UP Law Wins 2021 Jessup Moot Court National Championship

The UP Law Jessup team, led by Team Captain Julia Inez Blando (III-E) with members Camille Angela Cruz (IV-C), Peter Joshua Ortega (III-E), Andrea Jasmine Yu (III-E), and Rissa Nicole Lumba (II-C), brought home the championship in the 2021 DivinaLaw Philippine National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition conducted from February 22 to 26, 2021 via Zoom.

This championship marked the 4th consecutive win of UP Law in the national rounds.

Aside from the championship, the team received special awards for their written submissions and oralists. The team won Best Overall Memorial and Best Respondent Memorial. Cruz was awarded as the Best Oralist of the Preliminary Rounds, while Yu and Ortega placed 4th and 8th, respectively.

“Amidst the pandemic, the team went through a lot of challenges. Not only were we a team of five first timers, we also could not see each other in person to work on our memorials and orals. Despite this, somehow we made it work and ended up getting closer than ever,” Cruz shared.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well – this is what our coaches repeated to us throughout that we really resonated with. We did not let our being first timers become an excuse for a performance less than excellent. If anything, we wanted to prove that we could win despite it. We have come so far since when we started in October. Winning this championship only makes us more determined as we move on to the international rounds,” Blando added.

The team was coached by previous Jessup national champions, namely Professor Lee Edson Yarcia, MD, JD, Leslie Diane Torres, and Abelardo Hernandez. Professor Rommel Casis, JD served as the head coach and faculty adviser.

According to International Law Students Association, the host of the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from over 680 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions, addressing timely issues of public international law in the context of a hypothetical legal dispute between nations.