Moot success for King's Law students

Jessup International Moot

King's fielded a team of five students for the annual Jessup, the largest mooting competition in the world. The competition simulates a dispute between fictional states, held before the International Court of Justice. The 2019 International Rounds were held in Washington D.C., with more than 700 law schools from over 100 countries and jurisdictions participating.

The team, made up of undergraduate students Tara Chand Lall, Shavonne Teo, Liam F.Holohan, Irene Whelan Vita and Joel Sherard Chow, won the UK National Championship in February, progressing to the International Rounds in April.

Having carefully researched with the assistance of their coach, King's alumnus Caleb Kirton (LLB, 2017), the team argued contentious and topical issues in public international law – including, for example, environmental obligations relating to migratory species.

After beating their competitors in the preliminary rounds, they advanced to the knock-out stages, winning matches against China University of Political Science and Law (China) and Belarusian State University (Belarus). In the Quarter-Final Round, the King's team faced off against the National University of Singapore (Singapore) and, ultimately, lost the round.

Overall, the King’s team ranked 5^th in the world, out of 700 competing teams. Team members Irene Whelan Vita and Joel Sherard Chow ranked as the 24^th and 5^th best oralists in the Competition, respectively.

Day of Crisis Moot

Also in April, a student team competed in the Day of Crisis Moot Competition in Paris. The unique event was founded in 2012, and simulates an unfolding international crisis, with participants working over 24 hours to resolve issues across a broad range of laws. This year, King's competed against ten teams from eight universities and countries.

In this year’s competition, the King's team, consisting of five LLM students - Cathrine Craemer, Maren Helm, Enrico Tinti, Lawrence Rainford and Alberto Vecchiothe - contended some difficult scenarios. These ranged from a fictional hurricane in Japan to the outbreak of deadly disease in California, from cyber-terror attacks on a Chinese nuclear power plant to bribery in the Canadian government, and the Russian intention to enlarge its maritime boundaries.

The moot concluded in a final negotiation at the OECD headquarters in Paris, simulating a World Trade Organisation General Council session, where teams discussed a joint reform proposal forwarded by the US and the EU.

Throughout the event, the King's team drafted ten legal advices to governments, corporations and private individuals. They also participated in three negotiations involving maritime boundaries, tariffs, and the release of a British journalist detained in Canada, further holding a press conference on behalf of the Japanese government.

The Day of Crisis was a rewarding experience for all the team members, presenting an excellent opportunity to test the students' legal expertise in a real world scenario.  The King’s team worked tirelessly for close to 30 hours, unravelling the legal mysteries of a mixture of complex conundrums, and they were rewarded with the prize for “Outstanding Written Submissions”.