Well done to the University of Pretoria's Jessup Mooting Team for winning (again) the South African Round of the 'Olympic Games' of moot court competitions in the world. 

By winning, the UP Faculty of Law’s Jessup Team has earned the right to advance to and represent South Africa again at the White and Case International Rounds on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. The TuksLaw Team also won the Award for Best Memorials and Kiranteba Coetzee won the Award for Best Oralist. The other members of the team are Dunga Mashilo and Kyle Cloete, under the guidance of Coach Sohela Surajpal, a 2019 LLB alumna of the Faculty.

According to Professor of Human Rights Law; Director of the institute for International and Cmoparative Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, and Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Christof Heyns, [T]he big challenge now is the International Rounds in Washington D.C. This is for law faculties what the World Cup is in other contexts. As this is, in anyone’s book, a most worthy challenge, something altogether in a class of its own. We can be very proud of our Faculty that we offer such opportunities to our students, and we as staff members are in turn deeply inspired by how our students rise to the occasion on the world stage.'

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition* is the world's largest moot (advocacy) court competition for law students, with participants from roughly 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions. The Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. One team is allowed to participate from every eligible school. Teams prepare oral and written pleadings arguing both the applicant and respondent positions of the case.

Teams of law students compete against one another through the presentation of oral and written pleadings to address timely issues of public international law in the context of a hypothetical legal dispute between nations. The Compromis (fictitious facts) is the springboard for the Jessup Competition.  This year's Compromis is based on a hearing in the 'International Court of Justice' concerning the 'Helian Hyacinth Order' of 20 September 2019.  The parties in this case are the 'State of Adawa versus the Republic of Rasasa'.

Written by leading scholars of International Law, the Compromis is a compilation of agreed upon facts about the dispute that is submitted for adjudication to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. After the Compromis is released, students begin researching and preparing arguments for both sides of the dispute, drafting and editing written pleadings, called “memorials,” and practicing oral presentations. Each team prepares two written memorials and two 45-minute oral presentations, one for each party to the dispute (the “Applicant” and the “Respondent”). Teams argue alternately as Applicant and Respondent against competing teams before a panel of judges, simulating a proceeding before the International Court of Justice.

Please join us in congratulating the UP Law Jessup Team for reaping the fruits of their hard labour and wishing them the very best of luck for the International Rounds from 12 to 18 April 2020 in Washington DC.

Below is a summary of UP Law's participation in this Competition since 1993 to 2019.

Source* - ILSA