Uganda Christian University (UCU) has scooped the second place among the African universities that participated in the just concluded 2018 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington, U.S.
The annual competition tests law students’ comprehension of principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law among universities globally.
UCU finished as second best African university after South Africa’s University of Pretoria in the law moot contest, according to the final team rankings.
University of Pretoria won all its four rounds to become the 5th best in the global ranking while UCU won three out of the four rounds to become 47th out of the 121 global universities that participated.
The UCU team comprised of five students; Ian K. Mwine, Isaac Mpirwe, Joan S. Mukisa, Consolate I. Namuyomba and Yasmin Ahed.
The top ranked team was Colombia Law School from the United States which won all its four rounds and earned 3,209 points. In second place was Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München from Germany followed by University of Toronto (Canada), and the Law Society of Ireland (Ireland).
The top 18 universities won all the four rounds but differed on the actual scores. Twenty nine (29) other universities including UCU won three out of the four rounds but had different scores. Thirty (30) other universities won two out of the four rounds, 23 universities won one out of the four rounds while 21 universities did not win any round.
UCU was the only university that represented Uganda in the Washington competition after winning the national competitions hosted by Makerere University Law School earlier this year.
Commenting on UCU’s performance, Dr Anthony Kakooza, the Dean UCU Faculty of Law said; “This has been one of our best performances in the prestigious Jessup Moot Court competitions over the last few years”.
The Jessup Moot Court Competition is sponsored by the U.S based leading law firm of White & Case. It is held each spring season in Washington D.C as a culmination of national rounds of the same competition held all over the globe.
This is not the first time UCU has participated in the prestigious global event, having previously participated in about five other International rounds in Washington D.C, including last year’s competition in which it was knocked out in the first round.