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For the third year in a row, the University of Liverpool Law School hosted the annual Liverpool International Law Mooting Competition, which is now a well-established feature of the academic calendar in Liverpool.
This inter-university competition gives law students from the University of Liverpool, Edge Hill University, Liverpool John Moores University and Liverpool Hope University the opportunity to try international law mooting in a fun, friendly and supportive atmosphere.
On 15 April 2026, participating students attended introductory workshops on international law and mooting advocacy skills, run by Liverpool Law School's Dr Ben Murphy and Dr Katie Johnston before dividing into teams of two to research the competition problem and prepare their submissions for the oral rounds of the competition. Students also had the opportunity to hear from recent Liverpool graduates who had participated in international law mooting during their studies, as part of a careers Q&A panel.
As in previous years, the competition problem, The Case Concerning the Braunleigh Basin, was a dispute between two fictional states, ‘Liverpudlia’ and its neighbour ‘Mancunia’, before the International Court of Justice. Relations between the two states went from bad to worse since the inaugural mooting competition in 2024, and this year the problem raised legal issues concerning the legality of a threat to use nuclear weapons against another state and the proportionality of countermeasures.
On 22 April 2026, eighteen teams participated in the preliminary rounds of the competition. Academic staff from participating universities and Liverpool law graduates, as well as participants in the University of Liverpool’s past Jessup moot teams, acted as judges.
Although many participants had little or no prior experience in international law or mooting, they embraced the challenge admirably. The judges were very impressed by the level of advocacy of the speakers and the amount of research teams had managed to complete in the limited time available, as well as the friendly and supportive spirit with which everyone approached the day.
The two highest-scoring teams progressed to the final round, which was held before an audience of law students, staff, friends and family. This year’s final was the closest in the competition's history. The president of the final round bench, Deputy District Judge Idris Dawjee, drew on his extensive advocacy experience in determining the winning team.
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Ultimately, the respondent team, Yahya Hamdy and Fred Millard, defeated the applicants, Elisha Maree and Eleni Kouvidi, to claim victory. In an indication of how close the final was, Eleni Khouvidi, second speaker for the applicant team, was awarded the prize for the Best Speaker in the Final. Rachael Shepherd received the award for Best Speaker overall in the preliminary rounds. The final was followed by a networking reception for students, judges and alumni.
One of the Liverpool Law School alumni who returned to judge the competition was Jessica Roberts, a Clinical Negligence Solicitor within the Catastrophic Injuries Unit at Fletchers Solicitors and Winner of the Liverpool Law Society 2025 'Rising Star Award'. Jessica said: "I was delighted to take part in judging and to spend time speaking with students about life in practice, opportunities within the legal profession, and the value of stepping outside your comfort zone to grow your skill set. The standard of advocacy, legal analysis and professionalism was truly impressive. Competitions like this play an important role in developing the next generation of advocates and legal professionals, giving students the chance to build confidence and test themselves in a practical environment."
This year, for the first time, each member of the winning team will have the opportunity to undertake a mini-pupillage at St Johns Buildings, a leading barristers’ chambers in Manchester, which sponsored the prize. The chambers was represented at the competition by practising barrister Mr Adil Navaid, a Liverpool law graduate and former Jessup participant, who volunteered his time to judge a number of preliminary rounds of the competition as well as the final round.
Manchester University Press also sponsored a selection of book prizes for the winners of the competition and the winners of the best speaker prizes, who will be able to select titles from Manchester University Press's extensive international law collection.
The Liverpool International Law Mooting Competition will return in 2027. Thanks were extended to the School of Law and Social Justice staff, students and alumni who made this year’s event possible, as well as Dr Patrick Butchard at Edge Hill University. The University of Liverpool Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences also provided funding for the event through its Graduate Outcomes Challenge Fund.
How to get involved
If you are a student at one of the four participating universities, information about how to participate in the 2027 competition will be released early next year. For those who participated in 2026 and are keen to explore further international law mooting opportunities, you might be interested in external mooting competitions such as the Jessup and Helga Pedersen ECHR moots. University of Liverpool students should also look out for details on how to apply to represent the Law School at these competitions, which will be publicised in the Law Bulletin in the coming weeks.