Law Students at an International Law Moot Court Competition in the United States
The Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition took place from 27 March to 2 April in Washington DC. Students from the Tallinn University School of Governance, Law and Society represented Estonia at that competition as they had earned the right to represent Estonia in the national rounds that took place in February.
The team members were Marleen Arus, Joseph Latimer, Nuutti Tanner and Yuliya Avdyusheva, who are third year Law BA students. Four rounds took place at the international competition. The opponents of our students were teams from Brazil, India, Georgia and the UN University of Peace. The teams were very strong and remarkably prepared. Our team managed to win one of the four evenly matched rounds.
Marleen Arus' Experience
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Our students taking part of the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.[/caption]
This fall, my three teammates and I made a commitment to try and reach the international rounds of Jessup Moot Court. Aware, that the road there won’t be easy, we did our best and took part of the national rounds in Tallinn. With hard work we managed to win against the University of Tartu and therefore secured a spot as the national team of Estonia in the international rounds of Jessup in March of 2016.
The international rounds are held each year in Washington D.C. which was very exciting for us, because none of us had been there and besides competing could not wait to explore the political capital of the world. The city itself turned out to be amazing, we felt extremely lucky and fortunate to be able to even be there - so far from our town of studies.
Jessup Moot Court is the largest competition for international law students. Over 80 countries were all there with their national delegations. Some had known coaches and were quite intimidating when we first saw everyone in one room at the orientation. We proudly carried the blue-black and white flag at opening ceremony and were excited and nervous for the upcoming week ahead.
After the ceremony all the teams received their competition packets. We finally were able to find out who we are going against in the preliminary rounds! We had long waited for this moment. As it turned out, our first round was the next morning at 9 AM, against an all-girl team from Brazil. That did not give us too much time to prepare, but we decided to do everything possible to give our best. So there we were, at 9 AM the next day. This time we represented the applicants and I could honestly say it was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in the field of law, as of yet. The judges were competent and knowledgeable and did not let any wrong answer or mistake get pass them.
That turned out to be the case for each moot we competed in - we really did get amazing judges that we all learned from and strive to be like one day. Our second moot was against India. Now being on the respondents’ side we already had a more difficult task. However, it turned to be even more so because the team was marvellous. They knew everything by heart; they had great knowledge of the relevant law, cases and facts and were definitely the team to learn most from, out of the ones we competed against. In the third round we were head-to-head with an awesome group of law students from Georgia and in the last round we went against the University of Peace of the United Nations.
Our experience as a national team of Estonia in Washington this year was truly great. Yes, there is an enormous amount of work, that we clearly underestimated and given a second chance I am sure we all would study much harder, but it is all worth it. The amount of knowledge, self-discipline and your skills for public speaking grow greatly during the time you are preparing and competing at Jessup. It is something you can only understand, the magnitude of the whole competition, once you have been a part of it. It truly is so humbling to be around all of these great minds at the international rounds. If given another chance to take part of Jessup, it would be a no-brainer; of course I would do it.
Text by Marleen Arus (Law BA student).
Our students taking part of the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.[/caption]
This fall, my three teammates and I made a commitment to try and reach the international rounds of Jessup Moot Court. Aware, that the road there won’t be easy, we did our best and took part of the national rounds in Tallinn. With hard work we managed to win against the University of Tartu and therefore secured a spot as the national team of Estonia in the international rounds of Jessup in March of 2016.
The international rounds are held each year in Washington D.C. which was very exciting for us, because none of us had been there and besides competing could not wait to explore the political capital of the world. The city itself turned out to be amazing, we felt extremely lucky and fortunate to be able to even be there - so far from our town of studies.
Jessup Moot Court is the largest competition for international law students. Over 80 countries were all there with their national delegations. Some had known coaches and were quite intimidating when we first saw everyone in one room at the orientation. We proudly carried the blue-black and white flag at opening ceremony and were excited and nervous for the upcoming week ahead.
After the ceremony all the teams received their competition packets. We finally were able to find out who we are going against in the preliminary rounds! We had long waited for this moment. As it turned out, our first round was the next morning at 9 AM, against an all-girl team from Brazil. That did not give us too much time to prepare, but we decided to do everything possible to give our best. So there we were, at 9 AM the next day. This time we represented the applicants and I could honestly say it was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in the field of law, as of yet. The judges were competent and knowledgeable and did not let any wrong answer or mistake get pass them.
That turned out to be the case for each moot we competed in - we really did get amazing judges that we all learned from and strive to be like one day. Our second moot was against India. Now being on the respondents’ side we already had a more difficult task. However, it turned to be even more so because the team was marvellous. They knew everything by heart; they had great knowledge of the relevant law, cases and facts and were definitely the team to learn most from, out of the ones we competed against. In the third round we were head-to-head with an awesome group of law students from Georgia and in the last round we went against the University of Peace of the United Nations.
Our experience as a national team of Estonia in Washington this year was truly great. Yes, there is an enormous amount of work, that we clearly underestimated and given a second chance I am sure we all would study much harder, but it is all worth it. The amount of knowledge, self-discipline and your skills for public speaking grow greatly during the time you are preparing and competing at Jessup. It is something you can only understand, the magnitude of the whole competition, once you have been a part of it. It truly is so humbling to be around all of these great minds at the international rounds. If given another chance to take part of Jessup, it would be a no-brainer; of course I would do it.
Text by Marleen Arus (Law BA student).
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