A Review of the 2023/24 International Moots Season
This is the 10th annual review1A list of previous reports can be found in “A review of the 2022/23 international moots season”, Law Gazette, October 2023. of Singapore’s performance in international moot court competitions.2Mediation or negotiation competitions are excluded from this recap, though our schools continue to excel in such competitions. In 2023 for instance, Singapore teams won the CDRC Vienna and HSF-Delhi competitions; this streak continued in 2024 with wins in competitions such as A&O Negotiation and the INC. In the highest-tier or Grand Slam competitions,3Grand Slams are class-leading competitions that attract a substantial number of teams and are perceived to have a particular prestige not just due to scale and number of teams participating but also the quality of the organisation, participants, judging, and surrounding events. They currently comprise the Jessup, Vis, Vis East, Price, International Criminal Court, Lachs, and Frankfurt moots: see The International Moot Court Compendium: https://www.internationalmoots.org. SMU won the International Criminal Court world championship for the 5th time (increasing its lead as the tournament record holder for the most world championships), won the Lachs Space Moot world championship in Milan after winning the regional title in Tokyo, and reached the Price world championship final in Oxford for a record 7th time. Other notable results include SMU winning the Refugee and Migration Moot in its debut, winning the Fletcher Insolvency Moot for a record 3rd time, reaching the world championship finals of the Stetson Environmental Moot in Florida and Mandela Human Rights Moot in Geneva. In total, SMU reached 10 world championship finals in 2024, winning five. With such records, the odds of SMU reclaiming top spot worldwide in the nica.team rankings for 2024 thus appear favourable. In regional competitions, NUS won their 7th Asia Cup – extending their tournament record – while SMU won the Perera Arbitration Moot for a record 2nd time. The 2023/24 season also presented an opportunity for cooperation – the three Singapore law schools joined forces to send a team to the inaugural ASEAN Moot, which Singapore won. Perhaps the prospect of sending more joint teams while students do their bar exams, which is an established practice in some jurisdictions for competitions that permit this, should be seriously considered.
| Table #1: Results of all notable international moot competitions in 2023/24 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Moot edition | Venue | No of teams | Singapore results/rank |
| 16th Foreign Direct Investment Arbitration | Lucknow | ~ 60 | SMU: Saint Petersburg Pre-moot champions; Memoirs Pre-moot 2nd-runner-up NUS: NA |
| 18th LAWASIA Arbitration | Bengaluru | ~ 20 | SMU: 1st-runner-up NUS: NA |
| 16th Price Media Law | Oxford | ~ 100 | SMU: 1st-runner-up (international), Champions (Asia Pacific) NUS: NA |
| 28th Stetson International Environmental Law | Gulfport | ~ 70 | SMU: 1st-runner-up (international), 1st-runner-up (SEA) NUS: QF (international), Champions (SEA) |
| 8th Fletcher International Insolvency | Online | ~ 40 | SMU: Champions NUS: QF |
| 22nd Jackson WTO | Geneva | ~ 80 | SMU: 2nd-runner-up (East Asia) NUS: NA |
| 22nd Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot | Hong Kong | ~ 60 | SMU: QF NUS: NA |
| 21st Vis East Arbitration | Hong Kong | ~ 150 | SMU: QF Pre-Moots: 1st-runner-up (PCA, Shanghai) NUS: Prelim Pre-Moot: 1st (Shanghai) |
| 22nd Oxford Intellectual Property | Oxford | ~ 30 | SMU: Prelim NUS: Prelim |
| 3rd Migration and Refugee | Antwerp | ~ 20 | SMU: Champions NUS: NA |
| 31st Vis Arbitration | Vienna | ~ 350 | SMU: R64 NUS: Prelim |
| 65th Jessup International Law | Washington DC | ~ 700 | SMU: QF NUS: R32 |
| 10th Private Law | Sydney | ~ 20 | SMU: QF NUS: QF |
| 16th International Criminal Court | Hague | ~ 120 | SMU: Champions NUS: QF |
| 33rd Lachs Space Law | Milan | ~ 100 | SMU: Champions (international), Champions (Asia) NUS: DNQ |
| 3rd Sports Arbitration Moot | Madrid | ~ 70 | SMU: 2nd Best A NUS: NA |
| 16th Frankfurt Investment Arbitration | Frankfurt | ~ 60 | SMU: QF NUS: QF |
| 24th International Maritime Law Arbitration | Swansea | ~ 20 | SMU: QF NUS: QF |
| 16th Mandela Human Rights | Geneva | ~ 100 | SMU: 2nd NUS: QF |
| 10th Nuremberg | Nuremberg | ~ 60 | SMU: DNQ NUS: DNQ |
| 25th Asia Cup | Tokyo | ~ 20 | SMU: DNQ NUS: Champions |
| 7th Perera | Colombo (online) | ~ 25 | SMU: Champions NUS: Prelim |
| 2nd Unjust Enrichment | Queensland | ~ 10 | SMU: 1st-runner-up NUS: prelims |
SMU won the International Criminal Court Moot – the world’s largest and most prestigious moot in its class – for a record 5th time. Pictured with the team is the presiding judge for the world championship round held at The Hague, Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor.
SMU reached the world championship final of the Price Moot in Oxford for a record 7th time. SMU had also won the Asian regional qualifier for a record 4th time.
SMU won the world championship in the 33rd Lachs Space Moot in Milan; the final was judged by three judges of the International Court of Justice. After the Jessup, the Lachs Moot is the most represented on the Supreme Court bench in terms of moot alumni.
Endnotes
| ↑1 | A list of previous reports can be found in “A review of the 2022/23 international moots season”, Law Gazette, October 2023. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Mediation or negotiation competitions are excluded from this recap, though our schools continue to excel in such competitions. In 2023 for instance, Singapore teams won the CDRC Vienna and HSF-Delhi competitions; this streak continued in 2024 with wins in competitions such as A&O Negotiation and the INC. |
| ↑3 | Grand Slams are class-leading competitions that attract a substantial number of teams and are perceived to have a particular prestige not just due to scale and number of teams participating but also the quality of the organisation, participants, judging, and surrounding events. They currently comprise the Jessup, Vis, Vis East, Price, International Criminal Court, Lachs, and Frankfurt moots: see The International Moot Court Compendium: https://www.internationalmoots.org. |
