Strong Showing from NUS Law at Jessup International Rounds

As winners of the Singapore National Round earlier this year in February, the NUS Law team represented Singapore at the International Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition from 31 March to 6 April 2019 in Washington D.C. The team comprised students Ayana Ki ’19, Low Ee Ning ’19, Melody Lau ’19, Darren Sim ’20 and Lucas Lim ’20.

The International Rounds of the Jessup competition consists of four preliminary rounds, followed by a series of knock-out rounds for the top 32 teams. In the preliminary rounds, the team faced stiff competition in the University of Cyprus, Universidad Rafael Landivar, University of Toronto and Allameh Tabatabaei University, but qualified for the Advanced Rounds. They then prevailed against the University of Ljubljana in the round of 32, the University of Malaya in the round of 16 and King’s College London in the quarter-finals. NUS eventually bowed out in the semi-finals against Eötvös Loránd University, the eventual World Champions. Low Ee Ning ’19 also received a Best Oralist award as the 23rd best oralist in the Preliminary Rounds.

The NUS Law team expresses their immense gratitude towards the dedication of their coaches – Victor Leong ’16, Joshua Hiew ’17, David Isidore Tan ’16, Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85 (Vice Dean (Student Life & Global Relations), NUS Law), Associate Professor Lim Lei Theng ’92 (NUS Law), all themselves Jessup alumni – as well as the many others who gave them support and guidance in their preparation.

The Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition is the largest moot court competition in the world, comprising almost 700 teams. The International Rounds are attended by about 140 teams. The competition this year pertained to cutting-edge international law topics, including issues of State responsibility for corporate acts with extraterritorial effects, the law on the conservation of endangered migratory species, the balancing of religious and cultural rights against the right to health and scientific progress, and the rights of indigenous people to be compensated when their traditional knowledge is used for profit.