Three University of Chicago undergraduate students won the Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition, the largest and most prestigious challenge of its kind, in April. The students competed against law students from around the world, delivering the winning argument on a simulated International Court of Justice case involving trophy hunting and animal conservation.
UChicago earned its spot in the international finals after placing first in the North American regional competition earlier this year. The team competed in two days of preliminary match-ups against schools from Brazil, India, Colombia and Ukraine before winning in the final round against the University of the Philippines College of Law — the competition’s reigning champion. This is the first win in over a decade for a U.S. team, and the first win for a U.S. undergraduate team.
While many moot court teams are led by law professors, the UChicago team is undergraduate-run and largely self-taught. The delegation to the international competition, held the second week of April at Stetson College in Florida, included competitors Katherine Shi (’24), Vikram Ramaswamy (’25) and Matthew Tsui (’25) and coaches Ryan Nguyen (’25) and Anna Guzman (’24).
This year’s case centered on a dispute between two countries on the rights to hunt an endangered goat species. Though the countries and species referenced in the case are fictional, the dynamic is based on “real dilemmas that real communities are facing around the world right now,” Ramaswamy said. The markhor, an endangered curly-horned goat species and prized object of trophy hunting, is at the center of active international debate.
To prepare their argument, the UChicago team researched existing cases on trophy hunting, indigenous law and trade agreements, as well as scientific research on the effects of animal conservation. “I think that the intersection between science and the law is very interesting,” Shi said. “In this forum, you’re forced to think about both.”
UChicago’s moot court team competes in around a dozen such domestic and international competitions each year, ranging in legal topics from media to space. While international environmental law is less common, it presents the opportunity for unique interdisciplinary arguments.
“I think the forum of practicing international law was so relevant because it provides the opportunity for us to speak to our natural partners who don’t have the opportunity to speak, whether it’s the critically endangered animals or the environment in general,” Nguyen said. “Aligning human interests with those of the environment is only possible through legal advocacy. This was a great opportunity to practice that.”
Each team member focused on a different research specialization, dividing up work on brief writing and oral advocacy. But roles switched last minute when Ramaswamy lost his voice, leading Tsui to step in to speak in his place in the first two preliminary rounds. Ramaswamy stepped back in for the final rounds, allowing each of the three competitors to have a hand in the team’s historic victory.