DLSU Tañada-Diokno College of Law finishes 12th worldwide in Nuremberg Moot Court 2022

A team of law students from De La Salle University (DLSU) Tañada-Diokno College of Law (TDCOL) reached the octofinals, and debuts with a 12th spot finish in the recently concluded oral rounds of the Nuremberg Moot Court 2022. The competition proper was held online on 1-15 July 2022, where 45 teams from different schools all over the world argued a hypothetical case before a simulated International Criminal Court.

This year, the case involved the crime of genocide and the principle of legality. The team was composed of oralists Laine Marie J. Bringuelo (ID 119), Shane Andrew T. Magnaye (ID 120), Yurika D. Pesigan (ID 119), and Danielle H. Viovicente (ID 119). They were coached by DLSU TDCOL faculty, Atty. Ryan Hartzell C. Balisacan, and student coach Edmund Baron A. Calo (ID 119). Jena Therese R. Tiongson (ID 120) and Mart Noriel Melendres (ID 121) assisted in the research work. The student members are all part of the DLSU Law Moot and Debate Society (LaMDeS). Established in 2012, LaMDeS is one of the pioneer student organizations in the law school.

Initially, 105 competing schools qualified to proceed to the Written Memorandum phase of the competition, which ran from February to March 2022. The deliberation process for the written phase ended in May, wherein 50 teams were selected to advance to the Oral Rounds based on their memoranda scores and equitable geographic representation. The judges for the oral phase of the competition consisted of high-profile international and national judges, prosecutors, academics, and civil society actors.

The team won their preliminary matches during the oral rounds, with Ms. Bringuelo and Ms. Viovicente arguing for the Prosecution while Mr. Magnaye and Ms. Pesigan represented the Defense. The judges praised them mainly for their manner of presentation, organization, and substance. Their performance in the preliminaries landed them a spot in the Top 16 teams out of 45 schools. In this round, they faced Monash University of Australia, where they were assigned to argue for the Defense. The match was live-streamed on the official Youtube channel of the Nuremberg Moot; where the team ended its stint with a 12th rank finish, and Mr. Magnaye was recognized as the match’s Best Speaker.

Organized by the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the International Criminal Law Research Unit at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Nuremberg Moot Court is an international competition in the field of international criminal law. The objective of the competition is to promote the Nuremberg Principles of holding individuals accountable for the most serious international crimes through a fair trial. It allows law students to plead before the historic Courtroom 600 — the birthplace of international criminal law and the site of Nuremberg Trials against the major Nazi war criminals. This year was the first time that LAMDES fielded a team for the said competition to represent the DLSU-TDCOL.

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