The LSU Law Center’s Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team, which consists of students Matthew Boles, Phung Duong, Lindsay Elliott-Smith, Cristian Galleguillos, and Ahmed Soussi, placed as semifinalists and one of the top four teams at the United States South national rounds of the Jessup Competition. The team also took home the award for Third Place Best Memorial for their written briefs.
The U.S. South national rounds of the Jessup Competition were held at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans from March 2-5, 2017. The Law Center’s Jessup team is coached by Ms. Charlotte Goudeau (’15) of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
The Jessup team went undefeated in the preliminary rounds of the competition, and were the only team of the 20 participating schools to advance with a perfect 4-0 record. LSU’s Jessup team defeated teams from the University of Southern California, Florida State University, St. Thomas University, Nova Southeastern University in the preliminary rounds and the University of Alabama in the quarterfinals.
The LSU team was ultimately defeated in the semifinals following an extremely close match against Lewis & Clark Law School. The LSU team received many compliments from the judges on their mastery of international and comparative law.
The Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from over 550 law schools in more than 87 countries. Teams compete in national rounds in their home countries, with the top 120 teams advancing to the International Rounds (held in Washington, D.C., in the United States). The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.
This year’s case, the Case Concerning the Sisters of the Sun, involves the human right to water and the use of transboundary aquifers, protection of World Heritage Sites, theft and return of stolen cultural artifacts, and whether countries can owe other countries compensation for causing a refugee crisis.
