Kathmandu, February 18

Kathmandu School of Law won the 2016 Nepal National Rounds of the 57th Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition today and will proceed to compete in the international rounds of the Jessup competition to be held from March 27 to April 2, 2016 in Washington DC.

This season’s Jessup Problem focuses on the legality of cyber-surveillance and cyber-attacks under international law.

The competition was organised by International Law Association Nepal with support from The Asia Foundation, Nepal at Nepal Council of Arbitrators, Lalitpur.

ILA Nepal issued a press statement saying it believed that the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition would provide Nepali law students and law schools with the opportunity to receive global exposure, knowledge and experience in international law.

ILA Nepal is a branch of the International Law Association which has consultative status as an international non-government organisation with a number of United Nations specialised agencies.

The 2016 Jessup Nepal National rounds concluded with the oral rounds (pleadings) between the two teams of Nepal Law Campus (Team 728) and Kathmandu School of Law (Team 679), and concluding remarks by former chief justice Kedar Nath Upadhyay, President of ILA Nepal.

The team representing Kathmandu School of Law was declared the Nepal National Champions for the year. The winning team will proceed to represent Nepal in the international rounds.

Nischala Arjal, member of the Kathmandu School of Law team, received the Best Oralist Award for best pleading.

Jessup is the world’s largest moot court competition with participants from over 550 law schools in more than 80 countries.

The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.

One team is allowed to participate from every eligible school.

Teams prepare oral and written pleadings arguing both the applicant and respondent positions of the case.

The oral rounds judges at the 2016 Nepal Jessup National Rounds were Kedar Nath Upadhyay, Ila Sharma (commissioner, Election Commission of Nepal,) Kedar Paudel (former joint secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice), Sajjan Bar Singh Thapa (advocate), Dinesh Tripathi, human rights activist) and Semanta Dahal (advocate).