The UC School of Law Mooting Team participated in the 6th Intergenerational Moot Court organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-WCEL). Six (6) teams from different law schools around the world (University of La Rochelle, France; Strathmore University in Kenya; Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil; University of Oslo, Norway; University of Cebu, Philippines; and Victoria University, New Zealand) participated in three rounds of oral presentation. This year’s moot is designed around a hypothetical request for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the question:

What are states’ obligations under international law to protect forests under their national jurisdiction, as a response to climate change and for the benefit of present and future generations?

Actual justices sat as members of the mock ICJ panel, including Justice Millicent Odeny of the High Court of Kenya, Associate Justice Michael Wilson of the Hawai’i Supreme Court, Associate Justice Robert Torres of the Supreme Court of Guam, Justice Nicola Pain of the Land and Environmental Court of New South Wales Australia and Justice Michelle Weekes of the High Court of Barbados.

UC Law students Mary Jeanely Bontilao (2L) and Mary Therese Maurin (3L), with coaches Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio and Atty. Kristine Joy Argallon participated in the moot presentation. Unlike typical academic moot courts, the WCEL Moot is not a competition. Rather, it is designed to be a collaborative and collegial presentation of different law students from all over the world where the discussion focuses on compelling environmental law issues, where student presenters can consult with environmental law professionals in the field, whether as coaches/advisors/collaborators. 

UC Law has been an active participant of the moot court from Honolulu, Hawai’i in 2016 and Caen, France in 2018. UC Law also had the opportunity to host the 2nd Intergenerational Moot Court during the 15th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in 2017 in Cebu.