LAWS411 - The Phillip C Jessup Moot Seminar

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

LAWS104 Foundations of Law and Legal Research

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

The Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is conducted each year and runs over the summer semester. This unit involves participation by five students who will be selected from those students who have successfully completed the Jessup Moot Seminar unit. Students will prepare detailed and lengthy written submissions in a topical hypothetical case before the International Court of Justice. Written memorials are submitted in mid-January each year. The team will then moot against teams from other Australian Universities. The Australian Regional Rounds are usually held in Canberra in the first week of February. The two finalist teams from the Australian Regional Rounds then travel to Washington DC to compete in the International Rounds against teams from around the world.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Interpret and apply public international law (GA4, GA6);  

LO2 - Analyse established and emerging areas of international law and key issues of public international law arising out of a particular fact scenario; (GA5) 

LO3 - Undertake an advanced level of international law legal research and apply legal writing skills associated with the public international law and the International Court of Justice; (GA8) 

LO4 - Construct and develop written and oral legal argument within the context of public international law and the International Court of Justice (GA4, GA5, GA6, GA7); 

LO5 - Demonstrate proficiency in oral advocacy practical skills associated with international court of justice (GA4, GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9) 

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include: 

1. Standing in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) 
2. Rules and processes of the (ICJ) 
3. Principles of public international law 
4. Nature of legal argumentation in international courts and tribunals 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode:Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, library tasks and presentations or Online lectures and activities.  

Duration:3 hours per week over 12 weeks or equivalent.  Students are expected to spend 150 hours in total for this unit. 

This level four elective unit allows students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law using advanced research and advocacy skills.  

Our strategy is to encourage students to practice advanced research and advocacy skills in the context of preparing for an International Mooting Competition.  

The unit is designed to be delivered in intensive, weekly mode or online mode. We have taken a blended learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising LEO.   

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding of law as applied in the context of an International Mooting Competition.  

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each of the learning outcomes listed.  

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

N/A