Sydney Law School team named national Jessup Moot champions
L-R: Liam Prescott, DLA Piper (sponsor and grand final judge); Lachlan Bellach; Alex Touw; Kaity Crowe; Georgia Reid; Giacomo Rotolo-Ross; Justice Stephen Gageler, president of the bench and grand final judge.
A team of law students have been crowned national champions in the Australian round of the prestigious Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
Sydney Law School students Lachlan Bellach (JD II), Kaity Crowe (LLB V), Georgia Reid (JD III), Giacomo Rotolo-Ross (LLB V) and Alexandra Touw (LLB IV), took out the national title in Canberra over the weekend.
In addition to winning the competition, Kaity Crowe was named best speaker in the grand final, Georgia Reid was named best oralist in the preliminary rounds, and Giacomo Rotolo-Ross and Kaity Crowe were ranked in the top 10 oralists in the preliminary rounds.
For the fourth year in a row, the Sydney team faced the University of Queensland in the grand final.
"The sense of achievement when our team was announced by Justice Stephen Gageler as national champions filled me with a level of pride that I've never felt before," said team member, Giacomo Rotolo-Ross.
The win in Canberra takes the Sydney Law School's total national titles to 13, more than any other law school in the country.
"This year's national competition was the friendliest I can remember, where even arch-rivals (we're looking at you, UQ) can knock on our door at 2.30am and ask to use our printer because theirs has broken! While I always feel for the teams that were beaten, Alex, Georgia, Giacomo, Kaity and Lachlan – under the expert guidance of their coach, Rowan O’Donnell – have worked unbelievably hard over the past three months, and their win was well deserved,” said Dr Alison Pert, Adjunct Associate Professor in International Law and faculty advisor.
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions.
The Sydney Law School and University of Queensland teams will now travel to Washington DC for the international competition in April, where the University of Sydney has been named World Champion a record five times – in 1996, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2017.
"The most rewarding part of the process thus far has been encountering so many other people that share the same passion for law, research and advocacy. It has been an immensely humbling experience being able to learn from so many astoundingly intelligent and talented people along the way, and I can't wait for this to continue," said team member, Georgia Reid.
