UP Law Secures its 6th Consecutive Championship at the Jessup Competition

The University of the Philippines College of Law won its 6th consecutive championship at the Philippine National Rounds of the 2023 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. UP Law has held the national title since 2018. By unanimous decision, this year’s team bested the contingent from the University of San Carlos in the championship round judged by legal luminaries led by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio (ret.).

The Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from roughly 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions. The Philippine National Rounds were sponsored by Divina Law and the University of Santo Tomas (UST), and were participated in by several teams from all over the country. The competition was held last February 25 to 28 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center and the Faculty of Civil Law in UST.

This year, UP Law was represented by Mr. Paolo Irineo A. Jose, Ms. Louise Michiko B. Lokin, Mr. Franco Luis G. Lopez, Mr. Sheigne Alvir M. Miñano, and team captain Mr. Adrian Gabriel C. Padilla. Prof. Paolo S. Tamase and Mr. Aloysius Francis M. Bresnan mentored the team as coaches, with Prof. Rommel J. Casis as faculty adviser.

Several members of the team also earned individual oralist awards in recognition of their outstanding performance: Mr. Padilla was the Best Oralist of the Championship Round as well as the 5th Best Oralist of the Preliminary Rounds; Mr. Jose, the 2nd Best Oralist of the Preliminary Rounds; and Ms. Lokin, the 8th Best Oralist of the Preliminary Rounds.

UP Law will represent the Philippines in the White & Case International Rounds of the Jessup in Washington, D.C. this April 8 to 15, where over 100 of the best teams from all over the world will compete for the coveted Jessup Cup. It will be the first time in three years that the International Rounds will be held on site since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.