Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) - 2009 world champion of the 50th 'Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition'

In a historical victory, the Universidad de los Andes from Colombia won the 2009 World Championship of the 50th Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.  Students Ricardo Alarcón, Giselle Herrera, Sebastián Machado, and Guillermo Otálora under the direction of coach Liliana Obregón, defeated University College London (UCL) in the final round of the Jessup Competition (http://www.ilsa.org/jessup).  Along with Venezuela (1997) and Mexico (1998), Colombia is the third Latin-American country to win the competition, and the fourth non-English speaking country to do so (France being the first one in 1992). 

For the past three years the Jessup teams have been coached by Liliana Obregón, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the International Law Program at Los Andes. Professor Obregón holds a Doctoral degree (SJD) from Harvard Law School and a Master´s Degree  from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University.  Though never a Jessup before, Obregón carefully studied why other teams have been successful at this competition and concluded that students must put in as much hard work into their written memorials as they do into practicing for their oral arguments.

This is why it was such an honor for the Uniandes team to bring home the Jessup Cup and  the Alona Evans Award for the best written memorials in the international rounds. In addition, the new Stephen M. Schwebel Award was given to Sebastián Machado for his performance as the best oralist of the final round. The Schwebel award is named in honor of the former judge and president of the International Court of Justice in commemoration of his 80th birthday. The award was presented to Machado by judge Schwebel himself who was also author of the first Jessup problem in 1959.  Machado was also awarded a scholarship from the International Law Institute of Georgetown University.
 
This series of awards, largely unprecedented for a single team, was obtained within the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Jessup competition, the largest, oldest, and most prestigious international law moot court competition in the world. More than 550 teams from over 80 countries participated during the 2009 competition. The international rounds held in Washington DC counted with the attendance of 114 teams winners of their respective national rounds.

During the preliminary rounds, the Andes team competed against the teams from the National Law School of India University (India), Kyiv International University (Ukraine), University of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico), and Immanuel Kant University (Kaliningrad, Russia). Having advanced among the 24 top-ranked teams of the preliminary rounds, the Colombian team then confronted and defeated their colleagues from Universitas Paelitas Harapan (Indonesia), Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela) and Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina).

The final round was held in the presence of over 800 spectators, and before a panel presided by Bruno Simma (current judge of the International Court of Justice) along with professors José Álvarez, Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy of Columbia Law School,  and Ruth Wedgwood, Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. The Andes oralists Sebastián Machado and Guillermo Otálora argued against competitors Annabelle Lee and Mahesh Rai from University College London (United Kingdom).
 
In a gesture without precedent in the competition, the Uniandes team was applauded by the audience before the end of the round, and Sebastián Machado’s rebuttal was highly acclaimed demonstrating the audience´s favor for the Colombians.
 
About the Jessup competition

The Jessup competition was born in 1959 in Harvard Law School, as the brainchild of professor Richar Baxter. Then-professor Stephen M. Schwebel wrote the first Jessup problem called ‘The Cuban Agrarian Reform Case’. Only students from Harvard participated in this first competition. Since then, the competition kept on growing to the point that the 50th year celebration counted with over 550 teams from over 80 countries.

The year 2009 saw large national rounds with 45 teams participating in Russia, 29 teams in China and 28 teams in India. The largest ones were held in the United States with the participation of 140 schools, including prestigious universities such as Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown.

The competition is named after the American judge and diplomat Philip C. Jessup, who was a professor of Columbia University and a member of the International Court of Justice.

Universidad de los Andes started participating in the Jessup since 1979, as an initiative of Dean Eduardo Álvarez-Correa, out of a suggestion by his lifelong friend, professor Sherman Cohn of Georgetown Law School.  The first Andes Jessup team was formed by students Alonso Paredes and Emilio Wills. Today, 30 years later, the Jessup has formed excellent lawyers who attest to the great opportunity that this global competition represents. The Andes Jessup team dedicated their triumph to the memory of professor Álvarez-Correa, who passed away in 1997, leaving behind a great legacy for our law school.