The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the world's biggest and most prestigious Moot Competition. Through this competition, students from different law faculties worldwide can compete against one another. The UP Law Moot team has won the national rounds of the Jessup competition and will be representing the University of Pretoria and South Africa during the Jessup International Law Moot competition taking place from the 8th to the 15th of April in Washington D.C, United States of America.

The Team: Mamkhabela Mthembu Liyah Singh, Jade Werner Comfort Ayelomi, Nyasha Jawa

There were four preliminary rounds in which the team argued, twice as applicants and twice as respondents, before making it to the final round. This competition featured seven South African universities, and the UP Law Moot team came out on top after defeating all the other teams, including the University of Johannesburg, which also made it to the final round. The team won the best memorials for both arguments as applicant and respondent. In addition, Comfort Ayeloni won the award for best speaker. This team won every award the competition had to offer!

Comfort Ayelomi, winner of Best Speaker

Despite the competition occurring over two days in March, the team began their preparation in September 2022. Additionally, the team had to work through Christmas and New Year's as they had to submit competition memorials by January. They demonstrated a commendable work ethic, especially considering that they are still students and have to balance schoolwork with preparing for the competition.

The team also highlighted that the UP Moot Society contributed significantly to their success. The UP Moot Society has an amazing organizational structure. They also have a proper memorial writing structure and process. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the team won the best memorials. The UP Moot Society also conducted mental health workshops to ensure the team's well-being. During moot competitions, judges constantly criticize the students' arguments at different stages, which can affect their mental health. It is, therefore, crucial to have mental health resources to help one stay healthy. The team is extremely appreciative of the resources provided by the University of Pretoria.

In preparation for the competition, Jade Werner states that she organized a lot of external benches comprised of alumni from the UP Moot Society. Alumni such as Matikomborera Nyamadzi, Dunga Mashilo, and Kyle Cloete significantly impacted the preparation of the competition as they have also participated in previous Jessup competitions. Additionally, the team consulted with Professor Babatunde Fagbayibo from the Department of Public Law, who provided them with constructive feedback.

We asked the team about how they are preparing for the international competition to ensure that they will win and this is what they had to say: 

“We have to just go deeper than how we competed in nationals because we are going to be competing in an international competition and we’ll be competing against the likes of Harvard and Singapore and they have a long history of winning international rounds. The judges in the international rounds have more experience in international law and some of them have written books and theses on the issues that we are going to be arguing about. Thus, we have to be thorough in our arguments, accomplished and know our research. Yes, we know that we won but now we have to just amplify our standards.”

UP Law is extremely proud of our moot society team and we would like to wish them the best during the international rounds. We are inspired by their hard work and dedication.