ISLAMABAD – The law students and legal practitioners from across Pakistancame to Islamabad from February 20-23, for the Pakistan National Rounds ofthe 2019 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, theworld’s largest such competition.
The U.S. Mission in Pakistan sponsored the event, which attractedthirty-two teams from law schools throughout Pakistan, a press release saidon Monday.
This year’s competitors included, for the first time, two laws schools fromQuetta and three all-girls teams from Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore—allvying to represent Pakistan in next month’s international rounds inWashington, D.C.
The teams from 100 countries will compete against one another in the round.Pakistan’s national competition constituted the second largest in the worldthis year.
Hundreds of Pakistani students and volunteers took part in the four-dayevent, where more than 70 matches were conducted in six mock courtrooms.Over 80 volunteer judges, including five attorneys from the U.S. Mission,judged the matches, during which each team debated a complex set of issuesof international law.
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Presiding over the final arguments were the Ayesha Malik, a Justice of theLahore High Court, and Salman Akram Raja and Khyzar Hussain, two prominentexperts in international law. Justice Malik and her colleagues on the finalbench selected Indus College of Law (Hyderabad) as the winning team.
LUMS (Lahore), University College Lahore, and Kinnaird College for Women(Lahore) were the three runners-up. The U.S. Embassy’s OverseasProsecutorial Development, Assistance and Training section will besponsoring the travel of all four teams to the international rounds inWashington D.C. in March.
