Yesterday’s 2017 final of the Jessup Chile International Law Moot Court Competition turned out to be the most exciting and competitive ever.
After 11 years of continued advance in the quality of the teams, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Chile have taken this event to the next level. With both teams tied for first place in the memorials and with the PUC taking the spot for Runner Up and Best Oralist in the preliminary rounds, it all came down to the final debate.
With a very focused and dedicated panel of finalist judges presided by Claudio Grossman, Agent for Chile in the Chilean defense before the Bolivian maritime claim in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Andres Jana, founding partner of Bofill Mir & Álvarez Jana and Cristián Delpiano, Professor of International Public Law at Universidad Católica del Norte, who had no qualms in interrupting presentations haphazardly, doing their best to provoke the participants, the two teams defended their positions with admirable determination and confidence in their arguments. After what seemed like an eternal period of deliberation by the judges, the final winners spot went to the applicant, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Considering the level showed by this team and the experience of their coaching staff, formed by Elisa Zavala and Benjamin Salas, who by the way participated in the team that came runner-up in the final in Washington in 2015, being defeated only by the University of Sydney, it is reasonable to believe that this time they might come back as winner from Washington.
GQM is proud to be one of the main sponsors and organizers of this event that has given more than 150 students of different Chilean law schools the opportunity to immerse themselves in real life scenarios that will prove invaluable in their future careers. We look forward to participating in many more Jessup events in the years to come and in other activities that allow our young students to receive a proper and modern education.