Two University of Chicago College students competed in the world’s largest moot court competition for international environmental law this April.
The annual Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition allows students to argue a simulated International Court of Justice case concerning international environmental law. Coming off last year’s international win, UChicago hosted the Stetson’s North American Regional Round in January. The UChicago team—experienced moot court competitors Davis Turner (College ’26) and Cate Barry (College ’27)—won, qualifying them for the international contest in April.
This year, participants argued a dispute based on one country’s revival of an extinct panther species using DNA from another country. Turner and Barry practiced several times a week, practicing their oral arguments and answering practice questions with coach Spencer Lee (College ’27).
To develop their arguments, the students conducted intensive research into real-life international environmental laws, as well as topics in science, policy and ethics. Barry’s research focused on the topics of prior informed consent and the aims of the Convention on Biological Diversity. “This gave me a new insight into how the law works to protect biological diversity, and how it falls short in order to appease different states’ interests,” Barry wrote.
After spending months refining their argument, Barry and Turner traveled to Florida for the international tournament alongside coach Vikram Ramaswamy (College ’25). A competitor on last year’s winning team, Ramaswamy helped the teammates prepare for the questions they’d receive from the international judges.
The tournament hosted teams from 12 countries competing in front of leading international environmental lawyers. During their four rounds of competition, the UChicago team argued against teams from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Singapore and China. Though UChicago didn’t advance past the preliminary round this year, both Turner and Barry received Top 10 Speaker awards for their strong oral arguments, a rare achievement for one team.
Turner is no stranger to high-stakes international environmental law. He attended COP30, the United Nations’ climate conference, as part of the Institute’s student delegation in 2025. Observing the intricacies of negotiations at COP, including the focus on definitions of each term and balancing different states’ interests, helped inform his arguments at the Stetson.
UChicago’s undergraduate moot court team participates in many such tournaments each year. Each competition focuses on a different specific legal topic, such as sports, space, and media.
“For me, environmental law has been by far the most interesting and inspiring,” Turner said. “There’s such a strong capacity to do good with it.”