THE University of San Carlos (USC) School of Law and Governance dominated the 2018 Price Media Law Moot Court Competition at Oxford University in the United Kingdom last month.
It was only the second time for USC Law to join the competition, a highly reputed moot court event in the international legal community that was established in 2008 to foster an interest in international law governing freedom of expression issues.
Law junior Stephanie Marie Abigail Olea and seniors Mark Lawrence Badayos and Tess Marie Tan prevailed over the defending champion Singapore Management University in the championship round in the series that ran from April 9 to 13.
Badayos and Tan emerged as the best oralists, with Olea placing second and Badayos fourth during the preliminary rounds, according to USC Law dean Joan Largo.
Olea and Tan were part of the USC team that first participated in the UK competition last year that went up against the host team in the semi-finals but yielded by a very narrow margin to finish third overall and Olea as eighth best oralist.
In collaboration with the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, this year’s moot problem concerned current issues facing the freedom of expression, particularly non-consensual pornography, fake news, and the regulation of social media.
A member of the 2017 team, Rashid Pandi, coached the champion 2018 team, whose feat made the USC Law Mooting Team back-to-back Asia Pacific Champion and the only Philippine representative in the international rounds.
Close to 400 teams from all over the world and just a tenth in the international rounds competed in the moot court named in honor of Prof. Monroe E.
Price, founder of the Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the University of Oxford.
Five judges composed the Finals Bench. They included sitting judges of the European Court of Human Rights, Ineta Ziemele and Paulo Pinto de Albuqurque, and International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Judge Kriangsak Kittichaisaree.
Ghana appellate court Justice Mabel Agyemang and Sir Nicholas Blake, a retired judge of the English High Court, completed the jury.
Making waves
The USC School of Law and Governance has been making waves in the international law community with its various achievements.
In 2015, it earned the distinction of being the “Best New Team” in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court competition held in Washington D.C., USA.
USC Law also emerged as the only school from East Asia that made it to the Octo (quarter) Finals of the Jessup Competition, considered as the “World Cup of Mooting.”
In 2016, USC Law also became champion in the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition in Florida, USA, winning also the Best Memorial, Best Speaker and over-all Best Speaker awards.
It was a historic win for the Philippines and Southeast Asia as it was the first time that a Southeast Asian country won the championship in 20 years of the competition.
USC Law continues to earn the respect of law schools in the country after three graduates entered the top 10 in the 2017 Bar Examinations—Christianne Mae C. Balili, second; Ivanne D’laureil I. Hisoler, fourth; and Rheland S. Servacio, seventh.
USC Law also had four graduates in the top 10 of the 2016 examinations led by Karen Mae Calam who topped the Bar. (Contributed article)