THE University of San Carlos (USC) School of Law and Governance emerged as champion of this year’s 2016 Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition held in Florida, USA, from April 13 to 16.
The USC team comprised of Tess Marie Tan (JD II) and Mark Lawrence Badayos (JD II) swept all the awards in the final round, winning Best Memorial, Finals Best Speaker/Oralist, and Over-all Best Speaker/Oralist in addition to the championship. This is a historic win both for the Philippines and Southeast Asia, as this is the first time that a Southeast Asian team has won the championship in the 20 years of the competition.
University of the Philippines and USC Law battled it out for the world championship title in the final round. This, too, is the first time that the final round was composed of an all- Philippine team. Last year’s champion was Law Society of Ireland.
The Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition is the world’s largest environmental law moot court competition. Earlier on, regional and national qualifying rounds were held across East Africa, West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, East Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, India, Ireland, Latin America, North America, and Southeast Asia.
In the Southeast Asian Regional Round (SEARR), nineteen teams from various universities in Southeast Asia competed in the Regional Round held at the University of the Philippines. Four teams qualified to compete in the international rounds, namely, University of San Carlos, University of the Philippines, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University. The teams that qualified in all the regional and qualifing rounds then battled it out in the International Finals held in Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida.
The USC team is being coached by Atty. Daryl Bretch Largo, with Dean Joan Largo as team advisor./PR