Moot Report 2025: Jessup Moot trains law students for International advocacy of global issues
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition took place February 20 – 22, 2025 in Ottawa. The University of Manitoba Faculty of Law sent four students from Robson Hall to the Bennett Jones Jessup Canadian Rounds hosted by the Canadian Council on International Law. The team of Harjot Kaur (2L) and Nicole Dohler (2L) acted as “Applicants” and Tia Andrews (2L) with Gillian Findlay (3L) were the “Respondents”. The Teams were coached by Assistant Professor Gillian MacNeil.
As the Canadian Jessup webpage notes, “The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the world’s largest moot court competition”. This year, globally, over 800 teams from more than 100 jurisdictions took part in the competition. The students had to research and argue four complex issues of international law involving the rights or obligations of states when two people make competing claims to be the president of a state, the immunities to which state property and former state officials may be entitled, the legal implications for maritime zones of states which have coastlines receding due to climate change induced sea level rise. There was also an issue of treaty interpretation.
The team and coach were very thankful to two members of last year’s Jessup team, Stefan Leicht and Liam Brown, for returning to help this year’s team by acting as guest judges for one practice. Recent graduate, and former Jessup Mooter, Megan Filyk [JD/24] also gave up one of her evenings to help the team by serving as a judge.
In addition, Major Laura Hodgson, a lawyer at the Canadian Armed Forces, Office of the Judge Advocate General and her colleague Darren Vallentgoed, LCdr/Capc, Deputy Judge Advocate, Assistant Judge Advocate General, of the Canadian Armed Forces came to two practices and served as guest judges. Another of their colleagues from the Canadian Armed Forces also served as a guest judge for one practice.
As Dr. MacNeil observed, “I am grateful to the lawyers, colleagues, and former Jessup team members for preparing the mooters for what they would face in the competition. Thanks to the time they were willing to put in to help the team, I had the pleasure of watching our students compete in Ottawa, handling complex questions from the judges, and improving every round. The Jessup is a lot of work and, I hope all members of the team feel as though that work paid off in their performance at the Canadian Rounds.”