BY
HLS fared well both individually and collectively at the annual Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from over 500 law schools in more than 80 countries. The HLS team consisted of four oralists, Kyle Dandelet ’10, Kurt Chauviere ’10, Daniel Purisch ’11, and Larkin Reynolds ’10, and one student researcher, Michael Addis ’10. The team was coached by Namita Wahi LLM ’05 and current SJD candidate.
The team competed in the Northeast Super Regional round in New York City in early February. After completing its four preliminary rounds, the team sat in fourth place out of twenty-three teams. The team went on to win its quarterfinal match before falling in the semifinals by a 2-1 vote (by the justices of the mock ICJ) to Columbia Law School. CLS went on to win the competition.
HLS’ written brief won eighth place and Chauviere and Dandelet placed in the top ten for individual performance in oral arguments.
Six Super Regional competitions are held across the United States each year, and the top two teams from each Super Regional advance to the International Rounds where they compete against teams from all over the world.
This year’s case involved questions of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect, the obligation of states to disclose confidential information, violations of human rights law in peacekeeping operations, and extradition of terrorists. In the competition, oralists pair up and prepare arguments for either the applicant or respondent positions in the case, and argue those positions against corresponding applicant or respondent pairs from other law schools.
Current 1Ls and 2Ls who are interested in becoming involved with the Jessup team next year should look out for an announcement in the fall of 2009.