After months of practice, a UCLA law school team will be in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition after an 18-year hiatus.
The tournament, one of the most prestigious in the world, is organized by the International Law Students Association.
Law students J.D. Henderson, Monica Duda, Richard Park and Tom Moss will compete in Lubbock, Texas, today through Sunday for the regionals round of the competition. The international round of the competition will be held in March in Washington, D.C.
This year’s topic for the moot court, released in November 2003, involves the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the prosecution of war crimes. The team submitted two 36-page briefs representing both the applicant and respondent sides and will have intense debates against other teams in front of a three-judge panel.
Three UCLA law professors who specialize in international law – Richard Steinberg, Maximo Langer and Kal Raustiala – help coach the team in rehearsals and offer ideas and advice about the team’s briefs.
Steinberg said the competition is a great opportunity for students to think about public international law from a practical perspective, allowing them to learn how to conduct research on it and write briefs.
He said he hopes this kind of competition can change student thinking about the international law and its arguments.
“International law is a highly specialized area. Preparing arguments in the context of a real institution or a moot court helps students to learn and appreciate fully how highly specialized the style is,” Steinberg said.
A reason for the law school’s re-entry in the Jessup Moot Court after nearly two decades of absence was to provide emphasis on international law, which has been lacking until recent years.
Steinberg said UCLA’s participation will help build a rich conversational forum about international law issues among students.
This year’s topic has raised many problems that often come up in the news. One of the arguments on the United States’s refusal to participate in the International Criminal Court relates to concern about the scope of the court’s jurisdiction, Steinberg said.
The ICC is the first permanent and treaty-based international criminal court responsible for prosecuting charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC began trying cases in 2002.
Each of the team members received individual distinctions for oral advocacy or best brief at an internal law school competition, and were selected by the Moot Court Honors board.
“We are pretty confident that we’ll be competitive and make a good impression of UCLA,” said Park.