St. Thomas Law Hosts International Moot Court Competition

City University of  Hong Kong Wins St. Thomas Law's 11th Annual Susan Ferrell Moot Court Competition

The 11th Susan J. Ferrell Intercultural Human Rights Moot Court Competition took place on January 29-31, 2016 at St. Thomas University School of Law. The annual event, organized by St. Thomas Law's Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights, saw the best international moot court teams compete over the course of two days. Teams competed around a simulated court proceeding in which teams representing both sides of the argument prepare written pleadings with respect to a fictional problem of international human rights law and policy. They then present their oral arguments before the International Court of Justice.

Best Teams

In a close final round between two outstanding teams, decided by one point, the City University of Hong Kong took the Ferrell Trophy over Valparaiso Law School. 

Judges of Final Round

The Final Round was judged by His Excellency The Honorable Fausto Pocar (former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), The Honorable Patrick A. White, and Florencia Cornu Laport, LL.M. candidate, lawyer from Uruguay.

Best Oralists

Howard University law student Imani Oakley and City University law student Cheung Lai Tung took top honors as best oralists. 

Best Memorials

The best memorial was written by the City University of Hong Kong. Two teams, Hidayatullah National Law University, India, and SUNY Buffalo School of Law shared second place.

All teams joined in the praise for the rigor, organization and integrity of the event.  From teams that have been a fixture in our competition to SUNY Buffalo, a newcomer to the event-- all called it the best competition they ever attended. 

Thanks are due as follows:

The writers of the problem, LL.M. students: Maritza Cuadros and Olayinka Reis

The writer of the bench brief, LL.M. student: Florencia Cornu Laport

The judges of the memorials and of the oral rounds, graduates and friends of St. Thomas Law: Denise Wallace, Allison Hernandez, Sylvia Ospina, Victoria Mesa-Estrada, Virginia Akar, Olayinka Reis, Donald Morehead, Ana Vallejo, Jerry Schreiber, Giselle Jamison, Vanessa Kirch, Ilona Demenina, Rick Moore, Nadine Gedeon, in particular, the faculty of St. Thomas School of Law: Todd Sullivan, Lenora Ledwon, Kenneth Noto, Anna Chan, Jennifer Martin, Marvin Klein, Kathleen Mahoney, Patricia Moore, Barbara Singer, Jessica Fonseca-Nader, Jay Silver, Susan Warheit, John Kang, Marcia Narine and Mark-Tizoc Gonzalez

The student bailiffs, Jackson De Souza, Amal Uthman, Raphael Fortunato, Wendy Cruz, Annika Cooke, Denise Calle, Anastasiya Sack

The team liaisons, David Cruz, Javiera Jimenez, William Johnson, Danielle Schwabe, Erica Streim, Stella Villalobos

The scores counter, Andrea Arauz and student coordinators Maritza Cuadros, Annika Cooke, Andrea Arauz and Teresa Hawkinson

Logistics staff: Haydee Gonzalez, Olga Leyva and Maikel Marquez

Support staff: Anilda Wright, Maria Duarte, Guillermo Cabarcas, Gabriel Marin and Eduardo Torres

The St. Thomas Law administration presence & support: Associate Dean Cece Dykas and Assistant Dean John Hernandez.

Coordinating, keeping an eye on and being immensely grateful to all of the above were faculty advisors: Professor Siegfried Wiessner and Professor Roza Pati, directors of the Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights.