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Göttingen – Cologne – Marburg … - Nuremberg! Nuremberg Moot Court 2017
On Wednesday, July 26, 2017, for the fifth time, a student team from Philipps University set off for Nuremberg to participate in the Nuremberg Moot Court in the historic Hall 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, the original site of the Nuremberg Trials. This international competition, in which Philipps University has successfully participated from the very beginning, brought together over a hundred students from around the world this year, including teams from Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Kenya, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Rwanda, Singapore, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the USA. The competition is organized by the International Academy of Nuremberg Principles, a cooperation partner of the Marburg International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC). The ICWC, together with the criminal law professorship of Professor Stefanie Bock, who is also the director of the center, organizes and supervises the Moot Court participation for Marburg students as a practical, specialized course.
In Nuremberg, students take on the roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys in simulated court proceedings for a fictional case at the International Criminal Court. They first prepare scholarly briefs and ultimately deliver oral pleadings before “judges,” all of whom are experts from the practice or academia of international criminal law. This year, the presiding judge in Nuremberg was Professor Bertram Schmitt, who also serves as a judge at the International Criminal Court in real life. The weeks of intensive research, writing, and practice by the students are thus rewarded in Nuremberg with international connections and direct contact with practitioners active worldwide. The Nuremberg Moot Court offers an ideal opportunity for aspiring lawyers to immerse themselves in the practice of international criminal law and to prove themselves in an international competition. It fosters and demands skills that are central to professional life, yet often receive less attention during academic studies.
This year, four Marburg students took on this great challenge: Destiny Faye Ibarra, Henrik Freiherr von Richthofen, Jonatan Gebhardt, and Robert Boldt. The interdisciplinary team (Law and Peace & Conflict Studies) was able to build on Marburg’s previous successes despite strong international competition: as the best of 37 teams, the Marburg students once again won the award for the best prosecution brief. Marburg had previously won this award in 2013 and 2014, but the competition has since grown significantly in size and international scope. Additionally, after two rounds against the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan) and the University of Limerick (Ireland), the team advanced to the round of sixteen in the oral pleadings. There, they were narrowly defeated by a team from the University of Lagos (Nigeria).
The Marburg team was prepared and accompanied by Professor Stefanie Bock as well as coaches Janick Haas, Jana Hermann, Paco Pawolleck, and Leonard Wolckenhaar. Valuable support was also provided by Professor Thomas Weigend (University of Cologne) and Dr. Alexander Heinze, LL.M. (Georg-August University Göttingen), who took the time to conduct exercises and critically discuss the Marburg students’ ideas during visits in Cologne and Göttingen. Financially, the project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Marburg Juristische Gesellschaft. Warm thanks go to all of them!
On the sidelines, the team also made it to television: here you can find an interview conducted by Bayerischer Rundfunk with the Marburg students in the criminal courtroom 600.