At the Chicago Super Regional Competition this weekend, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Jessup International Law Moot Court team went 4-0 in the preliminary rounds, and then beat Valparaiso in the quarterfinals, Northwestern University in the semifinals, and Duke University in the final round. The two top teams out of the 24 competing in the Super Regional (CWRU and Duke) now move on to the International Rounds, to be held in Washington, D.C., March 25-31. There, they will compete against the winners from 120 countries around the world. The CWRU team also won the award for the second-best set of briefs in the competition. Tyler Talbert won the award for third-best speaker of the preliminary rounds and Cameron MacLeod won the award for best speaker in the final round.
The Jessup team consists of third-year law student Cameron MacLeod, and two-year law students Tyler Talbert, Katelyn Kraus and Hyder Syed, with Effy Folberg serving as Of Counsel. Former CWRU Jessup Regional champion Conor McLauglin of Thompson Hine and Professor Michael Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center, coached the team.
This year’s Jessup Problem focuses on issues of jurisdictional immunity, humanitarian intervention after a coup d’etat, and destruction of cultural property. Now in its 53rd year, Jessup is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious moot court competitions.
In recent years, the CWRU Jessup team has consistently been one of the best in the competition, winning regionals six out of the past eight years, winning the World Championship Round in 2008, and garnering the Baxter Award for the World’s Best Brief in 2011.