About the Moot Court Competition

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Semi-final and Final Rounds of “Crystal Goddess of Justice – 2015” took place in Saint-Petersburg on November 19-20, 2015

Moot Court Competition Final Rounds Ceremony

Institute for Law and Public Policy under the auspice of Association of Lawyers of Russia and with the support of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe completed the Fifth All-Russian Moot Court Competition for students of constitutional law “Crystal Goddess of Justice”.

The case which was brought before the court this year was called “Planet of Apes’ or Case of privilege of witness”.

27 teams had been registered for the Competition this year, but only 13 of them could prepare procedural documents for experts’ evaluation. Documents were evaluated by qualified and independent experts in constitutional law. They chose four best teams with the highest number of points out of maximum possible 100. These teams were identified based on a comprehensive assessment of written documents. After the final round the audience was told the universities, which the teams were representing: Ural State Law University, Tyumen State University, Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky, Siberian Federal State University. The average rating of the semifinalists’ procedural documents this year was 79 out of 100 points.

Selected teams were granted the right to take part in Semi-final Rounds held on November 19, 2015 at the Faculty of Law of the St. Petersburg State University. All the teams took once the side of the appellant and the position of the state. The interesting fact is that this year each of the semifinalists won 1 time in 2 played games of moot-court competition. However, only the two top teams at the end of the first day were able to move to the final round: the representatives of Ural State Law University and Tyumen State University.

On November 20, 2015 the final day of competition was opened at the Faculty of Law of the St. Petersburg State University. The jury of five experts had to assess the performance of the participants and to determine the winner. During the battle the teams showed creativity using legal terms, they compared the applicant with the heroes of the world's best-selling books, proposed unique understanding of the acceptable limitations of human rights. Despite of the sufficient originality and persuasiveness of speeches presented by finalist teams, the team of Ural State Law University (consisted of Chirninov A., Belova A., Alaskarova A., Pilikin M., Serkova Y., Smetanin N. with coaches – Salikov M.S., Belyh M.L.) was evaluated as the most prepared and high-qualified.

Ural State Law University Team	Tyumen State University Team
Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevky Team	Siberian Federal State University Team

The main prize – «Crystal Goddess», produced specifically for the event, was handed to representatives of Ural State Law University during the ceremony of awarding the winners and participants. In special nominations were awarded:

• For the best procedural document (claim to the Russian Constitutional Court) – winner is the team of Siberian Federal State University;
• For the best procedural document (response to the claim by a public authority) – winner is the team of Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky;
• For best legal writing – winner is the team of Tyumen State University;
• For the best use of comparative legal method – winner is the team of Ural State Law University;
• For the excellent knowledge and use of the legal positions of the Russian Constitutional Court – winner is the team of Siberian Federal University;
• For the excellent knowledge and use of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights – winner is the team of Omsk State University named after F.M. Dostoevsky.

Kharlova Maria (member of Tyumen State University team) was awarded as the best speaker.

Moot Court Competition Judges: Morshchakova Т.G., Gadgiev G.А., Blankenagel А., Reznik G.M., Ivanov L.O.	Maria Kharlova received the award for the best oral speaker in the finals.
Winners  of the Fifth All-Russian Moot Court Competition for students of constitutional law “Crystal Goddess of Justice”	Family photo

Individual diplomas were awarded to trainers and team members. The representatives of the organizers, partners, judges of the Russian Constitutional Court, representatives of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation, the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers, Human Rights Commissioners from St. Petersburg and Sverdlovsk region attended the ceremony.

The chief partner of the Competition of this year was the International Foundation for Legal Initiatives. The partner was the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation.

Informational partners of the Competition are: Saint Petersburg International Legal Forum, legal journals “Judge”, “Comparative Constitutional Review”, “International Justice”, New Lawyer Newspaper, Bulletin of the European Court of Human Rights, law databases “Consultant Plus” and “Garant”, the first social network for lawyers “Zakon.ru”.

Moot Court Competition Organizing Committee

tel.(495) 608-69-59; 608-66-35
fax (495) 608-69-15
e-mail: mootcourt_conlaw@mail.ru
Postal address: 129090, Moscow, P.O. Box 140
129090, Moscow, Shchepkina str, 8, 3А floor

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COMPETITION FOUNDERS - 2015:

INFORMATION PARTNERS - 2015: