The University of Montana School of Law

Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court

Named for Philip C Jessup, a former U.S. Justice and President of the International Court of Justice (World Court), the Jessup International Moot Court Competition is the world's oldest, largest, and most prestigious law school international moot court competition.

It dates back more than 40 years and involves law student teams from hundreds of law schools in dozens of countries located all over the world. The annual Jessup competition involves a hypothetical International Court of Justice (World Court) problem based upon cutting edge international law issues yet to be decided by the actual Court. The Jessup is generally considered to have the most stringent writing requirement of any law school moot court competition because each team must comprehensively brief both sides of the case.

The Jessup is divided into two parts, consisting first of the regional or national phase, with the U.S., which is divided into twelve regions, Canada, India, and a few other large countries having multi-region intra-country competions; and the other countries having national competitions. The second phase is the international competition, where the winning team from each regional or national competition vies for the world championship. Over 100 teams with several hundred law students from some 80 countries now compete in the international competition, and these numbers have been increasing every year. The Jessup is administered through the International Law Students Association, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization comprised of law school International Law Student chapters from all over the world.

The University of Montana first entered the Jessup in the 1996-97 academic year, and UM teams have been extremely competitive since that time against law school teams from California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and other western U.S. states. Two UM teams have advanced to the international competition; one UM student has won the best regional oralist award: and several UM Teams have won prizes for their memorials. In 2005, a UM student placed in the top 5 percent among 327 oralists at the international competition.

Each Jessup team has five members, four of whom participate in oral arguments, and all five write the memorials. All second and third year UM law students are eligible to try out for the Jessup team each fall by submitting writing samples, if they have completed or are enrolled in Public International Law.

The UM Jessup Team coaches/faculty advisors are University Legal Counsel and adjunct law faculty member David Aronofsky, who teaches the Law School's two international law courses and practiced international law for a number of years in Washington, D.C. before moving to Montana; and Sally Cummins, a career U.S. State Department Legal Advisor's Office attorney who also teaches the UM Public International Law course from time to time.