Mooting Competitions

Our faculty has a strong reputation in mooting competitions at national and international level. Here is the list of mooting competitions our faculty participates in.

Abraham de Pinto-competitie
Abraham de Pinto-competitie is a Dutch-speaking client consultation competition taking place and organized by the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. With this competition, students learn the soft skills of client consultation.

Comparative Law in Action Competition
Comparative Law in Action (CLIA) is an English-speaking legal consultancy competition where students have to give legal advices to clients. Those clients can be corporations or individuals. Each year, the substance of the case varies and has always an element of comparative law. With this competition, students gain knowledge of the law but also (corporate) legal strategy and client counselling.

Concours européen des droits de l’homme René Cassin
The Concours européen des droits de l’homme René Cassin is the oldest and most famous French-speaking moot court competition on European Human Rights.  The final of the competition takes place at the Council of Europe and at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

European Law Moot Court Competition
The European Law Moot Court Competition (ELMC) is the most prestigious moot court competition in European Union Law. The final is held at the premises of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. The competition has a unique bilingual feature (English and French) which entails that students plead in both languages.

Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition
The Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition is an English-speaking competition founded in 2012 in cooperation with the Council of Europe. The final round is always held on the premises of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), providing a unique opportunity for students to engage with members of various CoE bodies and the ECtHR judges themselves. The team that wins the competition also wins the ‘Council of Europe Award’, which is a traineeship at the European Court of Human Rights for each member of the team.

IBA International Criminal Court Moot
The IBA International Criminal Court Moot is the largest moot on international criminal law. Students from more than 100 law schools compete in simulated proceeding before the International Criminal Court.

International and European Tax Moot Court
The International and European Tax Moot Court organised by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation and Leuven University is the world’s most renowned Moot Court in the field of taxation.

Jean Pictet Competition and Frits Kalshoven Competition on International Humanitarian Law
The International humanitarian law (IHL) Mooting Team from our Faculty takes part in two competitions: the Frits Kalshoven Competition and the Jean Pictet Competition. Given the unique nature of IHL and its scope of application, these competitions focus on role playing and simulations as practitioners of IHL can be found in the legal services of armed forces and as field workers of organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Louis M Brown Forest S. Mosten International Client Consultation Competition
The International Client Consultation Competition simulates a law office consultation. Students are assessed on the basis of their interviewing skills first and foremost. Maastricht University organizes the national selection of this competition. The winners of the national rounds then meet at the international finals which take place every year in a different country.

Max Rood Pleitwedstrijd
Max Rood Pleitwedstrijd is a Dutch-speaking moot court competition about Dutch labour law. This competition lasts for one intensive week in June. This mooting competition is particularly targeted for our students enrolled in the master Recht en Arbeid.

PAX Moot Court International Competition
The Pax Moot is an English-speaking international moot court competition which started out as a mooting activity at the Sciences Po Paris, and grew to become an EU-funded moot, attracting teams over Europe and the world every year. The annual case deals with three issues of private international law: jurisdiction, choice of law, and recognition and enforcement of the judgment to be rendered by the court.

Philip C. Jessup International Law
The Jessup competition is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world. Students from over 700 law schools participate in simulated proceedings before the International Court of Justice. The winner of the national rounds are sent to the final in Washington. The language of the competition is English.

Studentenparlement
Studentenparlement is a Dutch-speaking competition taking place every two years. This competition simulates negotiations of a legal text in the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer). The competition requires good knowledge of Dutch constitutional law and Dutch politics.

VAR Pleitwedstrijd
The VAR Pleitwedstrijd is a prestigious Dutch-speaking moot court competition on Dutch administrative law.

Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
The Willem C. Vis is one of the biggest moot court competitions, involving a dispute between two States that are parties to the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Every year, the applicable arbitration rules change. The language of the competition is English.

In addition, our faculty has also participated successfully in the past in:

• John H Yesckson Moot Court Competition (WTO Law)
• Nuremberg Moot Court on International Criminal Law
• Nationale Pleitmarathon
• International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot Court
• ICC Mediation Competition