KNUST Law Students Win National Competition

KNUST Law Students Win National Competition

The Moot Court Team of the Faculty of Law from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) which represented KNUST at the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition has won the Ghana Qualifying Rounds competition held at GIMPA in Accra from 6th- 8th February, 2018.
The Philip C. Jessup Moot Court is the largest and most prestigious International Law moot court competition in the world. It is organized by the International Law Students Association (ILSA) and draws participation from law students all around the world. This year’s Ghana Qualifying Rounds Competition saw Teams from the KNUST Faculty of Law, GIMPA Faculty of Law, University of Cape Coast (UCC) Faculty of Law, Central University Faculty of Law, University of Professional Studies Faculty of Law and Kings University College Faculty of Law.
Professor Lydia Apori Nkansah, Dean of the Faculty of Law, KNUST, reported that, every year, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court holds a national competition, where Moot Teams come to a simulated court proceeding in which law students, acting as lawyers, argue hypothetical cases before a panel of judges who may in fact be real judges or just lawyers and a winner is selected to represent the country at the international competition. She continued that, at the international stage the national level winners compete with their counterparts from other nations for a world title.
Prof. Nkansah was happy to announce that, the KNUST Team won four out of five contests including the finals in which they beat the UCC Team to emerge as the first Law Faculty in the country to successfully defend its championship title at the national level. With this feat, she added that, the KNUST Moot Court Team coached by Dr. Ernest Owusu-Dapaa, Mr. Christopher Nyinevi and Dr. Samuel Boadi Adarkwa, under the auspices of the office of the Dean, has qualified as Ghana’s sole representative to participate in the White & Case International Rounds of the Jessup Moot Court Competition scheduled to take place in Washington DC from 1st- 7thApril 2018.
She mentioned that last year, the KNUST Moot Team became the first Faculty of Law in Ghana to win the national qualifying rounds of the Phillip Jessup Moot Court competition and, with the support of the University, represented Ghana at the international rounds in Washington DC. She added that, at that competition, the team emerged as the second highest ranking Team from Africa.
The team, led by Prof. Apori Nkansah, presented the trophy to the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, and appealed for his support to be able to participate in the upcoming international level competition in Washington DC.
Prof. Obiri-Danso mentioned that he was greatly pleased with the team’s grand success and commended the efforts that the Dean, Lecturers and administrative staff of the Faculty of Law have made and are still making to ensure the success of the students and the university as a whole. He congratulated the KNUST Moot Court Team for making the University proud and visible on the global front. He further encouraged the team to work hard and promised to support them in any way to push them forward.
Prof. Nkansah concluded that membership of the moot team is open to all interested students and that the Faculty of Law has a whole course on it for its level 300 students.