from different Russian universities (Higher School of Economics, Moscow State Law Academy, Omsk State University, Saratov State Law Academy, Ural State Law Academy and Tomsk State University). Our team lost in the quarterfinal against the finalist of the Competition – Moscow State University.
The members of the team are Alexey Bulatov (5th course), Olga Koroleva (3rd course), Ksenya Gylaeva (3rd course), Anastasia Kachanova (3rd course) under the direction of their coach – docent of the international law Department, Valentina V. Tereshkova.
All members presented a high level of speaking in the oral rounds. A. Bulatov took the 10th place among 200 speakers of the Competition. The ranking of other team members in speaking is as follows: O. Koroleva – 22nd place, K. Gylaeva- 38th place, A. Kachanova- 59th place.
All over the world the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition is considered as a perfect start of career in the sphere of international law. This year teams researched problems which are not solved in international law science yet. For example, is it possible for a government in exile to plead in the ICJ? Is it rightful to destroy cultural heritage during military conflicts, if it is the only way to save the army of the state? Is the government responsible for the actions of military forces of an international organization on the territory of a third country in case if this government has not only voted for such a decision, but also provided the organization with additional military force?
In spite of the fact that 3 members of the team were students of the 3rd course and will begin studying international law only this semester, the team managed to find the solution to the difficult problems.
Our congratulations to the team of the Law Institute for the perfect results of the Competition!
The team invites all first and second year students, who have a good command of English and are interested in international law for participating in the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition, 2013!
Translated by Daria Druschinina
Corrected by Anja Grotheer, Andrej Petrochenko