Aguascalientes, Ags., May 17, 2024.- Students of the School of Law of our Panamerican campus Panamericana campus Aguascalientesparticipated in the prestigious competition Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competitionwhere they were national champions and managed to stand out with an excellent participation in the international competition.
The world's largest Moot Court Competition in Public International Law
Philip C. Jessup is a simulation of a trial before the International Court of Justice - the judicial body of the United Nations - in which more than 700 teams from universities around the world participate in written and oral stages.
In the written stage, the teams send a memorial with the arguments of the applicant country and another memorial with the arguments of the respondent country.
Then, there is the oral stage, in which they participate in national or regional rounds. The speakers of each team simulate hearings in front of judges representing the International Court of Justice, defending their arguments before them, in some hearings as applicant and in others as respondent. These national rounds are qualifiers for the international rounds.
In the case of Mexico, only the first two teams advance to the international rounds. In the international rounds, qualified teams from around the world participate in four preliminary hearings. The teams that, as a result of those four preliminary hearings, qualify among the best 48 teams, advance to the elimination rounds, with rounds of 32nd, 16th, 8th, 4th and semifinals until the final and the champion is defined.
We highlight that in national rounds, the representative team of our Panamerican campus Aguascalientes was awarded as national champion, and they were also recognized as the Best Applicant Memorial.
On the other hand, in international rounds, they managed to qualify among the best 48 teams in the world, and later won the first round of elimination rounds, positioning Universidad Panamericana campus Aguascalientes among the top 32 in the world.
Testimonials from participants
"This experience has not only provided me with a deep knowledge of international law and litigation skills, but has also strengthened my teamwork, research and communication skills, fundamental aspects for my professional development in the legal field," says Hector Emilio Bernal Gonzalez.
"In addition to the knowledge I gained on different topics of public international law and how much this competition helped me to improve my legal English, Jessup has helped me a lot in building my network. My teammates have practically become my second family. Also, in both the national and international stages, we had the privilege of connecting with brilliant people, including judges and other participants, to whom I am very grateful for the way they contributed to our passage through the competition," says Lizbeth Espinosa Macias.
It is worth mentioning that the team members agree that this competition has helped them in the development of soft skills, as it was a challenge to organize themselves and maintain patience and discipline, especially when they had to sacrifice weekends, outings with friends and family and even hours of sleep.
"Participating in this competition, I got a lot out of it because I developed the ability to write in English and also to speak in public and be able to form logical arguments to convince the judges. The most important thing for me was learning to work as a team, which is what really allowed us to get so far," shares Mariana Paola Rivas Vargas.
The participants are very grateful for this experience and for the support of teachers, coaches, friends and family every step of the way.
