December 7, 2007

Moot court alumna recreate their winning arguments from the first National Moot Court Competition before 150 law students and professors in preparation for this year’s event.

Eighteen law students and recent graduates who participated in last year’s First Annual National Moot Court Competition in Jordan are now serving as mentors for students preparing for the second national competition.  Sponsored by the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), these student-led trainings, together with several local qualifying competitions, are designed to build capacity among the universities that will eventually take the lead in conducting future competitions, thereby increasing the sustainability of ABA ROLI’s rule of law work in the region.

Nine Jordanian universities will hold local competitions in December 2007 and January 2008.  Students who qualify during the local competitions will advance to the national competition which will take place in the Palace of Justice in Amman under the patronage of the Ministry of Justice.

To date, 185 law students from the nine schools have registered to participate in this year’s event, compared to the 24 who participated in last year. As in last year’s competition, the topic of debate will relate to the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods.  

At an ABA ROLI-sponsored orientation session on November 3, participants in last year’s competition shared their arguments with about 150 law students interested in participating in this year’s moot court. Confident and candid as they repeated last year’s winning arguments, alumni gave students and professors a first hand account of their experience, with suggestions on how professors can best prepare the students for this year’s expanded event.  The students also argued before professors on November 4 during a faculty “train-the-trainers” workshop designed to prepare professors to organize university competitions and to train students. 

The moot court alumni credited their participation in moot court for enhancing their advocacy skills, building self-confidence, building friendships among students and potential colleagues from other schools, and increasing their visibility among judges and lawyers who participated or attended last year’s competition.  Their willingness to volunteer their time for the student and faculty trainings attests to their appreciation of the moot court program as a way of building skills and connecting to the job market. 

Reem Qa’ati, a fourth-year law student at Jordan University, completed an ABA ROLI summer practicum session and happily registered for moot court.  She argued that the national competition has pulled classmates together to prepare the best teams from Jordan University.  “The spirit of this event is cooperation, not competitiveness,” she noted, adding that “expertise and experience developed are the most important results, regardless of who wins the competition.”

For more information, please contact Kathy McEnany, <kmcenany@staff.abanet.org>