Last weekend, Harvard Law School’s Jessup International Moot Court team finished second in the regional round of the competition held at Suffolk Law School. Eli Schlam ’09 and team co-captain Seth Kipp ’08 represented the HLS team in the final round, ultimately losing to Boston College.
“As nice as it would have been for us to return Brandon, our fearless leader, to the international round, I think the real reward was mastering some discrete topics of international law and learning how to cogently advocate a position on them,” said Kipp, referring to co-captain Brandon Miller ’07 who has competed for the HLS Jessup team for three years, and during his first year was part of a team that won the regional competition. “We had an especially dedicated, cohesive group this year, and I would go to court with them any day.”
The HLS team racked up a number of awards throughout the competition. In addition to the second place title, the team won fourth place for their memorials, or briefs, Kipp was named second place individual oralist, and Miller earned a third place individual oralist award.
Each team consists of two pairs of oralists, one pair arguing each side of the problem. Jason Poole ’08 and Sarah Park ’09, team researcher, completed the HLS team.
Teams prepare two memorials during the fall and submit them in January, one for each side of the problem. The teams then compete in oral arguments in February and March.
“Team members put in a minimum of 10 hours per week of work into the written memorials,” said Miller. “Since mid-January, we have been holding oral practices two to three times per week for several hours in the evenings. Everyone worked very, very hard and the results bore that out.”
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the world’s most prestigious international law competition and was co-founded by HLS in 1959. HLS previously won the regional title for seven consecutive years, from 1998 through 2005.