In the end, all the sacrifices were worth it
How should I describe my experience in the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition? I think Justice Mahmud Jamal’s speech at the Canadian National Rounds’ opening ceremony describes it perfectly. He said that people would certainly regret signing up for the Jessup while they struggled to complete their memorials (equivalent to a factum for other moots). I fully agree with that, as I remember those late nights where I was looking into numerous sources and rephrasing my messy arguments, thinking about why I decided to do the Jessup. But Justice Jamal also talked about how joyful and rewarding his experience was at the competition. I agree; my mooting experience was indeed the biggest highlight of my time in law school.
The Jessup simulates a dispute between two fictional countries before the International Court of Justice. This year, the problem concerned an independence referendum taking place in the Sutha province of Antara. A pro-independence group, allegedly supported by Ravaria, operated a botnet that facilitated the spread of misinformation. Being able to explore the application of international law in cyberspace was very exciting, as there were many novel questions that did not have concrete answers. I was responsible for the issues concerning Antara’s order to ban a prominent pro-independence professor from a popular social media platform, as well as Antara’s intrusion into Ravarian computer devices to take down the botnet.
While I anticipated challenges in the moot, I had no idea how tough it was until I finally began drafting my memorial. Upon seeing the work done by previous contestants and the voluminous number of citations they had, I wondered why I decided to sign up for the Jessup. But I’m not a person who backs down from my commitments; I took the challenge head on. My first draft read like an awkward essay, and the feedback was brutal. But each time my team and I rewrote our memorials, we became more confident in our arguments. In the end, we delivered a product that we were happy with.
We began preparing our oral submissions immediately afterwards since we had less than a month to prepare. We did up to four practice moots each week, to the point where we all became extremely familiar with each and every detail in the case.
The preliminary rounds in the Canadian Nationals went smoothly. We qualified for the finals and went up against Western University. The panel in the finals consisted of Justice Jamal, Lieutenant Commander Kat Aubrey-Horvath (Canadian Armed Forces), and Professor Mulry Mondélice (Royal Military College Saint-Jean). It was an absolute honour to moot in front of Justice Jamal in particular. At first, the prospect of it was a bit intimidating, but I remembered the 2021 Grand Moot and was confident that I could perform like the four mooters who remained unfazed in front of Justices Jamal, Abella, and Karakatsanis.
In the finals, Seema Sidhu (3L) and I appeared on behalf of Antara, the applicant, while Western’s mooters represented Ravaria, the respondent. Seema and I delivered oral submissions that discussed the current status of international law and what the response to cyberspace development should be. Western’s mooters gave brilliant submissions, and it was a great experience watching and learning from them.
The highlight of the finals was Seema’s rebuttal, which earned strong praise from our practitioner coach, Maureen Whelton (Stevenson Whelton LLP). When the time came for the results to be announced, we anxiously waited as Leah West, the Jessup’s Canadian National Administrator, announced the winners of the memorial and oralist awards. The moment she announced U of T’s first place finish, I was overwhelmed with joy. We did it!
I believe that our knowledge of the law, our confidence in how we responded to the panel’s questions, and Seema’s brilliant rebuttal, made the difference in an extremely close match. A few months ago, I would not have thought that I would be a member of a team that would take home a mooting championship. This experience taught me that no dream is impossible to achieve, so long as one is willing to put in the effort. Looking back, I am amazed by how much my oral advocacy skills have improved in the weeks leading up to the competition. Every single run-through our team went through made a difference.
There are a few things I want to say to anyone interested in doing the Jessup (or other competitive moots) next year:
- Memorial or factum writing is not the fun part—presenting your arguments in front of the judges is! They will come up with ways to catch you off guard, or ask questions that they are genuinely curious about. As long as you are prepared, you should treat the questions not as an obstacle, but rather as an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge.
- Whether you are the underdog that did not make it to the elimination stage, or the favourite team that took home the championship, you should always be proud of your achievements! Going up to moot before tough judges alone is an impressive feat. You put in so much work to prepare your memorial/factum, and so many hours to rehearse your arguments. That in itself deserves a large round of applause.
- For those who are unsure about whether you want to moot, I strongly recommend that you participate in the tryouts in September 2022. You may not think that you are a strong litigator or that you would enjoy mooting, but you never know unless you try it! Even if you don’t get a competitive moot placement, don’t let that discourage you. It’s the fact that you tried that counts.
Our team is currently competing in the Jessup’s International Rounds. I am sure they are very exciting and distinct from the experience in the Canadian National Rounds. Go U of T!
Thank you to Mishail Adeel (2L) and Seema Sidhu (3L), my fellow teammates, and Abrahim Ahmed (3L), Molly Campbell (3L), Natasha Williams (3L), and Maureen Whelton for their support along the way. They are incredibly hardworking people who always have a positive attitude and are driven by a strong desire to succeed.
