Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition 2023

Essay Competition and International Conference on “Regionalism and/or Internationalism”
16 August 2022

International Rounds of Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition took place in-person in Washington D.C.


The 64th version of the International Rounds of Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2023 was held in-person 8 to 15 April, after a three-year online organisation by the International Law Students Association (ILSA).

136 universities took part in the International Rounds. According to the Rules, only 48 teams can be qualified to compete in the Advanced Rounds. Among them, 16 teams directly advanced to the Octofinal Rounds, and subsequently, competed against the winners of the remaining 32 advancing teams. Allameh Tababtaba’i University, for the very first time, made it to the top 48 teams.
This achievement has never been made by any team from Iran previously. Ultimately, three teams from Asia, Singapore and two teams from China, and a team from Europe, The Netherlands, made it to the semifinals. In the final, there were two teams which have never made it to the Final i.e.

University of Amsterdam and Peking University. The Final Bench composed of His Excellency, Judge Ronny Abraham, Judge at the International Court of Justice, Her Excellecny, Julia Sebutinde, Judge at the International Court of Justice, and Her Excellency, Florence Mumba, from Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. After a brief deliberation, the judges decided that the Respondent, representing University of Amsterdam is the Champion of the International Rounds of Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2023. They took the Jessup Cup from the last year’s Champion representing Harvard University and took it home.

Modern International Law Studies Centre, as in the previous years, partially sponsored the Iranian Champion to attend the International Rounds in D.C. The Centre has been involved with the organisation and administration of the National Rounds of Iran and the United Arab Emirates since 2018. Since there was only one registering team from the UAE, Middlesex University, they directly advanced to the International Rounds, and there was no UAE National Rounds this year.

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