The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition is a simulated hearing under the rules of the WTO dispute settlement system, involving exchanges of written submissions and adversarial hearings before panelists on international trade law issues. The competition is organized by the European Law Students' Association (ELSA). The WTO has provided technical support for the competition since its inception in 2002.
This year, 73 student teams from 40 countries competed in the Regional Rounds, including South and West Asia, East Asia and Oceania, Africa, the Americas (North, South, and the Caribbean), and Europe. Seventeen teams competed in the South and West Asia Round; nine teams took part in the East Asia and Oceania Round; 15 teams participated in the African Round; 11 teams competed in the All-American Round; and 21 teams took part in two European Regional Rounds.
From these 73 teams, 24 qualified for the Final Oral Round, representing universities from 14 WTO members: Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, France, India, Kenya, Moldova, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Ukraine, and the United States.
In her opening remarks at this year's event on June 18th, DDG Ellard emphasized the importance of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition to capacity building by training students in international trade law as well as legal writing and oral advocacy skills.
"The Jackson Moot is a powerful instrument in training a new generation of trade lawyers and in disseminating the importance of having secure and predictable rules-based trade. That is why the WTO has been a technical supporter of the competition since its inception more than 20 years ago," DDG Ellard said. She noted that former participants of the competition are working at various esteemed institutions including the WTO Secretariat.
DDG Ellard congratulated Dr. Gracia Marín Durán and Ms. Iryna Polovets for developing this year's moot court case on climate change challenges within WTO obligations. "The case you all have been working on deals with one of the major challenges of present day not only for multilateral trading systems but for very future of planet," she stated.
She highlighted ongoing work at WTO related to environmental issues such as fisheries subsidies and sustainable supply chains. "These efforts underscore vision that trade plays crucial role addressing pressing environmental climate challenges," she added.
Ellard also expressed gratitude to sponsors and WTO staff who contributed to organizing event while wishing participating teams success during their competitions before panels comprising WTO law experts throughout week culminating grand final livestreamed Saturday June 22nd.