Welcome to the UCU Moots Blog

UCU Moots

Welcome to the UCU Moots Blog! We appreciate your interest in our program.

The purpose of the UCU Moot Program is to provide UCU law students with the opportunity to compete in oral advocacy programs in Uganda, East Africa and all over the world.

We believe that participating in moot competitions provides students with excellent learning opportunities and chances to enhance skills that will be useful in future careers. We also believe that participation in international moot competitions can provide our students with unique networking, educational, internship and employment opportunities.

There are several key programs that make up the UCU Moot program.

Intra-University Moot Competition

First, UCU plans to conduct an annual Intra-UCU moot competition. This competition will normally takes place January Semester when all law students are in session. (Due to time constraints the 2009 Intra-UCU competition will take place this May with written briefs to be filed during January semester.) The rules for the 2009 competition and the 2009 Intra-UCU Moot problem will be featured on this blog. Students who perform well in the Intra-UCU competition will receive favourable treatment in the selection process for the national and international competitions discussed below.

Uganda-wide Moot Competition

The second piece of the UCU moot program is the establishment and hosting of a Uganda-wide moot. This competition will be open to all law schools in Uganda. We hope to make this an annual competition to be held each April or May beginning in 2010.

International Competitions

The goal of the UCU Moots Program is to compete in a number of international moots each year. We have targeted certain moot competitions for participation. The different competitions that we seek to participate in are listed below.

The International Moot Competition hosted by Humanitarian Law East Africa

The International Humanitarian Law East Africa (), an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross, hosts an annual oral advocacy and role playing competition each November in Arusha. The competition lasts for approximately one week. The competition is modelled after the Jean-Pictet Competition (see ) Each year two teams from Uganda are selected to participate in the competition against other teams from East Africa. Each team has three members. Teams should have at least one male participant and one female participant. In order to be selected in the competition team members are required to demonstrate knowledge concerning international humanitarian law. Due to this requirement UCU normally only allows fourth year students enrolled in International Humanitarian Law to submit applications to the Arusha Competition. This limits eligibility to 4th year September intake students.

The Philip C. Jessup International Moot Competition

The Jessup Competition is the largest moot court competition in the world. The subject matter of the competition is international law. The Jessup Competition is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2009. One team from Uganda is eligible to participate in the annual international round of the competition in Washington D.C. A team from Uganda Christian University qualified to represent Uganda this year. A Jessup team can consists of five up to five members. The international round is held each March and national rounds are held in January or February if necessary. For more information on the Jessup competition you may visit the competition’s web site at UCU’s Jessup team is made up of two or three fourth year students and two or three third year students for a total of five team members.

The African Human Rights Moot Competition

The Centre for Human Rights based at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa hosts an annual moot competition. The competition has been held at various locations on the Continent. The 2009 competition is to be held in Lagos, Nigeria and prior competitions have been held in South Africa. The competition is normally held in the Summer. Due to the fact that September intake students have an advantage in participating in other competitions, the Faculty of Law will give preference to students in the January intake when selecting students for this competition. Teams consist of two members (preferably one male and one female). Uganda Christian University intends to register to compete in the 2010 competition. For more information on this competition please go to

The International Criminal Court Trial Competition

The International Criminal Court hosts an annual mock trial competition in The Hague, Netherlands. The competition is held in February. UCU has not participated in this competition in the past due to a lack of funding. If funding is available UCU may pursue efforts to compete in this competition. Students selected for this competition would be fourth year students who have demonstrated ability oral advocacy, have performed well academically in all classes, and who have demonstrated particular acumen in International Law, Evidence and Criminal Law. For more information on this competition please go to

Other International Oral Advocacy Competitions

Other international oral advocacy competitions can be found at the International Law Students Association’s website at