HSE Students Won Russian Jessup for the Second Year Running

On February 5th, 2017, the national finals of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious law competitions for students, was held in Moscow. A team from the HSE Faculty of Law took first place for the second year running.

The Philip C. Jessup Competition is one of the world’s largest competitions for law students and has been held in Russia since 2002. Over 500 teams from all over the world take part in it. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the UN International Court of Justice, where students argue in English, present documents and prepare speeches on issues of international public law. This year 40 Russian teams participated in the event.

In the final round of the national stage, HSE team came up against a team from Ural State Law University. This year’s case was dedicated to transboundary aquifers, fundamental human rights, including the rights to food and water, as well as the problems that arise due to the increasing flow of refugees caused by violations of these rights.
HSE team was represented by Gayane Gulyan (3rd-year undergraduate student), Vladimir Kostsov (3rd-year undergraduate student), Vadim Absalyamov (2nd-year undergraduate student) and Oksana Tusina (3rd-year undergraduate student). The team was trained by Anastasia Rozeeva (1st-year graduate student), Emil Shagiakhmetov (graduate of the Faculty of Law 2015) and Polina Klipova (1st-year graduate student).
In addition to the first place in the team competition, HSE students were also given an award for their memorandum, which was named the best written work, and Vladimir Kostsov was named best individual speaker.

In April 2017, the HSE team will participate in the international rounds of the Philip C. Jessup Competition in Washington.