Mooting

Catalog description

How do people, states, and organizations articulate their rights in diplomacy and dispute settlement? What roles do codified law, precedent, and politics play in the resolution of disputes arising from public, commercial, and civil interactions? How do courts and tribunals shape these practices, and how have they created doctrine on jurisdiction, admissibility, interpretation, responsibility, liability, defenses, and evidence? How do lawyers develop legal strategies when law is emerging, fragmented, and precedents are non-binding? This course guides students to answers to these questions through mooting: researching, writing, and presenting legal arguments for hypothetical cases in standardized competitions. The course first introduces dispute settlement and/or prosecution in the international context; legal research techniques, briefing, and argumentation; and sources relevant for a mooting competition. Students then research, write, and practice legal arguments. Qualified students may form a team to compete in international mooting competitions in Dubai, Washington, The Hague, Nuremburg, Hong Kong, or Vienna.