Former HHS student among finalists chosen to represent North America at international competition in Geneva, Switzerland

Former HHS student Laura Rea advanced through the quarterfinals in the 14th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court competition, representing her team from St. Thomas University. 

Competing against the top fifty undergraduate teams from around the world Rea, and fellow student Graci Young, were among the sixteen qualifying teams to present in-person arguments in the international competition in Geneva, Switzerland on July 20, 2022.

The Oxford University team overtook Laura’s team who were representing Canada and North America in the quarterfinal.

The prestigious event is the largest gathering of students, academics, and judges around the theme of human rights in the world, states the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.  

This year the competition was partially held online and partially in person.

“What is exciting and unique is that this is a competition for law school students. Our moot students at St. Thomas University are not law students. They are still completing their undergraduate degrees, but we have special permission to compete in law school moots and do so each year,” noted Dr. Amanda DiPaolo a professor in the Human Rights department at St. Thomas University. She is also program director of the Moot Court Program. You can find more information here.

“The Moot Court program was a main reason I chose to attend St. Thomas University for my undergrad,” noted Rea via email correspondence with Huntsville Doppler. “It’s a really amazing program and has been a highlight of the past four years. I started mooting in my second year of university and this past year I was one of the captains of our team. This year, STU expanded its involvement in international competitions including the Stetson Environment Moot, the Manfred Lachs Space Moot, the Price Media Law Moot and the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot. My co-counsel (Graci Young) and I are both Human Rights majors and this competition really aligned with our interests, so we were lucky enough that our couch let us choose this one to compete in! “

Rea outlined de selection and competition process as follows. “In the preliminary rounds, each team participates in four rounds, alternating which side is argued. Partners have 30 minutes to split between them during which they deliver oral arguments, respond to the opposing team and answer questions from the judges. To prepare for that, we refined the arguments we had in our memorials and then did practice rounds with each other, and volunteers that acted as our judges.”

“The preliminary rounds host teams from every continent and following its conclusion, 16 teams are selected to attend the in-person rounds at the United Nations in Geneva. After a long 12-day wait as scores were calculated, my co-counsel and I were super excited to find out we were the only team from North America advancing to the in-person rounds! “ stated Rea. “Once there, every team competes in two rounds from which they select the top eight, then top four, and then the final two teams. In this competition, teams usually only compete once a day. That’s different from previous competitions I have done where you compete multiple times a day over a shorter period. It was definitely a learning curve to stay focused and not get exhausted throughout the accumulating days. I’m lucky that my co-counsel is one of my good friends with very similar work habits. For the most part, we were able to balance practicing and research with giving ourselves time to step away from the competition and just enjoy the whole experience. Personally, I always find it useful to take breaks outside when I needed to take a break or change my perspective,” she added.

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