News Releases
Students advance to international law competition
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
A team of three students from Valparaiso University’s School of Law will advance to the World Trade Organization Moot Court Competition finals after having its written argument judged one of the top memorials submitted in a regional round.
Valparaiso’s team is one of only 18 student teams representing law schools throughout the world invited to the finals, which will take place May 1 to 6 in Geneva, Switzerland.
For the regional competition, each team prepared a written memorial to a hypothetical problem that involved pharmaceutical patent licenses. During final oral arguments, each team will argue before a three-member panel of international law, policy and economics experts that simulates a WTO dispute settlement panel.
“The competition gives participants the opportunity to gain exposure to international law in a realistic environment and to network with other students and professionals from around the world who share their interest in international law,” said Jennifer Rasmussen, a third-year law student from Valparaiso who serves as team captain.
Members of Valparaiso’s team who wrote the memorial are Reid Hooper, a second-year law student from San Diego, Calif.; Kevin Gilmartin, a second-year law student from Rochester, N.Y.; and Isaac Ip, a second-year law student from Toronto. D. A. Jeremy Telman, an assistant professor of law and expert in international law, is the team’s adviser.
Hooper has studied in China through Valparaiso’s graduate program in international commerce and policy and worked with the Central Asian Productivity Research Center. Ip studied at Cambridge University in England through Valparaiso’s summer study abroad program for law students and Gilmartin studied at Oxford University as an undergraduate at St. Bonaventure University.
More than 60 teams from 26 countries competed in the regional rounds. The goal of the competition – administered by the European Law Students Association – is to provide students with the opportunity to put international legal theory into practice.
In 2006, Valparaiso’s international moot court competition team participated in the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – the largest and most prestigious moot court competition in the world – after winning first place for its written argument in a regional round.
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