Universitas Pelita Harapan: Jessup 2009...

It has been a few years, so it was nice to see some of these pictures pop up on Facebook.

My time coaching the Universitas Pelita Harapan (Pelita Harapan University / UPH) law mooting teams was a real pleasure for me. I am yet to meet such a dedicated bunch before or since. The core of this team was committed to learning and achieving. Ultimately, the year following this one, they did achieve their goal of winning the Indonesian National Round of the Jessup International Law Moot competition.

Many of them have now gone onto careers in the law, joined the diplomatic corps, or have opted for further study. I am proud of each and every one of them. I hope that over the years I will remain in touch with all of them. I am certain that they will all continue to achieve and excel in their chosen fields (so, keeping in touch might get me a sympathy job at some point in the future, right?).

These are photos from 2009. The second one is standing around in the cold Washington DC air. And, the first one is a "last supper" that we shared when we arrived back in Jakarta and before I left to come back to Australia. The bag contained an awesome little scrapbook of memories and kind words (which sits on my desk, and to which I look regularly). It also contained an iPod which I continue to use and enjoy!

I really enjoyed the opportunity. I hope they learned something useful about the law and about life. In a lot of ways I consider them to be family, especially seeing they all turned up to check out Will when he was born. And, we spent a lot, a lot, of time together working on research and memorials and oral advocacy over teh two years we dedicated to the UPH mooting cause.

Thanks to all of you!

UPH -- National Champions -- Jessup International Law Moot...

My congratulations go out to the Universitas Pelita Harapan Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition Team who recently won the National Round of the Jessup.

This is the culmination of a lot of hard work over a lit of years. I am proud of their achievement. It seems I should of hung around for another year in Indonesia, and then I could have claimed some responsibility for their convincing win. I would have been their coach and had another trip to Washington DC.

But, on a serious note. Congratulations!

Your success is well deserved. Hopefully, that success is not over and you can improve on last year's performance at the international rounds. The competition gets fiercer every year. So, preparation is always key, you never really can do too much preparation. Yet, do not forget to enjoy the moment, as these moments do not come along all that often.

So, to the team...congratulations and good luck!

You know where to find me if you need anything.

Revisiting the 2009 Jessup Competition...

The 2009 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition was a lot of fun. The competition also highlights the incredible advocacy talents that are out there in the world. The future of international law looks very sound to me.

The Final Round was between the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia vs. University College London, United Kingdom. The case was, The Case Concerning "Operation Provide Shelter". The competition is run by the International Law Students Association. The competition continues to grow every year and this means that the competition gets tougher every year.

I am proud of the students that I worked with (coached) in this competition.

Here is a short clip of the Final Round.

Campus Asia Magazine Recognizes UPH's Jessup Mooters

I have previously bagged the Campus Asia magazine, which is part of the Globe Asia stable, and will probably bag it again. However, this time I am writing to congratulate them for recognizing the Universitas Pelita Harapan Philip C. Jessup International Law Mooting Competition Team (cover photo sans their coach!).

The UPH team (James, Pricilla, Johan, and Nenda) achieved an excellent result in the competition. They placed 13th out of more than 500 teams who competed.

They worked very hard and deserve all the recognition that they get. On a personal note, as their coach it seems that I deserved some recognition as well. I must say that I do not do it for the recognition. In fact, I do it to shape the future. I know that I have played an integral part in shaping the next generation of Indonesian advocates. And, it is always pleasing to see the students far exceed the master.

Having judged and coached mooters from all over Indonesia over the last eight years, I am confident in saying that the future of Indonesian law is bright. I know that some of my colleagues do not share my confidence, but let me assure you that I am right!

The beauty of being an educator is that we get to shape the next generation. Educators may very well be under-appreciated and under-respected in terms of salary and other things, but it is we who will have the last laugh.

To my team, and once again, congratulations! You deserve the rewards that you have reaped to date and will continue to reap as former mooters (and for some of you current mooters). And, I am enjoying the iPod...thanks!

A Small and Unexpected Surprise...

This post follows on from the earlier posts on the Jessup Competition. I have enjoyed, thoroughly, the past two years working with and coaching the UPH Jessup Moot Team (in the photo: Johan, James, Pricilla, Yours Truly, and Nenda). It is always nice to see a group of dedicated and committed students willing to go the whole ten yards and sacrifice a little bit along the way to achieve their goals.

