Processpil

The WTO Moot Court is the daily designation for the “John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition”. This competition is the foremost global moot court competition on international trade law. The competition is organized in preliminary regional rounds and – for the best teams – a final round in Geneva.

The competition engages with international trade law in the context of the substantive rules and dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization. The problem is always fictitious but with a basis in highly relevant issues of international trade relations. In the past few years, cases have revolved around production and sale of green energy, cross border streaming services, and vaccines exports.

The competition provides participants with a rigorous practical application of legal principles within a competitive environment. The program comprises the drafting of formal legal pleadings and the conduct of oral proceedings under the guidance of internal coaches.

Participants gain specific knowledge within the field of the case, the practical application of international trade law and in general an understanding of the practical application of law. Participants in the WTO Moot Court work in three-person teams dealing with both sides of the dispute. Furthermore, participants practice professional English in writing and speech.

The written part of the moot court is scheduled for the fall semester and the oral part for the spring semester. The team is selected in May, with substantive work slowly picking up over the summer in anticipation of the announcement of the case in the beginning of the fall. The regional rounds are held somewhere in Europe in winter/early spring and the final round in June.

All proceedings are conducted in English.

The Hugo Sinzheimer Moot Court - HSMC is a prestigious European advocacy competition, featuring participation from leading universities across the European Union.

This simulated legal proceeding engages with substantive areas of EU law, including the free movement of workers, anti-discrimination protection, working conditions and occupational health and safety, employee rights in the context of business transfers and collective labour law.

The competition provides participants with a rigorous practical application of legal principles within a competitive environment. The program comprises the drafting of formal legal pleadings and the conduct of oral proceedings based on a detailed case study, all under the guidance of both internal and external legal coaches.

Participants gain very specific and in-depth knowledge of EU legal themes and the application of EU law in a national context as well as comparative insight. Furthermore, they practice professional English in writing and speech, work in teams and build good professional networks with participants from other universities in Europe.

The moot court is scheduled for the spring semester. The team is selected in early December, with substantive work commencing in January/February. The competition culminates in the final oral hearings held in June.

All proceedings are conducted in English.

Application procedure

Applications for the team selection must be submitted in writing to Professor Natalie Videbæk Munkholm at namu@sam.sdu.dk no later than 1 December 2025 @ 12 p.m. Interviews will be held on 8 December.

Juridisk Instituts årlige procedurekonkurrence er for alle studerende på Jura og Erhvervsjura på SDU, hvad enten man studerer i Odense eller Esbjerg, på fuld tid eller på åben uddannelse, og uanset hvilket semester man er på.  

Casen, som konkurrencen tager udgangspunkt i, skrives af advokater fra Winsløw Advokatpartnerselskab og er en omskrevet sag fra den virkelige verden. Casen omhandler typisk privatretlige eller offentligretlige tvister, som giver anledning til flere diskussionspunkter. I de seneste år har casen handlet om mangler ved fast ejendom og aflysning af et bryllup under covid-19. 

Der er plads til 16 hold i konkurrencen, og tilmelding foregår i starten af september efter først til mølle-princippet. Konkurrencen løber fra tilmeldingen og indtil slutningen af november. Som hjælp får hvert hold umiddelbart efter deres tilmelding til konkurrencen tildelt en mentor, som de kan bruge til sparring om såvel indholdet i casen som deres mundtlige fremstilling. 

De udvalgte hold bliver tildelt rollen som advokat for enten den sagsøgende eller sagsøgte part.  Holdene, der agerer advokat for sagsøger, udarbejder et svarskrift, som holdene, der agerer advokat for sagsøgte, efterfølgende svarer på i et svarskrift. 

På selve konkurrencedagen skal man levere en mundtlig procedure mod et andet hold foran et dommerpanel, bestående af to advokater og en retspræsident. Alle hold procederer i en indledende runde, hvorefter dommerne udvælger fire hold til at gå videre i en semifinale og derefter to hold til den endelige finale. 

Som deltager i procedurekonkurrencen opnår man som den allervigtigste erfaring praktisk advokatarbejde i form af at skrive et processkrift og fremføre en mundtlig procedure. Derudover opnår man viden om det juridiske indhold i casen, og man får udvidet sit netværk med både sin tildelte mentor, de andre studerende i konkurrencen og dommerpanelet.