UP Law wins Stetson Moot Court Competition
JUST a week following the University of the Philippines College of Law triumph in the 2024 Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C., the UP Law Stetson Team was crowned World Champion at the 28th Stetson Annual International Environmental Moot Court Competition held in Gulfport, Florida, USA from April 10 to 13, 2024.
Renowned for its focus on tackling crucial global environmental issues, the Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition stands as the premier international platform for environmental law moot court advocacy.
UP Law outshone 19 law schools representing their respective regions, emerging triumphant from a compelling face-off against the Singapore Management University.
The UP Law Stetson team championed the protection of a critically endangered Mountain Gorillas species threatened by oil extraction activities, staunchly advocating for the necessity of thorough environmental impact assessments.
The team comprises law students Noel Francis Galinato, Miriam Celine Miciano and Alia Dominique Yao, with Prof. Marianne Crielle Vitug as coach and Prof. Rommel Casis as faculty advisor.
Miciano was awarded the Overall Best Oralist for the Preliminary Rounds. Yao secured the 3rd Best Oralist for the Preliminary Rounds and the Best Oralist of the Championship Round.
Through Josh Jimenez of the UP Law Debate and Moot Court Union, the members and Prof. Vitug shared their thoughts about their win to The Manila Times.
“It was really a pleasant surprise. We were up against brilliant teams all throughout the competition, so we could only hope that our preparation would show in our presentations. While we really wanted to win, we tried to keep our focus on what was in front of us. We took it one round at a time and treated each round as an opportunity to learn from our opponents and strengthen our arguments,” Miciano said.
“We spent lots of hours researching, paneling and practicing our speeches both individually and as a team. The whole preparation was a great balancing act; we had to balance moot court with our academics, work and personal lives. We had to make sacrifices, and we had to learn how to work and study more efficiently,” Galinato said.
“Both our classes and moot court demanded 100 percent of our commitment, so we really had to manage and pace ourselves to meet the academic standards our professors demanded from us and to deliver the excellence that UP Law deserves,” he added.
“On the days leading up to the competition, we were quite anxious as we tried our best to work with the limitations of training in a hotel without the facilities we were used to having in Malcolm Hall. It was also in the back of our minds that UP Law’s Jessup team had just won a championship, so we had to deal with the added self-imposed pressure. In the end, things just fell into place,” Yao said.
“After winning the championship, our team is just filled with gratitude and joy. We could not have done this without the support and encouragement from Dean Lelen Berberabe, the UP Law Debate and Moot Court Union, our coaches, panelists, professors, family and friends. Indeed, it took a village to bring home the world championship,” Yao added.
Vitug, who also coached the UP Law Jessup Cup champions, said she is proud of the members, as UP Law is the first university in Southeast Asia to win the Stetson Moot Court Competition twice. It first won in 2018 during the 22nd edition of the competition.
“I am very proud of the team for this incredible achievement. They put in so much time and effort and sacrificed so much to get here. With this win, UP Law became the first Southeast Asian university to win the Stetson moot twice. I hope they continue to use everything they’ve learned through this experience in their work as future lawyers,” Vitug said.
She added that help from alumni mooters also boosted the team’s quest for victory.
“The team conducted training sessions three to four times per week and dedicated several hours each day to research and writing.
These sessions were done with various UP alumni mooters serving as their panelists so that they could refine their presentations. Stetson is a science-heavy moot, so they had to study not only the applicable laws but also the science related to oil exploration activities, climate change, gorillas, and their habitats. It’s a challenge to tie all of it together to make it palatable to both lay persons and experts alike, but the team delivered on all fronts splendidly,” Vitug said.