A long story short, they invited me out to dinner last night. I am thinking this is just a chance to say our goodbyes as they are moving on to new and different things in their university careers and me and mine are pulling up stumps and heading back to Australia. This was very much how the evening was going. However, when we were about to call it a night, they surprised me with a cool little book that had photos of our journey over the last two years and a personal note from each of them.

This was a very nice gesture and much appreciated. However,there was more to come. They also gave me an iPod touch. Now, this was not just a nice gesture but also very cool. I am so technologically challenged that it is going to take me some time to work it all out. Yet, it will be fun in doing so. It also happens to be the first Mac thing that I have ever owned.

Now it is off to iTunes and download the necessary software to get started on this journey.

The Jessup Follow-Up

This is just a short post to note the success of the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) effort at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition.

The Team ended up being ranked 13th out of 120 teams. This is an impressive effort and highlights once again that Indonesian students can compete and succeed against the best in the world. The picture shows the team at the "Go National Ball" with team members from the University of Hawaii.

Congratulations!

Business Class

Just a short note.

I am now back in Jakarta and will probably endeavour to write a few more frequent posts.

However, I did want to note that anyone thinking of flying where they conceivably could take a Qatar Airways flight, then I would highly recommend them. As I posted previously, the International Airport at Doha leaves a little room for improvement, but the flights and service were excellent.

I was surprised to be upgraded on the flight from Doha to Jakarta from cattle class (aka economy) to business class. The seat converts into a bed and after the almost 13-hour flight from Washington DC to Doha it was nice to be able to stretch out and sleep.

Anyways, back to work.

Jessup 2009

The UPH team has performed admirably and reached the final rounds of the Jessup competition. Unfortunately, we were defeated by a team from Colombia.

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition is the most prestigious of all law moot competitions and it is therefore quite an achievement to reach the final rounds. It would have been nice to have gone a little further still. However, I am proud of the team's achievement as no one expected them to do this well.

They will be better for the experience and will one day be exceptional lawyers and advocates.

An Update on the Big Trip to the US of A...

Dear Readers...

I arrived in the good ol' US of A a little later than I expected, but alive, however I am not one to complain when that is the case.

The big competition starts on Monday. There is an orientation on Sunday.

We are staying courtesy of the Indonesian Embassy in Bethesda, Maryland, which sounds a lot further than it really is from DC and the venue at the Fairmont Hotel. It is a mere bus, metro, and walk.

The team is still suffering a little jet lag and have already crashed out for the evening. So, I am taking this quiet time to catch up on some work and blogging.

More specific detailed posts on the big adventure to follow.

Off To The Good Ol' US of A...

I am heading off to the US later tonight for about 12 days. I might try and post while I am away or I might not.

I am heading there with the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot team from Pelita Harapan University. The Jessup is the most prestigious of the international law moot competitions and this also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the competition.

I am looking forward to being in Washington DC and attending the competition. I am not so happy about having to spend time away from the two most important people in my life, the Missus and Will. Work is work, I suppose.

Time to pack some stuff (the stuff being clothes) for the journey ahead.

The Future of Indonesian Law

The future of Indonesian law despite all the doom and gloom that many commentators talk about, is clearly not as doomy or gloomy as made out. Quite simply, the next generation of Indonesian lawyers and advocates are going to be highly-skilled, experienced in international forums (courts and tribunals), and able to hold their own against the best in the world. In fact, these Indonesian lawyers and advocates may just be the best in the world in their respective fields.

In some exciting news that I received late last night, the International Humanitarian Law Moot Team from the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia has won the International Law Moot Competition in Hong Kong. Excellent news!

Success in mooting competitions does not come easy. The team has reaped the rewards for the efforts that it has sown. The time sacrificed to participate is immense, but the rewards are equally large.

The competition was in English which in many ways makes the result even more impressive. Most law faculties do not infuse significant amounts of their respective curricula with English language subjects. So, to be successful in a competition of this size requires not only that the students develop and have excellent language skills, it also requires dedication to research, writing a pleading, and then being able to argue the case under intense questioning by judges.

Indonesia is new to the international law mooting game, but there has been increasing levels of success in recent years. This success is not only team-based, but also individual. In the most prestigious of law moots, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition, Indonesia has already achieved extra-ordinary individual success by producing the best oralist in the world.

More success is certain. Yet, it is important to remember that this is a work in progress and has relied heavily on the commitments of a dedicated few, at least initially, who work tirelessly and often behind the scenes.

Success breeds success!

Congratulations to all involved who have made this happen. They have brought credit not only to themselves, but to the whole of Indonesia.

