Background
What's a Moot Court? A moot court is a case simulation. The participating students act as lawyers in a fictitious case who have to convince the court in writing in the pleadings to be submitted and orally in their pleadings. The bench is made up of professors and practitioners from the respective legal field. They not only judge the case: the rhetorical persuasion and argumentation skills of the team members play a particularly important role.
Philip C. Jessup Moot Court
Among the many different competitions, the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court stands out as the most traditional, largest and by far the best known. The student lawyers represent States in a fictional dispute before the International Court of Justice. Over 700 law schools from more than 100 countries around the world take part. Students from all over the world work on the same international law case, which is published in September each year. The subject matter of each case deals with current issues of international law. A memorial of approximately 30 pages must be prepared for each party. The memorials for the applicant and the respondent must be submitted in January. Preparation for the oral pleadings therefore begins in mid-January. This rhetorical and substantive training is crucial for the team's performance. The national finals take place in February. The two best teams fly to Washington, D.C. in March to represent Germany in the international rounds.
Learn more about the Jessup at the International Law Student Association (ILSA).
Benefits of participating in the Jessup Moot Court
- Practical relevance: A moot court is a unique opportunity to slip into the role of a lawyer before the end of your studies.
- Intensive language course: The Jessup Moot Court is held entirely in English. You prepare pleadings and deliver them in English in both the national and international rounds. For this service, participants receive a Fremdsprachenschein (§ 7 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 JAG NRW). In addition, one of the häusliche Arbeiten for the Zwischenprüfung can be replaced by a first-time participation (§ 7 Abs. 3 S. 3 JAG NRW).
- Intensive rhetoric course and argumentation training: The team members learn to apply their knowledge, build up their arguments stringently and present them convincingly. Intensive preparation for the pleadings trains them to react politely but firmly to unexpected questions from the judges in a matter of seconds and to refute the arguments of the other side.
- Teamwork: pleadings are prepared jointly by all members of a team and in the end it is the overall performance that counts. The same applies to the oral pleadings.
- The work provides comprehensive knowledge of international law for the preparation and consolidation of Schwerpunktbereich 4 "Internationale und europäische Rechtsbeziehungen".
- Participants will receive an outstanding certificate and a plus point for their CV.
- The two best German teams can look forward to a trip to the international rounds in Washington, D.C.