ATU Moot team shines in international round of the 2025 Philip Jessup Competitions

Report by Directorate for International Academic Cooperation, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran—

Source: atu.ac.ir/fa

Translated into English by Rasoul Firouzi

Having won the national round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (simulating International Court of Justice proceedings), the Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU) team, as Iran's representative, traveled to Washington during Nowruz 1404 (March 2025) to compete against over 150 top universities participating in the event.

In the preliminary rounds, the ATU team faced opponents from Ireland, Belgium, Chile, and China, and the team successfully qualified for the elimination rounds, securing a spot among the top 48 teams for the second time. Notably, this marks only the second time an Iranian team has advanced to the elimination rounds, with the first instance also being achieved by ATU in 2023.

ATU reaching the top 48 universities in the world in this most prestigious international law competition has increased Iran's quota for the 2026 competitions to two teams. This will provide greater opportunities for Iranian students to gain experience in simulating International Court of Justice proceedings.

In the final rankings, the following remarkable results were also achieved:

• Ranked 32nd among 152 participating teams;
• Ranked 32nd for Written Memorials among 152 participating teams;
• Ms. Nikafarid and Ms. Pirdadeh ranked 36th and 46th respectively among 517 participants for Best Oralist.

In these competitions, the student team was coached by Sajjad Qadamyari, Master's student in International Law, and Matin Amiri, Graduate in International Law. ATU's team member included Negin Nikafarid, Master's student in International Law; Mahak Pirdadeh Beiranvand, Bachelor's student in Law; Shakila Zafari, Master's student in International Trade Law; Amirhossein Zaroufi Azar, Master's student in International Trade Law; and Sirvan Soleimani, Master's student in International Law.