Human Rights Brief
A Legal Resource for the International Human Rights CommunityWinter 1995
WCL Students Preparing for Second Year at European Moot Court Competition
by Angela Collier
For the second consecutive year, the Washington College of Law (WCL) will field a team at the European Human Rights Moot Court Competition, Concours Rene Cassin. The team, composed of J.D. students Rupal Kothari and Opal McFarlane, and LL.M. alumni coaches Claudia Martín and Françoise Roth, will travel to Strasbourg, France, April 18–22. WCL students, Sergio J. Ramirez and Fernando González-Martín, both of whom participated in the event last year, are also helping the team prepare for this year’s competition.
When the competition was first organized in 1984 by the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg International Institute of Human Rights, and the Robert Schuman School of Law, participation was limited to European teams. In 1993, however, the event was opened to non-European teams, and last year, WCL was the first and only U.S. law school to participate. This year, a team from La Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia will also participate.
The Concours is based on a fictitious case in which one state alleges that another has violated the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The teams represent either the applicant or the defending state, and prepare briefs and argue the case before a mock tribunal based upon the case law of the European Court and Commission of Human Rights.
Kothari and McFarlane began preparing for the competition in October 1994. McFarlane explained that she decided to participate because "the competition is very unique, requiring the participants to write and argue in French. Although the fact pattern is fictional, the competition increases international awareness of human rights and their importance." Kothari further explains that "I wanted to broaden my horizons in human rights law. Learning the European system is challenging and enjoyable." Roth, an alumni of Strasbourg Law School, is participating because "I not only know the experience that the competition gives to students, but, most importantly, I realize that it is a good avenue to give a European facet to the human rights curriculum offered by WCL."
Professor Claudio Grossman, Co-Director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and Dean of Graduate Studies at WCL, states that moot court competitions allow "students to take responsibility for their own education." He adds that "the Concours competition is the only human rights competition in the world, which creates tremendous opportunities for our students. As a human rights lawyer, I have seen how students develop and gain experience through this type of program. I am very proud of the students from our school who have overcome many obstacles to participate in this foreign competition. Because this is WCL’s second year competing, we are on the verge of creating a tradition." c
The proper citation for this article in the Human Rights Brief Volume 2, Number 2, beginning at page 15 is: 2 No. 2 Hum. Rts. Brief 15 (1995).
