USA College of Law wins 2024 Divina Law-UST Jessup Cup

(FROM left) Atty. Anfred Panes (adviser, coach), Marco Giorgione Dave, Julienne Dela Piezo, Ancel D’cunha, Quell Charles Malte and Mari Dominique Laval. | PHOTOGRaPH COURTESY OF fb.com/ANFRED PANES

The University of San Agustin–College of Law bagged the championship title in the recently concluded 2024 DivinaLaw–UST Philippine Jessup Cup against Ateneo de Manila University.

The event, held from 23 to 25 February at the University of Sto. Tomas, saw a historic milestone when 21 teams across the country participated in the tournament.

The tournament also recognized outstanding performance from individual members, including Marco Giorgiona Dava, who won the best Oralist of the Championship Round, and Ancel D’Cunha, who won the 8th Best Oralist position in the preliminary rounds.

Apart from winning against ADMU in the championship, USA-COL also dethroned the University of the Philippines, which had taken home the biggest awards for five consecutive years.

After securing the championship title, the USA-COL team will now represent the country in the upcoming global rounds of the highly prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the oldest and largest international moot court competition worldwide.

Meanwhile, UP, ADMU and the University of San Carlos will join the University of San Agustin as the top four teams in the country that will advance to the Jessup International Rounds in Washington, D.C., which will take place in April.

In addition to the top four teams, San Beda College Alabang School of Law will also participate as an Exhibition Team.

The USA-COL team has shown spectacular performance in multiple moot court competitions, not only in the country but also in international tournaments.

DivinaLaw and the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law have sponsored and co-organized the Jessup Cup for the Philippine Qualifying Rounds since 2014.

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is an advocacy competition for law students globally, with teams from all over the world competing against each other through oral and written pleadings to address timely and relevant issues in “hypothetical legal disputes” between differing nations.

The international moot court competition has had 700 participating law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions from different countries.