The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

JUNE 1996

Apprentices Take on the World!

A team of apprentices, representing the Law Society, has just returned from Washington DC, where it took part in the World Semi-Finals of the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Mo ot Court Competition. This is the largest and most prestigious moot court competition in the world, attracting 5 0 0 law schools in 7 0 states, each competing for the right to represent their state in the USA. T e ams participating included Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford and the Sorbonne. The Law Society team were the Irish National Champions, having beaten Trinity College, Dublin in a closely fought Irish Final. Te ams from the Kings Inns and U CD had been convincingly defeated by the Law Society in the earlier rounds. The national squad was c omp o s ed of Michael Barr ( A+L Go o db o d y ), George Brady and Tara Doyle (Matheson Ormsby Prentice), Jeanne Kelly (William Fry), and Stephanie j Kennedy (O'Rourke Reid). j | The format of the competition was that teams were asked to consider a hypothetical case in which alleged terrorists from one state b omb ed public buildings and stole confidential j computerised data in a second state as ; a response to breaches by the second extradition, privacy, data protection and discrimination had to be wo v en into detailed written submissions ( 50 pages) by the team. In the World Semi-Final round, teams were required to present their best arguments twice on behalf of the applicant state and twice on behalf of the respondent state before a "court" of three judges. The j ud g es were lawyers, j ud g es or academics with a background | state of the human rights of its minority population. Issues of

Special thanks are extended to T P Kennedy, our academic advisor and coach. His time, patience and extensive kn ow l e d ge of both current affairs and International Law was an invaluable asset. We would also like to thank the ex-Jessup participants wh o provided It is undoubtedly due to their persistence and constant encouragement that the team managed to advance as far as w e did and we are most grateful to them. I their practical assistance. In particular we would like to thank Francis Sowman, Brian O'Donnell and Michael Quinn at William Fry, John Reid at O'Rourke Reid, David Sanfey, Frank O 'Riordain and Jack O 'Farrell at A + L Go o db o d y, and David McGeough, Garrett Gill and Donal Roche at Matheson Ormsby Prentice. helpful criticism and guidance - Dermot Cahill, Joe Kelly, Phillip Daly and Donagh McGowan. We would also like to express our gratitude to our respective employers j who were all most generous in their ' personal encouragement as well as Finally a word of thanks to all our | sponsors, without wh o se contributions j our participation wo u ld not have been ; possible: The Law Society, A + L Go o db o d y, William Fry, Matheson Ormsby Prentice, O'Rourke Reid, McCann FitzGerald, E.G. Hall & Co., The Bar Council, Waterford Crystal, Mr Richard Law Nesbitt SC, Mr Peter Charlton SC, Dr Michael Forde SC, Diarmuid O 'Donovan SC, and Paul Gallagher SC. We wo u ld also like to thank the f o l l ow i ng for their most gracious support in the run-up to the contest. Thank you one and all: the Irish Mo ot Court Committee; SADS I; Mr Patrick O 'Connor; Mr Albert Power; Ms I Harriet Kinahan; Dr Eamonn Hall; Ms Margaret Byrne; Ms Petria McDonnell and Mr Kevin O'Connell.

wits and from time to time gained the upper hand.

On arrival, we found that we had been drawn against the University of Hong Kong, the University of Lubijana (Slovenia), the University of Puerto Rico and Georgetown University ( USA ). Despite very stiff opposition from an erudite Ho ng Kong team, an aggressive Puerto Rican team and the gallant Slovenians, we won the first three rounds decisively. We were unlucky in our last round to lose narrowly to the devastating US team on a split decision by the judges. | finished just outside the finals and I were unfortunate not to qualify. The Irish reputation for eloquence was i triumphantly upheld by Jeanne Kelly í being ranked 8th out of approximately 3 00 speakers. The team's written arguments also fared very well, being I ranked 10th out of all the memorials of I teams competing worldwide. The J contest was won by the Australian team wh o defeated Singapore in the final. We spent the rest of our time in | Washington attending receptions I hosted by Universities, law firms and embassies and attending sessions of the j Conference of the American Society of International Law and the Congress of International Law Journals. One highlight was our visit to the US Supreme Court to hear a case concerning environmental law and states' rights being argued. We departed Washington with pleasant memories of international gatherings I and an increased c on f i d e n ce in our ability as Irish lawyers to c omp e te with the best of our counterparts from other jurisdictions. In conclusion the team wo u ld like to extend its thanks to the many people wh o contributed to our successful performance in the competition. The team performance was the second best ever of any Irish team. We

j '

in international law. We soon discovered that they took great

|

pleasure in using their extensive legal k n ow l e d ge to ask frequent questions. Eventually, w e relished this battle of

Stephanie

Kennedy

•

151