20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE JOHN H. JACKSON MOOT COURT COMPETITION
MATHIEU VERHELST
Vice President in charge of Moot Court Competitions
2022 marked the 20th anniversary of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition. For 20 years, the European Law Students Association has been organising the largest Moot Court Competition on International Trade Law together with the technical support of the World Trade Organisation. Every year, we welcome hundreds of students from all over the world to the Jackson Moot Family, a steadily growing community since 2002.
This year’s edition had the support of Van Bael & Bellis as its main sponsor and Georgetown Law as its main academic supporter but also counted on the support of Steptoe, Akin Gump, Baker McKenzie, Sidley Austin, the European Public Law Organization (EPLO), the World Trade Institute, and Jus Mundi, that provided prices and support to the teams.
This year marked the anniversary of the ELSA Moot Court Competition and the return to a physical format. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to host all Rounds in an online format. It has therefore been our pleasure to host the Final Oral Round of our beloved competition in Geneva again.
As mentioned, the six regional rounds of the competition took place online this year. The AllAmerican round from the 24th to the 28th of February, the first European round from the 3rd to the 7th of March, the second European round from the 10th to the 14th of March, the African round from the 23rd to the 27th of March, the East Asia and Oceania round from the 31st of March to the 4th of April and the West and South Asia round from the 28th of April to the 2nd of May with the support of our sister association, the Asian Law Students’ Association, ALSA.
Regional Rounds of the Competition
The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition was created with the mindset of an ambitious ELSA Project that transgresses the borders of the European Continent. Each year the International Board of ELSA works hard to make this competition grow towards that ideal. Now with its 6 Regional Rounds all over the world, more than 30 countries, 80 law faculties and hundreds of participants, coaches, panellists and supporters, the competition is well on its way to achieving this goal.
Final Oral Round From the 28th of June to the 2nd of July, 24 teams gathered in Geneva for the first time in over two years to compete in the Final Oral Round of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition. We had the pleasure of hosting all participants and invitees in the University of Geneva and the World Trade Organisation. The Round was opened in the prestigious Room W within the WTO by Ambassador Dr Athaliah Molokomme. We also had Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala greeting the teams during that week. We would like to use this opportunity to congratulate the University of Zurich for winning the 20th edition of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition and thank everyone who has aided in its organisation this year.
The 20th edition in numbers For this 20th edition, we had the chance to have 300 participants from 31 countries and 81 universities registered for the competition, an excellent rate despite the COVID situation. These teams were mainly accompanied by coaches, as 113 coaches took part in the competition this year. Around 200 other experts of the field and of the competition from all over the world took part as panelists or as representatives of the sponsors and partners of the competition. 23
ANNUAL REPORT
