What is so cool about Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition?

For most of Indonesian law students, moot court is not something that is unfamiliar. This is because there has been a lot of moot court competition held in Indonesia. At the very least there are more than five moot court competitions in Indonesia. Most of those competitions are organized by Moot Court Community Association of Indonesia (Himpunan Komunitas Peradilan Semua Indonesia - HKPSI). The same goes to Udayana University which also organizes its own moot court competition. The competition is named after the former dean Faculty of Law Udayana University Tjokorda Raka Derana. It is held every two years and has been held twice.

Udayana University Delagations to the 2014 International Round of Jessup (Washington D.C., USA)

As time goes by, this type of activity of moot court competitions were followed by increasingly diverse universities. Not only those moot court competition that is held at the national level, at the time being many universities in Indonesia have also participated in many kind of international moot court competitions.

As mentioned above, there are many kinds of international moot court activities. To name a few of renowned international moot court competitions namely: Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition, the International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition, Asia Cup Moot Court Competition, and so forth.

Among the many international moot court competitions that is held each year. One that is arguably the most prestigious and the oldest is the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition (Jessup).

Jessup is the largest and oldest international moot court competition in the world. Followed by more than 800 law schools in the world in more than 90 countries, the competition gives high prestige for participants (law school students) who participate in this competition.

This competition is generally divided into two stages, the national and international rounds.  This competition has been known as an excellent place to practice legal skills and expertise of law students all around the globe. This is because this competition requires a lot of competences of the participants. Participants are not only required to have legal and critical thinking skills but also are required to have the ability to write in English, legal reasoning, legal analysis and also the ability to speak in public or public speaking. As a future lawyer, those skills are a must-have to law students.

However, if we take a closer look, Jessup competition is not only important and beneficial for the participants, but also for the university and the state in which the participants came from. Let's take Indonesia as an example. As a developing country, Indonesia obviously needs a lot of lawyers who master international law in order to face the challenges of globalization.

Moreover, as a country that often has legal disputes with other countries. The presence of this competition that uses the format of the International Court of Justice as the mechanism of the trial clearly would help prepare law students who will in the future represent Indonesia in international legal disputes that might occur.

That being said, of course there are many other benefits of a moot court competition such as Jessup. However, from the above explanations, there is a lot of positive things that could be obtained by a law student in international moot court competitions such as Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition. As a law student I believe that we have an obligation to continue to make improvements in order to prepare ourselves to represent our country and eventually make this world a better place to live.