Updates

Harvard Wins Top Memorandum Awards in the Vis East Moot

| Tarek Austin

Harvard Law School’s team recently won the Eric Bergsten Award for Best Memorandum on Behalf of Claimant and the First Runner-Up for Best Memorandum on Behalf of Respondent at the Eleventh Willem C. Vis East Moot, which was held from March 31 to April 6 in Hong Kong. In the oral rounds, Harvard competed against teams from Stockholm University, the Royal University of Law and Economics, National Law Institute University, and National Law University, Delhi and was selected as one of the teams to advance to the Round of 32. The team then lost a hard-fought match against the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences. All three of Harvard’s oralists – James Fox (LLM ’14), Tessa Hayes (captain, JD ’14), and Mitchell Moranis (JD ’14) – received honorable mention awards for Best Oral Advocate. The team was also comprised of Albert Teng (JD ’15) and Sarah Weiner (captain, JD ’15). They received invaluable coaching assistance from Giovanna Micheli, James Hosking (LLM ’00), and Mark Stadnyk (LLM ’11), as well as faculty support from Professor Virginia Wise.

The Vis East Moot is the sister competition of the Vis Moot, which is held in Vienna each year. Both competitions provide an opportunity for students to get exposure to international commercial arbitration as well as international sales law, namely the U.N. Convention of the International Sale of Goods (CISG). This year’s problem dealt with issues related to the finality of arbitration awards, combining multiple claims into one proceeding, and the sphere of applicability of the CISG.

VIS Team Photo

 

Harvard Wins WTO North America Round

| Tarek Austin
The Harvard Law School team won the North American round of the European Law Students Association (ELSA) Moot Court Competition on World Trade Organization (WTO) Law, which was held at American University in Washington, DC from March 5-8.  As a result of their victory, the team qualified for the global final round, which will be held at the WTO Secretariat in Geneva from May 13-15. In the course of the tournament, Harvard defeated teams from Georgetown University, Queen’s College Ontario, Ohio State University, and Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia.  In addition to the team winning the North American Final, team Captain Daniel Holman (’14) received Best Oralist for the Preliminary Round and team member Jason Nichol (’15) received Best Oralist for the North American Semifinal Round.  Other members are Veronica Sauer (’14) and Kamola Kobildjanova (’15), and the team is coached by JD students Colette van der Ven (’15) and Derrick Sutter (’15).  While students are only allowed to compete once in the competition, this is the fourth consecutive year the Harvard team has won the North American round.
The ELSA WTO Moot Court is the premier global international trade law moot competition.  Teams represent fictitious states in a dispute over the impact of national laws on trade commitments.  This year’s case concerned a controversy over public and private management of water and sewage utilities under the GATS treaty on trade in services.

Harvard Jessup Team Wins First Place at Northeast Regionals

| Tarek Austin

The Harvard Law School Jessup team has won the Northeastern Regional competition for the Jessup International Moot Court Competition, which was held from February 14-16 at Shearman & Sterling in New York. As a result of their victory, the team has qualified for the Global Round, to be held in Washington, DC, in April. Harvard defeated teams including NYU, Boston College and defending champion Columbia to win the tournament. The team was awarded the best overall memorial prize, and team member Max Rosen (’15) was given the award for second-best oralist. Other team members are Melissa Chastang (’14), Dean Rosenberg (’15) and Captain Phil Underwood (’14). The team is coached by Aphrodite Giovanopoulou (SJD) and James Grace (LLM).

The Jessup Moot is the oldest and largest international moot court competition. In it, teams of two students represent fictional states in the context of a problem of public international law before a simulated panel of the International Court of Justice. This year, the problem involves questions concerning resource management and the use of force on the high seas.

HLS Jessup Team
HLS Jessup Team

Harvard Wins Immigration Law Moot in NYC

| Tarek Austin

An all-1L Harvard Law School Immigration Law team has just won the Ninth Annual Immigration Law Moot Court Competition, which was held from February 21-23 at NYU Law School. Harvard faced off with teams from Cardozo, Columbia, and defending champion Florida Coastal School of Law before moving on to the quarter and semi-finals. In the final round of the competition, the Harvard team found itself pitted against two competition Best Oralists from Baylor University. Judges James Graves (5th Cir.), Richard Wesley (2nd Cir.) and J. Paul Oetken (S.D.N.Y.) presided over the final round and commended the team for their courtroom presence and oral skills. The team was comprised of Lake Coreth, Rachel Endick, Harold Lee, and Stephen Silva, who all hail from Section 5. They received invaluable coaching from John Quinn (’10) and David Tulchin (’73) of Sullivan & Cromwell.

