UPH Moot Team Got 5 Achievements on FDI Moot Competition in Seoul

On August 21-23 2014, the UPH FDI Moot Team participated in the Foreign Direct Investment Moot Competition Regional Round 2014 in Seoul, South Korea. This marks the first year UPH sent a team to represent the university in this prestigious law competition, where the team was able to secure the 3rd place in the Oral Rounds, and was awarded 5th highest rank team from a total of 18 participating universities. The team?s oralists were also individually awarded 5th Best Oralist for Jonathan Abuthan, and 12th Best Oralist for Josha Ponggawa.

The UPH FDI team spent a few months prior to the competition training with their coach, Jessica Los Banos, an UPH Faculty of Law lecturer specializing in international law. In retrospect, the team admits that these achievements are highly unexpected, considering the circumstances surrounding their preparation. Being the first team from UPH to ever participate in the moot, the team struggled in their preparatory work as there was no preceding standard to adhere to. ?We were basically the underdog of the competition, since we didn?t know what to expect in terms of our competitors and judges. All there was to do was give it our best efforts.? explained Josha, the team?s captain.

Established in 2008, the Foreign Direct Investment Moot is a Private International Law Competition hosted by 4 universities including Pepperdine University School of Law, King?s College, Universidad Buenos Aires, and Suffolk University. The FDI moot concerns foreign direct investment law, a field of concentration that is becoming more and more popular in recent years due to significant increases in cross-border investments, proliferation of investment treaties and international investment contracts. Since last year, the competitions are divided into the regional rounds all around the world, with Korean National University hosting the Asia Pacific region in Seoul Korea. The global rounds are then commenced in Pepperdine University School of Law, California, USA.

This year, the case that was presented to the participants revolved around sovereign bonds and sovereign debt restructuring, topics that are highly relevant in light of the recent Argentinian and Greek debt crises. ?What makes FDI a very interesting moot, especially with this year?s case concerning bonds, is that it gives us exposure to real world economic issues that are applicable for our future career as lawyers,? said Astrid Desmonda, one of the team members who is also the General Director of the International Law Moot Court Community.

The team?s achievement in the Regional Round qualifies them to participate in the Global Round in Pepperdine University on 24-26 October 2014. Achievements aside, the team?s participation in the moot enabled the members to acquire skills that they could not have in class rooms.