Common Law Mooting Teams Rank Among Best in the World
In the past month, the Common Law Section saw two of its mooting teams compete in two of the largest and most prestigious international moot court competitions in the world, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Despite each of these tournaments featuring hundreds of law schools from around the world, uOttawa impressively ranked within the top eight of each moot.
Students James Grace, Martin Brandsma, Justin Mohammed and Nathan Kruger, the reigning Canadian champions in the Jessup competition, reached the final eight in the Jessup world championship, which took place in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of April. Later in the month, students Samantha Biglou, Linden Dales, Golsa Ghamari, Nik Holmberg and David Wahl reached the final eight in the Vis Arbitral Moot, in Vienna. Out of nearly 300 schools represented, the uOttawa squad was the only Canadian team to advance to the final 64, and contributed to the truly international conclusion of the Vis tournament, as each of the final eight schools came from a different country.
“There is a glut of subjective, meaningless law school ranking systems,” says Common Law Dean Bruce Feldthusen. “Here is something objective: We compete in the Jessup and Vis against more than 300 law schools from around the world – including the best common law schools in the world like the Oxfords, the Harvards, the Columbias, etc. And year after year we stand among the best in the world. And these universities know uOttawa for being world class. There is a real ranking!”
“I used to think supporting international moot competitions was too expensive,” he continues. “Now I realize it is the least expensive global advertising money can buy. They know us in Washington and they know us in Vienna.”
The Common Law Section wishes to congratulate all of this year’s mooters and their coaches. The hard work and dedication they show through countless hours of practice and preparation are a credit to the law school and a continuing source of pride and inspiration.