This is a well-deserved result and suggests that the future of Indonesian law is much brighter than many imagine it to be.

University of Indonesia and Jessup 2008

The University of Indonesia (UI) and their participation in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition for 2008 was a revelation in a number of truly positive ways. I have been on the record before saying that I did not think that this was the best team that UI had produced. I had even said I would be surprised if they would do as well as some other UI teams of the past.

The Jessup competition is the most prestigious law moot competition in the world. To do well in the competition takes an incredible amount of drive and determination mixed with a will to win and desire to be the best that you can be in international law and legal practice.

I am glad to say I must not only eat a little humble pie but must gobble down quite a lot of it!

The team won the National Rounds back in February 2008 and thereby earned the right to represent Indonesian in the International Round in April 2008 in Washington DC. The National Rounds were particularly close this year and looking forward this means that future representatives from Indonesia can expect to do well at the international round.

Indonesia was coming off a year, 2007, where it had not done so well in terms of team performance but had managed to claim the best oralist in the world trophy through the efforts of Hanna Azkiya. This year my hopes were even less and fortunately were proved to be unfounded.

The UI team had two oralists in the top 30 of the world this year; Rivana Mezaya at No. 3 and Edwina Utamidewi at No. 31. Both excellent achievements. This was an achievement in and of itself, but even more impressive than this was the fact that UI emerged from the preliminary rounds as the 3rd best team in the world.

Unfortunately, the UI team was knocked out in the Octo-final round by the University of Auckland out of New Zealand. However, this is still an excellent result and something very positive to build on into the future. It is only a matter of time now before UI raises the Cup in victory as the Overall Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition Champions -- maybe 2009 is that year!

The Indonesian National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition 2008

Well, another year and another National Round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot competition has passed, at least for Indonesia. This year's Winner (University of Indonesia) and Runner Up (Parahyangan Catholic University) will be heading to Washington D.C. for the International Rounds of the Competition in the early part of April 2008. Good luck to both teams!

The point of this blog entry is to make a few comments about the competition, particularly the quality of the participants and judges, as well as the future.

The quality of the participants improves each year and the standard of the competition as a consequence gets considerably higher and more competitive. For example to progress to the semi-finals in the early years teams could advance with a record of 3 wins against 1 loss in the 4 preliminary rounds. However, as this year's competition shows securing one of the 4 semi-final slots with a 4 wins against 0 losses record is no guarantee of progressing. There were 7 teams in this year's competition with a record of 4 and 0 in the preliminary rounds. This meant there were quite a lot of disappointed teams not progressing to the semi-finals or final.

The rapid improvement in the quality of the participants is important, particularly when one considers there is a need for highly qualified and competent international law advocates in Indonesia. The future looks much brighter with the knowledge that there are students coming through the ranks that will be able to fill that void and fill it well.

However, another interesting point is that the quality of the judges volunteering their weekends to judge the competition is also improving every year. This is critical in not only the development of the competition but also in the development of the quality of the written and oral submissions or pleadings of the competitors. The questioning in this year's competition required competitors to not only have a basic understanding of international law, but challenged them to prove that they possessed a detailed knowledge of not only the facts of the case but had an exceptional command of the prevailing law and its application.

The future of the National Rounds requires more teams to become involved and this will require not only a good deal of marketing from the competition convenors (who are all volunteers) but the vision of the law faculties or schools themselves in seeing and understanding the value of competition for their students. Simply, moot court competitions are an excellent way to develop real-world legal practice skills.

This year's competition saw 20 law schools competing and 7 or so observers (law schools that come to watch and learn what the competition is about without participating in the actual competition proper). This is a small number, albeit an improvement on the numbers of years past. However, when one considers that there are some 227 law schools / faculties throughout Indonesia, then 20 does not seem like a significant number.

Indonesia is a vast archipelagic nation and the tyranny of distance between the outer-lying provinces and Jakarta where the competition is held is dramatic even in this era of low-cost airlines (of which Indonesia has many -- some of questionable safety)...Hence the future for the Indonesian National Round will also need some vision from the convenors of the competition. Perhaps an East and West Region where the champions of each region progress to the international rounds. In this way teams that want to participate but cannot because of travel costs or distance might be able to travel to a regional centre much closer to them in order to participate.

Anyway, there is a need for serious thought and vision in the development of the National Rounds and the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition in Indonesia going forward.

The signs look good and hopefully the reality will be even better.

Good luck!