Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - 12:30
Team to Compete Against Top Law Schools at International Finals in Washington, D.C.
Law students representing American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) won first place for the fourth year at the Iraq national rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court competition on February 15, 2023.
Students Zhya Burhan Faraj, Lana Azad Rasul, Kareem Saman Khalid, Didar Nawzad Abdalrahman, and Dima Mustafa Yahya traveled with team coach, Assistant Professor and AUIS Law Program Director Dr. Ali Ahmed Rahman to the Kurdistan region’s capital Erbil to compete against teams from the University of Duhok, University of Sulaimani, and host institution, University of Salahaddin.
The teams competed against each other across three rounds, with AUIS named the winning team each time and earning special recognition for written memorials and oral presentations.
This year marked AUIS’s fourth win at the Iraq National Jessup Championship. AUIS student teams won the national rounds in 2018 and 2019, representing the nation at the international rounds in Washington, DC, attended by more than one hundred teams from around the world. The AUIS team was again selected to represent Iraq in 2020, however, the international competition was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Named after American international lawyer and diplomat Philip C. Jessup and organized by the International Law Students Association, the Jessup Moot Court is a simulation of law practice before the International Court of Justice.
Each year, university students compete at national qualifying rounds to represent their country at the international competition in Washington, D.C., where teams argue hypothetical legal cases on behalf of fictitious countries.