comes out in September though.
what Jessup calls the problem.
a very complex compromis, but
broadly speaking, can you tell us
what this year's problem about?
surrounding climate change. The
problem involved a hypothetical island
country called Alfurna sinking under
rising seas, so it touched on issues
like statehood and climate change
refugees...
that term?
controversial term, but that's what I'm
going to call them. Alfurna sympathiser
all the way.
topical.
climate change issue. A big issue was
statehood which is particularly relevant
right now with Palestine only just
getting non-member observer status.
There were also sovereign debt issues
we worked on which is obviously an
issue prevalent right now with various
European countries like Greece.
outset, what is the goal that you
guys are working towards?
mid-January. We had to prepare 9500
word submissions for both sides.
summary of the facts, statement of
jurisdiction and all the peripheral stuff
like a table of contents that goes into a
submission. Emma was our Microsoft
word wizard so she handled that.
like? If Emma had the technical
expertise, what did everyone else
bring to the team?
explaining to do.
passage' argument that I had been
working on for hours on end. But
then after a particular practice moot
we realised that the argument was
completely irrelevant so I had to make
the most painful decision to trash the
submission. It resulted in a three day
period in which I had no more than 4
hours of sleep a day. It culminated in
me deleting one of our submissions.
I wasn't everyone's favourite team
member at that stage. I think they told
me to go home.
teams' low point over the summer?
would have to be Pedra Branca.
was trying to incorporate this
ludicrous argument.
Rocks and South Ledge in the ICJ in
2008. It was quite simple really. Let
me assure the readers though that
you have not lived until you have had
a screaming match with Margaret
Kelly in the Moot Court at 1 o'clock in
the morning.
Ben says to me, "Emma, you look tired.
I think you should go home and come
back at 6am." It was 2am at the time.
guys had the opportunity of being
coached by former Jessuper Ben
Roe. What did Ben do for you guys?
above and beyond. He was there
with us at 3am when we were printing
submissions.
moots with past Jessupers, Macquarie
academics and other professionals.
reoccurring theme is that Jessup is
a lot of work. Let's be clear, just how
much of a commitment was it?
plus stretches at uni. Yes there were
in trouble for sleeping in the staffroom?
job done.
before. I thought Jessup would be
similar, just over summer Come to uni
for a little bit each day. Then go to the
beach or something.
was when Andrew got burnt through
the window.
least. But at the same time I think I'd
have trouble trying to think up a task
that could me more rewarding for a
law student.
whether six floors was high enough.
Our office was on the sixth floor.
enjoyable and enormously beneficial.
So long as your written submissions
are handed in, you have somewhat
escaped hell. At that point, we were
going into the city, going to law firms
and practicing with legal professionals.
The wealth of feedback that we
received was amazing. I'm definitely
writing better now as well.
concise by the end.
moots. You guys only started
practicing oral submissions after
your written memorials were
submitted, meaning you had almost
three weeks to dedicate to orals?
How did things change at that point?
submissions, we probably had 40
practice moots, 2 a day. You would
do the first moot, then you spend the
time in between tweaking arguments,
and before you know it you're mooting
again. And then you spend your night
tweaking your arguments again.
being forced to do moots without notes.