The 22nd John H. Jackson moot court competition

March 4^th – 7^th 2024 saw the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) successfully host the West and South Asia Regional Rounds of the 22^nd edition of the esteemed John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition for the second consecutive year. It was the unwavering support of the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) and its esteemed members and representatives, notably Mr. Machiej Łodziński, that NUJS was able to successfully discharge its duties in organizing the event.

Twenty teams representing their respective nations, and hailing from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan – converged on the campus of the University to display their legal skills and prowess over the course of three intense days.

Following an engaging opening ceremony and city tour, the preliminary rounds of the competition commenced on the second day and continued through to the third day, during which each team presented their arguments with the aim of advancing to the emerging semi-finals.

Each team ensured to put forward their best legal front as they vied for a chance to advance through the progressive stages of the competition. The exceptional brilliance and the undefeatable legal acumen of the various teams participating was testamentary to the fact that the judges faced difficulty as they made the choices of the teams going forward.

From the twenty teams facing each other in the prelims, following rigorous rounds of questioning from the esteemed panel of judges, two teams, namely NLSIU, Bangalore and NUJS, Kolkata emerged victorious and progressed to the finals. The teams engaged in a closely contested battle, vying for the ultimate prize, before a prestigious panel of judges, comprising of eminent jurists, academics, and lawyers, adjudicated the tournament, who posed challenging inquiries testing the application of law and facts.

In the organization of the event, we would firstly like to thank ELSA partnered by the World Trade Organisation and our sponsors: M/s. Van Bael & Bellis, M/s. Baker McKenzie, M/s. Sidley Austin, M/s. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, M/s. Lee & Ko, M/s. Fox & Mandal, The World Trade Institute, The European Public Law Organisation, The Centre for Trade and Investment Law, Jus Mundi, SCC Online & LiveLaw. It was because of the immense cooperation and resources provided that the smooth flow of the event was ensured.

We especially thank our Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Chakrabarti, and Mr. Machiej Łodziński (ELSA representative) for keeping alive the relationship and coordination between NUJS and ELSA, and Dr. Paramita DasGupta, our Faculty Advisor, and the mainstay of the NUJS MCS, whose unstinted support and invaluable guidance made it possible to conduct the competition smoothly.

We would additionally like to thank NUJS Admin, IT Support, Campus Maintenance, Housekeeping, members of the NUJS Moot Court Society, the Organizing Committee headed by Mr. Pallav Arora (Convenor, NUJS MCS 2023-‘24) & Ms. Mitali Jain (Co-Convenor, NUJS MCS 2023-’24), and each and every student volunteer for their hard work and efforts in the competition.

We take great pleasure and pride in our second successive collaboration with ELSA for having successfully organised and hosted yet another chapter West and South Asia Regional Rounds of the esteemed John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition, ‘wish the two winning teams the very best of luck for the World Rounds to be held at the WTO Headquarters (Geneva) in June – and look forward to continuing this relationship for many more years to come.