Published March 28, 2024
Five University of Wyoming law students will compete in the final rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition beginning March 30 in Washington, D.C. The Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from approximately 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions.
UW will be represented by 3L Andrew Davis, 2Ls Gaige Graham and Sally Thomas, and 1Ls Tyler Bradshaw and Tiffani Phaneuf. The team is coached by Professor Noah Novogrodsky, director of the College of Law Center for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy with assistance from Professor Jerry Fowler. This year’s UW team is sponsored by the Rapid City, S. Dakota, law firm, Costello Porter.
The UW team swept the preliminary rounds, going 4-0 at the Western United States Jessup Competition held earlier this month in Portland, Oregon. The team also won a top 10 memorial prize. Davis, Thomas and Graham competed together at the 2023 regional competition.
The Jessup Competition simulates a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. Teams prepare oral and written pleadings, arguing both the applicant and respondent positions. The written pleadings are called memorials.
As described by the competition hosts, the International Law Students Association (ILSA), this year’s case “concerns traitors and crooks and raises issues related to the right to political expression, statelessness, the right to a nationality, and the scope of the U.N. Security Council’s authority.”
ILSA educates students and lawyers around the world in the principles and purposes of international law, international organizations and institutions and comparative legal systems.
