Marilyn and I had a great weekend in Shanghai in the middle of November with a moot court team from the Nanjing University Law School. The moot was sponsored by the International Red Cross and was a war crimes problem. Not having handled many war crimes cases in Emmett, I was invited because the moot was conducted in English. There were 26 schools in China that participated. We placed 14th.
I am with Professor Zhang. He teaches criminal law at the Nanjing University Law School. He was the faculty advisor to the moot team. He was also a very gracious host in Shanghai. I am now assisting him with the International Criminal Law Moot
I am with the moot team in the lobby of the hotel where we stayed. The hotel is part of the university where the competition was held. The men argued and the women were the researchers on this team. However, there are actually more women, by far, than men in the Nanjing law school. The international criminal moot team that I am now assisting is composed of all women.
Here we are on the campus where the competition was held. These students were very kind and helpful to Marilyn and me. They made sure we didn't get lost and that we were well taken care of. We traveled with them by train from Nanjing to Shanghai. We came back to Nanjing earlier than they did and they were most concerned that we would be okay traveling alone. It was real pleasure to be able to spend this much time with students on a more individual basis.
This is the law school building on the Fudan University campus. It is more impressive than this picture can depict.
A view from a balcony in the law school building.
Last minute preparations before the first round.
The rest of the team on the other side of the hall. As you can see in the background, the typical formal dress for women here is a black pants suit with a white blouse. Most men wear a black suit.
One of the many large conference rooms in the law building. There were also well furnished waiting rooms.
Where the International Red Cross displays could be viewed in the law building.
Preparation between rounds.
Our team with one of the judges. He was a former barrister and a very colorful fellow. He asked the contestants many questions and insisted that the question asked be answered and not some other answer given, which was a problem for many students. He mentioned that oral persuasion is much more a part of the English and American common law legal systems than it is a part of the Chinese and other civil law systems, and he gave good advice about how to be effective in oral advocacy. He said the goal of an advocate should be to be so clear and so persuasive that the judge will say, "This is so simple that a child could understand it. Why is the other side wasting our time?"
The court room in the law school where the final rounds were held.
