From March 31-April 7, 2019, the World Finals of the 60th Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (“Jessup”) was held in Washington, DC, USA. The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the largest moot court competition with the longest history in the world, and is known as the Olympic Games in the field of international law. More than 700 teams from universities worldwide participated in the competition, of which 124 teams successfully advanced to the Washington finals, including the UIBE Law School Jessup Team (“Team UIBE”).

(Photo: front row left to right: researcher Chen Dongcai, oralist Wang Ziwen (captain), oralist Zhou Xiaoyu; back row left to right: researcher Deng Kaiqi, Cai Fan)

The UIBE team was established in September 2018. Wang Ziwen, a junior from Experimental Class for Future International Business and Economic Legal Talents (“Experimental Class”), is the team captain. Ziwen, along with Zhou Xiaoyu, an undergraduate student of 2016, are leading oralists of the team. Deng Kaiqi, a sophomore from Experimental Class, together with Chen Dongcai and Cai Fan, second-year postgraduates majoring in international law, serve as team researchers. Guided by their coach Wu Zongnan, an excellent alumni and former Jessup oralist, as well as student coach Zheng Zihan, a senior from the 2015 Experimental Class and former Jessup oralist, the team members exerted themselves in the previous rounds and ranked 3rd in Jessup China, winning the ticket to the Jessup world finals.

The finals started with a three-day round robin. Team UIBE competed with four teams from University of Washington, Leiden University, Eastern University (Bangladesh), and University of Indonesia. Due to their comprehensive and in-depth legal research and skillful argumentation techniques, Team UIBE has won two rounds out of four, showcasing the competence of UIBE Law School students. Although Team UIBE did not make it through to the next round and ended the journey in the top 32, it still made a remarkable breakthrough: Wang Ziwen won the award “Global Top 100 Oralists” (ranked 81st, the highest among all contestants from mainland China). This is the first time that a UIBE Jessup member won this award. Besides, this year’s Jessup team has witnessed a significant rise in the total score and memo-writing score compared to those in previous years.

(Photo: Team UIBE with Team University of Washington and the judges)

After the round robin, Team UIBE witnessed and learned from the performance of teams from National University of Singapore, Columbia University (runner-up of 2019), Eötvös Loránd University of Hungary (champion of 2019) and Norman Manley Law School of Jamaica (previous runner-up) in their following rounds. Team UIBE also attended the training of legal research at the U.S. Congress Library organized by the International Law Students’ Association (ILSA), and discussed international law topics with international legal scholars and students.

In addition, Team UIBE participated in the national costume show “Go National”, attended the lecture given by the case author and the awards ceremony, and exchanged ideas with the judges and contestants from all over the world, which fully embodies the extroverted and positive spirit of UIBE Law School students.

(Photo: members of Team UIBE in national costumes)

At this point, the 2019 Jessup has come to an end. Team UIBE has returned as the op 3 in Jessup China, and won “Global Top 100 Oralists” in the Jessup World Finals, showing great strength and potential of UIBE Law School in this competition. The UIBE team will learn from their experience and analyze the weakness manifested in the competition, striving for even better results in the future.