Jessup Moot Court Team Victorious in National Competition

Columbia Law School defeated Harvard to win first place in the Jessup Moot Court national competition in April in Washington, D.C. The team consisted of James Boeving ‘05, Erika Evasdottir ‘05, Ram Murali ‘04, Bede Sheppard ‘05, and Katherine Wilhelm ‘04. The problem involved state responsibility for possible crimes against humanity committed during a civil war. The Columbia team also made it to the semi-finals of the world championship, defeating the German and Mexico before losing to Russia. Overall, Columbia finished in the top four of 83 schools at the tournament. In the Atlantic regional competition held in March, Mr. Boeving and Ms. Evasdottir won oral argument awards, while the team also won for best brief and took first place to proceed to the finals The competition is named after Professor Philip Jessup, who taught international law and diplomacy at Columbia from 1925-61.