The University of Auckland team has won four awards at the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Competition in Washington DC, with one of the team named best overall speaker.

The Jessup Moot is the most prestigious moot court competition in the world, with participants from over 550 law schools.

Tiaan Nelson, Michael Greenop and Andrew Grant. 

The Auckland team, comprising Andrew Grant, Michael Greenop, Tiaan Nelson, Katy Eichelbaum, with coaches Gretta Schumacher and Jack Davies, placed second in the world after the preliminary rounds. The team then progressed past the first knockout round before being narrowly beaten in the top-16 round.

Andrew Grant was ranked best speaker in the competition from over 650 competitors from 143 countries. Michael Greenop was ranked as the third best speaker overall. The team also placed second for its applicant memorial, and was named best applicant team overall for its speaker scores and memorial scores combined.

These results came after the Auckland team also won the European Friendly pre-moot in Budapest, Hungary in March 2017. This marked the first time New Zealand had competed in a Jessup pre-moot and saw the team remain undefeated before beating Austria in a close final.

The Dean of Law, Professor Andrew Stockley, congratulated the team members on their success.

“To have won the best applicant team, best speaker in the world, and third best speaker awards are outstanding achievements. The Auckland Law School is very proud of Andrew, Michael, Tiaan, Katy and their coaches Gretta and Jack," he says.