The University of Guyana Law School was the first runner-up at the 11th Annual CCJ Inter-national Law Moot, also capturing the award for Best Academic Institution at the end of the event on Friday.
The Hugh Wooding Law School emerged winner of the competition, besting eight other schools to capture the Challenge Shield.
The CCJ noted that each year, the Moot aims to give students “a grounding in the Court’s Original Jurisdiction, where the CCJ is the guardian of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas”. Furthermore, the event helps the students to develop practical courtroom and advocacy skills.
This year’s competition, held over Thursday, March 21 and Friday, March 22, called on the teams to address a fictional question centring on a dispute in which Suriname was alleging breaches of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, caused by a couple being treated in a manner amounting to discrimination on the grounds of nationality, the release related.
The competition judges were Justice David Hayton, Jacob Wit and Winston Anderson.
The release noted that President of the CCJ, Adrian Saunders, lauded the mooters for the quality of their presentations.
“Over the last two days, these law students have argued their cases with skill and passion before the highest judges of the region. I was only able to listen in to one or two of the presentations but I was very impressed with the standard of advocacy I saw. And what I saw must have been the norm because Mr. Justice Burgess went out of his way to inform me how awed he was,” he stated.
Hayton, in his address, remarked, “Mooting, in general, brings out the best, because you have really got to be exceptionally thorough. It’s not like ordinary supervision or tutorials where you can hang your head or keep quiet. You really have to be there, ready to answer any questions put to you, and particularly in an arena like this, can be terrifying…Listening to the Moots over the years, the mooters have become better and better, more knowledgeable and more sophisticated and I think that has reached its height today.”
Justice Saunders also extended thanks to Hayton, who has chaired all annual moots, this one notably being his last. Hayton will be succeeded by Justice Andrew Burgess.
“I cannot conclude my remarks without extending to the Honourable Mr. Justice David Hayton, my appreciation for the enlightened leadership that he has brought to the organisation of this Annual International Law Moot hosted by the CCJ. He has been associated with the Moot from its inception and, as he retires later this year, the Court expresses its deepest thanks for his unstinting service,” Saunders said.
The release stated that the Moot featured presentations from: the Hugh Wooding Law School (Trinidad & Tobago), Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica), Faculty of Law of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname; Faculty of Law of the University of The Bahamas; Faculty of Law of the University of Guyana, Faculty of Law of the University of Technology, (Jamaica), Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies – Cave Hill, Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies – Mona and the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies – St Augustine.
