Merton Law students help take Oxford to Jessup semi-finals

Merton Law students Laura King and Tinny Chan were part of a five-person team who achieved Oxford’s best results yet when they represented the United Kingdom in the international rounds of Jessup, the world’s largest moot court competition.

The Oxford team were runners-up in the national round, and thus secured a position in the international rounds. The standard of the competition was excellent, but after an exceptional performance in the preliminary rounds against teams from Costa Rica, Belgium, India and Portugal, the team emerged as one of the top 32 teams to advance into the knock-out rounds.

Oxford then defeated teams from Austria, Russia and India to make it through to the semi-finals. There they faced Chile, their toughest opponents yet. The teams drew on their oral scores, so the scores for their written submissions then came into play, and Oxford unfortunately lost by a narrow margin. The Chilean team went on to be defeated by an Australian team from the University of Sydney in the final.

This was the first time Oxford had competed in the semi-finals of Jessup, and they ultimately finished third out of over 600 participating teams. In addition, both Laura and Tinny were ranked amongst the top 100 oralists in international rounds, with Tinny bagging the fourth place.

Laura and Tinny commented:

"When we were selected to be a part of the Oxford Jessup team, we never imagined we would get to the semi-finals in Washington DC. It was by no means an easy journey, but when we think of Jessup, the work we put in is sidelined by the fun we had, the experience we gained and the friends we met along the way. We are very grateful for the support we have received from our tutors, faculty, family and friends."

Flying the flag: The Oxford Jessup team (L-R) Sakinah Sat (St. Catz), Fibi Ward (Keble), Tinny Chan (Merton), Laura King (Merton), Esther Wong (Oriel), and their coach Stefanie Wilkins (Corpus Christi)
Flying the flag: The Oxford Jessup team (L-R) Sakinah Sat (St. Catz), Fibi Ward (Keble), Tinny Chan (Merton), Laura King (Merton), Esther Wong (Oriel), and their coach Stefanie Wilkins (Corpus Christi)