Shearman & Sterling International Rounds

A team of law students from the Universidad Los Andes (Colombia) won the 2009 Shearman & Sterling Jessup Cup on March 28, 2009, competing against a team from University College London in the final round of the Shearman & Sterling International Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Sebastian Machado Ramírez, a student from Los Andes University, won the Stephen Schwebel prize for best oralist—launched this year in honour of the former President of the International Court of Justice on his 80th birthday—in the World Championship Round.

Sitting on the jury in the final Round were Judge Bruno Simma (International Court of Justice), José E. Alvarez (Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia Law School), and Professor Ruth Wedgwood (Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies).

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Competition, a special gala dinner was held on Friday March 27. Guest speakers included Judge Rosalyn Higgins, outgoing President of the International Court of Justice, and Stephen M. Schwebel, former President of the International Court of Justice and author of the first Jessup Competition problem in 1960.

The Jessup is widely considered as the most prestigious public international law moot court competition. It is also the oldest and by far the largest such competition in the world. Participating in this year's competition were 568 teams from 80 countries, and the Shearman & Sterling International Rounds were attended by 120 teams from 76 countries.

Click here to view photos from the 2009 International Rounds.

For more information about the International Rounds, please visit the ILSA website.


US Northeast Super Regional Rounds

For the sixth year, Shearman & Sterling sponsored the Jessup US Northeast Super Regional Rounds, which took place February 12-15, 2009 at the firm’s New York office. The winning schools, Columbia Law School (winner) and Boston College (runner-up) advanced to the Shearman & Sterling International Rounds, along with the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), winner of the French National Rounds in Paris.


French National Rounds

Shearman & Sterling has been sponsoring the French National Rounds of the Jessup competition since 2001. The French Rounds took place on February 13-14, 2009 at the firm’s Paris office. Six French universities participated in the competition this year. The Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) won the French Finals and advanced to the International Rounds. The runner-up team was from Robert Schumann University in Strasbourg.

To access the website of Jessup France, click here.