The 2008 Jessup Moot Court Competition in Russia

Dear all, I am pleased to invite you to judge the seventh Russian National Championship for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which will be held on 29 January – 2 February 2008 in Moscow. The Jessup Competition The Jessup Competition is an international law advocacy competition in which oral and written pleadings are presented on issues of public international law and argued as before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. It is named after Judge Philip C. Jessup (ICJ, 1961-66) and is the most prestigious worldwide international law moot court competition. This year White and Case is honoured to host the Jessup Competition in Russia for the seventh time since 2002. 48 Russian teams will come to Moscow to compete for the right to represent Russia at the International Rounds in Washington, DC. The 2008 Jessup Problem The 2008 Jessup Problem raises issues of responding to acts of terrorism and ensuring basic human rights guarantees under international law. This year’s Compromis (attached) discusses lawfulness of apprehension and detention of alleged criminals under international law, as well as their prosecution by special military commissions created within a particular State. Who is a Jessup judge The main task of a Jessup judge is evaluation of students as to their ability to argue their case (i.e. presentation, persuasiveness, knowledge of the law, ability to answer questions). A Jessup judge should have a degree in law and be fluent in English. Written Memorial Judges Those interested in judging written memorials need not be physically present in Moscow. Each competing team will submit two written memorials addressed to the International Court of Justice in January 2008 (one memorial on behalf of the Applicant country, one memorial on behalf of the Respondent country) on 8 January 2008. Judges will receive their assigned memorials on the following day, 9 January 2008 and will be asked to submit scores and written comments in approximately two weeks. Each memorial contains about 30 double-spaced pages of substantive legal argument and takes about 1 to 2 hours to evaluate. I will be grateful if you let me know by 25 December 2007 whether you are willing to volunteer as a memorials judge. Oral Pleading Judges The competing students will make oral pleadings based on their memorials before a panel of three judges on the Wednesday, Tuesday and Friday, 30 January – 1 February 2008 to determine which teams will advance to eventually compete in the final round, which will be held on the afternoon of the Saturday 2 February 2008. Each round lasts approximately 2,5 hours. Judges will also be given copies of the written submissions by the teams that they will be judging in advance of the competition. There will be Judges Briefings prior to the competition. During the course of the Competition judges will be provided with lunch and refreshments. Judges are welcome to participate to any extent they can, be it judging one round or several. Please let me know at your earliest convenience if you are willing to participate as a Judge or if you could refer potential candidates who could be interested. We will then provide you with further information about this year's Competition. Thank you very much in advance. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Kind regards, Maria Issaeva Jessup National Administrator for Russia White & Case LLC Moscow