On October 14-16, 2005, Santa Clara University School of Law was represented in the inaugural Pace University International Criminal Moot Court Competition. The Santa Clara team consisted of three veteran international moot court competitors: Tom Howe and Allison Surowitz represented Santa Clara last year in the Phillip C. Jessup International Moot Court competition and Eric Ortner participated in the French competition of the Concours Jean Pictet in France. The Pace competition simulated a trial before the newly established International Criminal Court, located in The Hague. Because the competition is the first of its kind, it provided the participants with a unique opportunity to address some of the most novel and contentious issues in contemporary international criminal law. “The International Criminal Court was established only three years ago and has yet to try its first case,” said Eric Ortner. “We were therefore arguing issues that the Court will necessarily address in its first trials before they’ve even been presented by the advocates themselves.” Issues addressed by the competition were the elements of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the impact of so-called Article 98 agreements between nation states on the ICC’s jurisdiction, the role of the Victim’s Advocate in ICC prosecutions, and the relationship between the ICC and the Security Council and ability of the latter to award immunity to peacekeepers.
Santa Clara’s team excelled in the competition as one of only three teams to reach the competition’s final round. The team members also distinguished themselves individually. Eric Ortner was recognized as the best oral advocate in one of the competition’s preliminary rounds. Tom Howe was awarded honorable mention as an oral advocate in the overall competition. Allison Surowitz earned the award for the best brief for the Victim’s Advocate; as a result, her brief will be published in the Pace International Law Review. In addition, Allison so impressed the other schools and the tournament administration that she was appointed to be the first president of the Pace ICC Moot Court Competition Alumni Association. “The team’s performance is a testament to strength of Santa Clara University School of Law’s programs in both international law and advocacy,” noted Professor Beth Van Schaack, the team’s coach for the competition. Professor Van Schaack has inaugurated an International Law Practicum course to prepare students for participating in the various international law competitions. This year, in addition to the Pace ICC competition, Santa Clara will sponsor teams for the Jessup Competition, the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, and the International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot Competition, held in Asia.
The Pace ICC competition was judged by some of the most esteemed scholars in the area of international law, including Prof. David Scheffer, former Ambassador for War Crimes under the Clinton Administration and the chief U.S. negotiator in the drafting of the Rome Statute for the ICC; Benjamin Ferencz, the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials; Trevor Chimimba, a legal officer in the Codification Division of the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs and the chief negotiator in the drafting of the Rome Statute for the nation of Malawi; and Prof. Roy Lee, who authored the definitive drafting history of the Rome Statute and served as Executive Secretary of the 1998 Rome Conference.
