Vanderbilt’s team of students, who include Joshua Downer ’13, Taylor Downer ’13, Mark Hammervold ’12, Tracy Hancock ’13 and Katherine Horton ’13, won first place in the regional competition of the 2012 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court competition in Denver, Colorado. Tracy Hancock and Kate Horton placed first and second, respectively, as Best Speakers in the competition, and Mark Hammervold placed seventh in the same category.
Vanderbilt’s team is one of six number-one seeded U.S. teams that will travel in March to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Jessup finals. Vanderbilt’s team is one of 12 teams representing the U.S. that will compete in the final round of the international competition in Washington.
This season’s Jessup problem addresses who may represent a state after a coup d’etat, state responsibility for a regional operation, the use of force to re-instate a deposed democratic government, jurisdictional immunities of states, and the legality of the destruction of a cultural site.
Vanderbilt’s Jessup Moot Court team is coached by Paul Ambrosius, adjunct professor of law, who practices with Trauger & Tuke in Nashville.
Now in its 53rd year, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from over 500 law schools in more than 80 countries. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.