Merton students win place in Jessup law competition world finals
Merton Law students Laura King and Tinny Chan are part of a five-person team from Oxford heading for Washington, DC to compete in the Jessup, the world's largest moot court competition.
2015 will be the 56th year of the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which draws participants from over 550 law schools in more than 80 countries. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.
To earn the chance to compete in the US, Laura, Tinny, and the team had to battle their way through a weekend of qualifying rounds against teams from across the UK. In the preliminary rounds they won all of their matches, beating Exeter, Sussex, Aberdeen and Durham Universities, making them the top-ranked team entering the quarter-finals. There they met—and defeated—Exeter again, taking them on to the semi-finals. These were the most crucial rounds of the weekend: qualification for the World Finals was hanging in the balance, since both sets of finalists would go on to represent the UK in Washington. The Oxford team faced their toughest match so far, against Kings College London, one of last year's UK finalists, but despite KCL's confident applicant argument, the Oxford team's professional manner and nuanced reasoning earned them a coveted place in the UK final. Having secured their main objective of qualifying for Washington, the team then had to put their excitement to one side and prepare for the final, where they were pitted against the London School of Economics; but despite putting in a very strong performance, the Oxford team unfortunately lost by a very narrow margin.
Undaunted, the team are now preparing for the White & Case International Rounds of the Jessup competition, which take place from 5 to 11 April at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC. Laura and Tinny commented, "We are incredibly honoured and excited to represent both Oxford and the UK at the World Championship Rounds in April."
