CUHK E-Newsletter

A team of law students from the Chinese University are heading to Washington, D.C. to represent Hong Kong in the world's largest and most prestigious mooting competition, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The CUHK team won the qualifying round against The University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong, and took home four out of the five prizes available in the qualifiers, including Best Team, Best Memorial, Best Oralist, and Runner-up to the Best Oralist.

Entering its 50th year, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition attracts participation from over 500 law schools drawn from more than 80 different countries. This year's Jessup problem concerns the right of one state to use military force unilaterally in another state to protect human rights and prevent ethnic cleansing. In working on this problem, each team is made up of five student members and one faculty team coach. Each team had to write two 12,000-word memorials and make complex legal arguments before an illustrious panel of judges.

The CUHK team was made up of PCLL and JD students. They were: Peter Chang, Charmine Cheung, Chester Hui, Simone Hui and Spencer Wong. The team was coached by Prof. Michael Ramsden of the Faculty of Law. Chester Hui and Charmine Cheung won the Best Oralist and Runner-up to the Best Oralist respectively. Prof. Ramsden said, 'Mooting provides students with the opportunity to develop skills essential to becoming a good lawyer. Our success in the most demanding mooting competition, the Jessup, really shows that the law faculty is home to some future stars of the Hong Kong legal profession. And I have every confidence that the CUHK team will go far in Washington, D.C.'

The CUHK team will advance to the Shearman & Sterling International Rounds, the final rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, in Washington, D.C. from 22 to 28 March to compete against some of the best law schools in the world.