The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, also known as the Jessup Moot or The Jessup, is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world, with recent editions each attracting participants from more than 800 law schools in around 100 countries.
Origins of the moot The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is named after Philip Jessup, who once served on the ICJ, and is organised by the International Law Students Association (ILSA). The moot, under the leadership of Stephen Schwebel (who also wrote the inaugural moot problem), started as a friendly advocacy competition between two teams from Harvard University in 1960. The first champions were declared in 1963 and the competition opened its doors to non-American teams in 1968.
Moot format
The Jessup moot involves arguing a hypothetical case on issues of international law as if before the ICJ, but with a smaller complement of judges (three instead of 15). The ILSA Board is responsible for soliciting and selecting proposals for the compromis every year.
Each team comprises two to five student members. Each team must prepare to argue both Applicant and Respondent, and must produce a written memorial for each side. In each oral round, two competitors from a team will argue one side of the case for 45 minutes in total, including any time reserved for rebuttal or sur-rebuttal. A third team member may be seated at the bar table as of-counsel, but may not present argument. Most teams include at least one advisor or coach, usually drawn from the respective universities' international law faculty or past Jessup competitors.
Most countries hold qualifying rounds to select the best team or teams to advance to the international phase of the competition. This has mostly been held in Washington, D.C., sometimes in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law. Generally, each country can only send one school for every ten law schools that participate in the moot. This is subject to a cap and also rules pertaining to prior performance in the international rounds. In recent years, more than 800 schools worldwide participate in the competition, with the top 160 or so qualifying for the international rounds. Teams that do not qualify may be invited to participate in exhibition rounds.
In the international rounds, teams compete in four preliminary rounds, with the top 48 or more teams advancing to the knockout stages and the top 16 teams receiving a bye to the Round of 32. Each oral round and memorial is usually evaluated by a panel of three judges, and memorials are re-assessed for knockout and award purposes. Judges for most of the rounds are usually practicing lawyers or academics, while notable academics and international judges are usually invited to judge the semi-Final and world championship round matches.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the oral rounds for the first time. For the 2021 edition, the oral rounds went fully online using the Yaatly platform, and all teams were allowed to participate regardless of the outcome of any national or regional round, and teams could moot seated. The top 168 out of 548 teams from the first four preliminary matches proceeded to compete in four additional advanced rounds, from which the top 48 teams competed in the knockout stages, with the top 16 seeds receiving a bye to the round of 32. In a departure from past practice, the choice of side was determined by the organisers rather than the higher-ranked team. In the 2022 edition, a modified global format was adopted. The 2023 edition of the international rounds saw a return to the in-person format.
Past winners and records (international rounds) Although the moot was founded in 1960, no winners were declared for the first three editions of the competition. The competition was only first open to countries outside the United States in 1968, and outside of North America in 1970. The first international awards were handed out in 1972.
Pre-international era (1960 to 1967) Year Champion Runner-up Semi-finalists Memorial winnersIn most cases this would refer to the Baxter Award for Best Applicant/Respondent Memorial, with one exception being the 2021 rounds, which only had global and not international rounds, and presented Dillard Awards in lieu Number of teams 1960 No Champion Declared — — — 2 1961 No Champion Declared — — — 4 1962 No Champion Declared — — — 6 1963 Columbia University (United States) University of North Carolina (United States) Overall: Columbia University (United States) 8 1964 University of Texas (United States) — Overall: University of Texas (United States) 15 1965 Columbia University (United States) University of Virginia (United States) Overall: Columbia University (United States) 16 1966 University of Texas (United States) University of Wisconsin (United States) Overall: University of Texas (United States) 27 1967 Vanderbilt University (United States) Harvard University (United States) Overall: Vanderbilt University (United States) 35
International era (1968 to present) YearChampion and finalistSemi-finalistsQuarter-finalistsMemorial winnersIn most cases this would refer to the Baxter Award for Best Applicant/Respondent Memorial, with one exception being the 2021 rounds, which only had global and not international rounds, and presented Dillard Awards in lieuTeams worldwideTeams at International RoundsIncludes Exhibition Teams1968Duke University (US) University of Miami (US)Overall: Duke University (US)3261969Joint winners