The NYU Immigration Law Moot is an annual competition at which teams represent an immigrant and the Government of the United States to argue current issues in immigration law. Parties engage in appellate advocacy before the Federal Court of Appeals for the “Fourteenth Circuit.” This year, the problem concerned questions regarding an administrative agency’s limits in using extra-record evidence to qualify criminal convictions as crimes involving moral turpitude and the due process implications of denying an asylum application based on administratively noticed facts.

 

HLS Immigration Law Team
HLS Immigration Law Team

Harvard FDI wins First Place

| Tarek Austin

Harvard Law School’s FDI Moot Team was awarded the Skadden, Arps Trophy 2013 for winning First Place at the FDI International Arbitration Moot competition, which took place October 24-26, 2013 at the Frankfurt International Arbitration Center in Germany. The six-member team consisted of Rajarshi Banerjee (JD ’14, Oralist), June Hwang (JD ’14, Co-Captain), Sarah Kalin (JD ’14, Co-Captain), Mitchell Moranis (JD ’14, Oralist), Toni Tsvetanova (JD ’15) and Sarah Weiner (JD ’15, Oralist). Rajarshi Banerjee and Mitchell Moranis, as the primary oralists, argued a total of eight and seven times, respectively, in leading the team to victory against Monash University (Australia) in the final round. Harvard faced teams from throughout the world during the competition, such as the National Law University, Jodhpur (India), Russian Academy of Justice (Russia), Judicial Research & Training Institute (Korea), and University of Warsaw (Poland).

The FDI Moot Arbitration competition provides students an opportunity to get hands-on experience dealing with a hypothetical Investor-State arbitration dispute. This year’s problem raised issues relating to investment planning, the tension between the state’s power to introduce new measures to protect public health and its BIT obligation, interaction between intellectual property rights and investment law, and damages recoverable by the investor. This is the second year that Harvard participated in the competition. Last year the team came in Third Place.

Getting Involved

| Harvard Law School

Mooting is one the the most exciting and educational activities that law school has to offer. Basically, every moot is a competition that centers around a fictional case. Participants are required to represent the quarreling parties before a dispute-resolution body. The team that demonstrates the best “lawyering” ability wins. Mooting involves all the skills and characteristics that are required of a good lawyer: brief writing, oral advocacy, performing under pressure, teamwork, an attention to detail, and the ability to maintain a holistic perspective.

Plus, mooting is fun. It is incredibly enriching to work with like-minded individuals who share the same goals and yet have diverse opinions on legal questions. Additionally, watching your brilliant teammate being grilled by a hostile judge is a wonderful equalizer. Nothing brings people together more effectively than the shared memory of a mildly traumatic (but nevertheless exhilarating) experience.

Then, there’s the travel. Regardless of whether your thirsting for foreign experiences, or just want to visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras, mooting is a great way to have new experiences while giving back to the School at the same time.

If you are interested in participating in a moot court competition this year, please let us know, and we will put you in touch with the team. If you want to form your own team for a moot court competition then please follow these steps. We look forward to hearing from you!

Meet the New Board

| Harvard Law School

The 2013-14 Moot Court Board Consists of:

Iram Huq ’15 (President)

Iram studied law as an undergraduate degree in her home country (India), during which time she also participated in the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C., and the Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Competition in Vienna. She was a quarter-finalist at both events and highly ranked as a speaker and researcher. At Harvard, she aims to help others achieve even better results by encouraging collaboration between moot court participants and ensuring that teams are afforded complete internal and external support in their endeavors.

Iram is a former clerk of the Supreme Court of India. She spent her 1L summer working for the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and consuming copious amounts of hot sauce.

Sarah Kalin ’14 (Vice-President)

Sarah is a Co-Captain of Harvard’s Foreign Direct Investment Arbitration Moot Team and is also involved with the Harvard Law & International Development Society and the Harvard International Law Journal.

Sarah was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland and has been living in the Boston area for the past several years. She graduated from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Chemical Physics. After graduation, she worked at a medical device company, where as International Business Development Team Leader, one of her primary responsibilities was overseeing an international distribution network. This work deepened her interest in international development and particularly exploring the role that the private sector should and does play in fostering development abroad through technology and knowledge transfer, as well as direct investment. During her 1L and 2L summers, Sarah was a Summer Associate at Freshfields, Bruckhaus & Deringer US LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, respectively.

Derrick Sutter ’14 (Treasurer)

Biography upcoming.

Phil Underwood ’14 (Communications Manager)

Phil Underwood is the captain of the 2014 Jessup International Moot Court team. He is also a member of the Harvard Law and International Development Society, Prison Legal Assistance Project and International Law Journal. During law school, Phil has worked for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, in New York, and the Republic of South Africa National Prosecuting Authority in Cape Town. Phil’s interests include combating international corruption and watching hockey. As Communications Director, Phil is in charge of maintaining the online presence of the Moot Court Board and maintaining contacts with the Board’s internal and external constituencies.

Additionally, we’ll be adding two first-year members later this fall. Keep an eye on this website for announcements!