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

Kennedy

(O'Rourke Reid).

| 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

| state of the human rights of its

minority population. Issues of

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

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

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.

The team performance was the second

best ever of any Irish team. We

| 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

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.

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

helpful criticism and guidance -

Dermot Cahill, Joe Kelly, Phillip

Daly

and

Donagh McGowan.

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.

We would also like to express our

gratitude to our respective employers

who were all most generous in their

' personal encouragement as well as

their practical assistance. In particular

we would like to thank

Francis

Sowman, Brian O'Donnell

and

Michael

Quinn

at William Fry,

John Reid

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

Matheson Ormsby Prentice.

Finally a word of thanks to all our

| sponsors, without wh o se contributions

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;

Patrick

O 'Connor; Mr Albert Power;

I Harriet Kinahan; Dr Eamonn Hall; Ms

Margaret

Byrne; Ms Petria

McDonnell

and

Mr Kevin

O'Connell.

Stephanie

Kennedy

•

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