Our Future Lawyers Perform Well at National Stage of Philip Jessup International Competition

Students of the Law Department of Astrakhan State University have successfully passed the Russian selection stage of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

The event took place on Feb. 01-05 in Moscow. The team of our Law Department has been taking part in it for seven years, improving its results every year. Our students do not only analyze the case to be examined by the International Court of Justice; they also prepare their arguments to defend their position (as a plaintiff or as a defendant) in a written form. This memorandum is a base for oral speeches at national rounds. Giving those speeches requires advanced English, a good theoretical knowledge of International Law, and a substantial practice in international and national proceedings that are relevant to the case they deal with. It is also necessary to have profound and precise knowledge of all the international conventions and agreements, to which one might refer during the court proceedings and debates. Judges of the national stage of the competition are top-level experts in the field of International Law.

Our team included five students – future Bachelors of Law: Gayk Giuldzhian, Venera Gasanova, Irma Novikova, Kirill Sukhorukov, and Mikhail Perepelitsyn. Mr. Evgeny Kazmin, who works as an Associate Professor at our Chair of International Law, supervised them. In 2017, Astrakhan State University became a top 20 university of the national selection stage.

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is a contest between teams of students specializing in Law; the contestants represent interests of parties in a fictional case at imitated proceedings of the United Nations International Court of Justice. The language of the competition is English. The contestants’ performance is assessed by judges of the International Court of Justice, by judges of the European Court of Human Rights, by professors of law, and by lawyers who represent international organizations and well-known legal institutions. The competition is regarded as the most prestigious and impressive international contest in International Law.

The current competition concerned such issues as transboundary water-bearing horizons, fundamental humans rights (including rights for food and water), and problems related to increased flows of refugees fleeing from their home areas due to violation of their rights.