Uganda Christian University will soon be flying to Washington DC after winning the final round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court competitions where they will represent Uganda.
When Cavendish University launched its faculty of Law in Kamwokya, Kampala in January this year, it scooped the opportunity to host the two-day national moot court competitions – considered to be the largest and most prestigious in the world for law students.
At exactly 3:15pm, February 28, the moot court was packed to capacity as UCU Mukono law students aspiring to specialize in international law faced Law Development Centre in the finals in a special court session after about five months of preparation.
“All rise!” the court bailiff announced as the chief judge, Dr Busingye Kabumba, also the president of the International Law Association (ILA), Kampala branch, made his way to the bench. Dr Kabumba was accompanied by other judges, Silver Kayondo, Samuel Masiko and Philbert Kansiime.
A moot court is an imaginary or mock court in which law students, acting as real lawyers, argue before a panel of judges on a specific case. According to Dr Kabumba, the purpose is to assess student counsel’s knowledge of the law and their art of legal courtroom language, skills and etiquette.
“It is an extension of a learning process but, most importantly, it’s to give the students the confidence on how the cases are presented before court,” Dr Kabumba said.
Students were challenged to research and build arguments by representing a party in a dispute, involving a shared mineral resource between two countries. Uganda Christian University (UCU), Makerere University, Kampala International University (KIU) and Cavendish University participated in this year’s competition, along with the Law Development Centre (LDC).
Olive Sabiiti, the dean of Law at Cavendish University, said the nature of the moot court got students to discover and learn more about international law by actively researching key elements of the dispute.
“This moot is particularly important in terms of capacity building. This is hands-on because they are no longer afraid of the international criminal court justice as they already have an understanding of what it takes to prepare memorials,” Sabiiti said.
Last year, Uganda was represented by a team from the LDC and emerged best team in Africa, and 11th best team in the world in the Jessup competition. The competition attracts more than 600 participants from over 60 countries.
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