Post Staff Writer
 Team mebers from last year's national finals embrace after finding out that they had won the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. (Photo courtesy of Magisters & Partners) |
For the ninth year in a row, Ukraine will send a top team of young English-speaking international law students to Washington D.C. in March to compete in the finals of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Before a winner is chosen, however, six Ukrainian law schools � the most ever to take part in the competition �will battle it out in the national finals in Kyiv from Feb. 20-22. Almost as difficult for the winning team will be the struggle to raise the funds needed to attend this prestigious event. |
But organizers are not looking that far ahead yet. Instead they�re focusing on the increase in the number of teams competing this year. A positive step, they say.
�It�s a sign that students and faculty are beginning to realize the importance of mooting in general,� said on of the competition�s coordinators, Kristin Cavoukian. Cavoukian works for Magister & Partners, the Kyiv law firm organizing the event for the second year in a row.
�In Ukraine, law schools don�t provide an opportunity for their students to gain practical experience,� said managing partner at M&P Oleg Riabokon. �With Jessup, students can apply their theoretical knowledge to the practical world.�
This year�s moot (simulated court) will focus on the issue of state sovereignty vis a vis the International Criminal Court, a controversial international body that Ukraine�s government has signed on to, but not yet ratified.
Cavoukian said her firm has done its best to make it an all-Ukrainian event, not just a Kyiv event, which it largely has been in the past. Six teams from four cities will take part, including a squad from Kyiv International University, the Ukrainian champions in 2003.
The reigning champions will face students from 2003 runners-up Kyiv�s Taras Shevchenko National University, Kyiv University of Law, Donetsk National University, Odessa National University, and Kharkiv Yarsolav Mudriy National University.
�The schools have to have an international law component, and they have to be able to compete in English,� Cavoukian said, �so that precludes some of the smaller schools.�
One of the judges for the Feb. 22 finals, Kostyantyn Likarchuk, is nevertheless pleased with the size of the field this year.
�It�s a positive step,� Likarchuk said. �If a country can send 10 teams to the nationals, then they�re allowed to send two teams to Washington.�
The Jessup competition, founded by the International Law Students Association, was first held in 1960. The finals are being held at the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine.
It�s the largest and most prestigious international law competition for students in the world. Last year, nearly 400 teams participated, with 83 teams traveling to the U.S. capital for the finals.
In 1999, Ukraine had its best result ever, finishing sixth overall.
Likarchuk was on the 1999 team from the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko University.
�The tournament is a good way for students to familiarize themselves with and get experience in U.S. and international law,� Likarchuk said, freshly returned from judging the Latvian nationals in Riga on Feb. 14.
Organizers and alumni said that the tourney is a great way to get noticed by headhunters looking for promising young lawyers, and that participation in the tournament is a plus on any resume.
�We�re always looking for talented young people,� he said. �Obviously, in a tournament of this caliber, we can scout some of the best.�
Serhy Petukhov, on a two-person team without a coach, is from Likarchuk�s alma mater and is competing this year for the first time. He paid the $160 entry fee and bought the necessary books himself, but if his team wins he said he doesn�t know how they�ll get to Washington.
�That�s the problem,� Petukhov said. �I was talking to Magisters, and they won�t provide the funds. I�ll approach the faculty if I win, and maybe they�ll help.�
Besides M&P, which is footing most of the bill for the three-day event, the American Bar Association and others will pitch in, covering travel and accommodation costs for the three out-of-town teams to come to Kyiv.
Cavoukian said her firm looks at the competition as a way of giving back to the community, and setting an example for other law firms in the country.