Simulated Dispute before the International Court of Justice
German Students Compete at Freie Universität to Qualify for International Law Moot Court
№ 21/2010 from Jan 27, 2010
From February 24 to 27, 2010, the Department of Law of Freie Universität Berlin will be hosting the German qualifying tournament of the world’s largest law student competition, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, held in English. In the preliminary round 15 teams will be competing to determine which ones may represent two groups of German students at the international finals in late March in Washington, D.C.
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition was founded in 1959 by students of Harvard Law School. Now more than 1500 students from over 90 countries take part. The competition is a simulation of a dispute between two fictional countries before the International Court of Justice. Law students compose comprehensive briefs for plaintiffs and defendants and address the jury as at a "real" hearing.
In previous years teams from approximately 15 universities in Germany took part in the national rounds. Law students from Freie Universität have been participating for about 30 years. This year’s problem is about international economic law, in particular, investment protection. The bench will be composed of internationally renowned scholars and practitioners as well as several judges of the International Court in The Hague, including the German ICJ judge, Bruno Simma. The final preliminary round of competition will be held on Saturday, February 27, at three o’clock in the Chamber of the Supreme Court in Berlin-Schöneberg.
The event is sponsored by the law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gleiss Lutz, Görg, Hengeler Mueller, and Hogan & Hartson as well as by the Ernst Reuter Society, De Gruyter, Duncker & Humblot, the Robert Bosch Foundation, Springer, C. F. Müller, and Wintershall.
For further information, please contact:
Katja Gerdes, Department of Law, Freie Universität Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838–56451, Email: katja.gerdes@fu-berlin.de