Jessup 2012: The Case Concerning the Mai-Tocao Temple
by Joe Terrenzio Jessup Competition Coordinator T
he 2012 Jessup Competition was one of the most successful in the competition’s 53 year history. The Case Concerning the Mai-Tocao Temple presented four difficult
issues and teams rose to meet the challenge. The 2012 Jessup will likely be remembered for the developments which affected the jurisdictional immunities issue. After memorial submission and during national rounds, the International Court of Justice rendered its decision in Jurisdictional Im- munities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening). ILSA had anticipated this would hap- pen, and we were very glad to see how success- fully teams incorporated the decision and adjusted their arguments to accommodate the Court’s rul- ings. This is just one of many examples of how the Jessup Competition prepares participants to be excellent advocates in their future careers. De- spite the added stress, I thought it was fun, and I hope you did too.
In a year when many teams were hampered with financial constraints, 605 teams from 87 countries registered for the competition. After three months of hard fought and well-argued national rounds, 137 teams from 76 countries were represented at the White & Case International Rounds, mak- ing 2012 the largest International Rounds ever. To accommodate the ever-expanding competition, ILSA lunched a new website to streamline the registration, memorial submission, and judging processes. ILSA also implemented new technolo- gies and made rules modifications to bring the competition’s logistics into the 21st century, and attempted to reduce waste and confusion. Most of these changes were very well received. ILSA
will continue to make further developments to im- prove our online systems to make the competition run more smoothly and to facilitate further expan- sion in the years to come.
A Number of Firsts
Besides its record-breaking size, the 2012 Com- petition was marked by a number of other firsts. Participating for the first time in 2012 were Fourah Bay College from Sierra Leone, the University of the Gambia from the Gambia, Université de Lux- embourg from Luxembourg, and the University of the West Indies at the College of The Bahamas from the Bahamas. I hope the students enjoyed the competition and will return again next year. Besides new teams, new National Rounds were held in Switzerland, Kuwait, and Tanzania. Thank you to those who worked on site to build new national competitions from the ground up. I hope that these competitions continue to develop in the years to come for the benefit of the entire Jessup community.
In addition to our new teams and national com- petitions, 2012 marked expansion of ILSA’s volun- teer judging pool. Over 900 judges volunteered to grade memorials and judge oral rounds at the Na- tional and International levels. This year ILSA was pleased have two additional countries represented in its pool of judges, with Shamshad Pasarlay from Afghanistan and Bishwa Mainali from Nepal joining our ranks. Mr. Pasarlay is our first volunteer judge from Afghanistan at the International Rounds, hav- ing been a competitor in 2011. Mr. Mainali is our first volunteer judge from Nepal, where he is a Se- nior Advocate at the Supreme Court of Nepal and
ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 4 » May 2012
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