Students made it to quarterfinals, matching German record for advancing in international rounds.
The Hertie School’s moot court team reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in April, advancing further than any other team from the European Union in this year’s international rounds. They also matched the record for the furthest a German team has advanced since the competition started in 1968. In February, the Hertie School also won the German national championship for the third time.
In the international rounds, the Hertie School competed against the top teams from Indonesia, India, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sudan, Poland, China and Brazil. Despite a very difficult draw (including rounds against Indonesian and Dutch champions), the team advanced to the top 32 and later secured a spot among the top eight, before being ousted by the University of São Paulo.
Nearly 200 qualifying teams from all over the world took part in the competition, which is comparable to a world cup in international law. Around 900 participated in the national rounds. Team members included Linn von Engelbrechten, Juri Wiedemann, Hashem Krayem, Malte Spielmann (all MPPs) and Jessica Trollip (MIA), who were coached throughout the year by professors Mark Dawson and Pierre Thielbörger as well as doctoral researchers Theresa Bosl and Evgenija Kröker.
In the final awards ceremony, the team’s oralists Linn von Engelbrechten, Juri Wiedemann and Hashem Krayem were honored among the best in the advanced rounds. Hashem Krayem was honored among the top 10 oralists worldwide, placing him as the best-ranked pleader from any European university in the advanced rounds.
Students interested in joining the Hertie School team next year should look out for the call for applications in May or June 2022. The team is open to all students. No previous legal background is required.
The Jessup Moot Court is the biggest and most prestigious moot court competition in the world, dealing every year with a fictional dispute between two states under international law. This year’s case concerned the admissibility of contested evidence into the proceedings of the International Court of Justice, the threat of misinformation especially in the context of elections and independence referenda, the right to freedom of expression and the legality of cyber-attacks.