After years of absence from the competition, the Cambridge Jessup team emerged last weekend as the runner-up in the UK National Championship of the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition, only narrowly losing out to the University of Oxford in the final. Cambridge was the top ranked team in the preliminary rounds and was awarded the highest score on its written memorials.
The Cambridge team, comprised of LL.M students Mark Ma (Christ's), Amanda Richter (Lucy Cavendish), Deepak Raju (Darwin), Kate Tyrrell (Darwin) and Jiakang Yan (Newnham), will now compete with teams from more than 80 countries in the world’s largest and most prestigious mooting competition. The International Rounds will be held in Washington DC from 31 March to 6 April. This year's hypothetical case before the International Court of Justice considers the effects of climate change on issues of statehood, migration and sovereign debt.
Dr Michael Waibel (Jesus) and Ph.D candidates Valentin Jeutner (Caius) and Bart Smit Duijzentkunst (Caius) have coached the team.
Photograph: The Cambridge Jessup team with Sir David Edward. Photo by John Hudson