The CWRU Jessup International Law Moot Court team (3L Ellie Buerk, 3L Brianna Schmidt, 3L Naomi Matthusen, 2L Patricia Taylor, and 1L Pilar Corso) recently competed against 40 other law schools in Portland, Oregon, for the privilege of representing the United States in the Jessup World Championship Rounds in Washington, DC in April.
CWRU went 4-0 in the preliminary rounds, beating Marquette, Northern Illinois, Kansas and Loyola Chicago. CWRU defeated St Louis University in the Sweet 16, and then lost an agonizingly close round to UC Irvine in the Elite 8. The best six teams from Portland earned a berth in the World Championship Rounds, and CWRU made it through along with Washington University, Denver, California Irvine, Wayne State and Arizona State.
In addition, CWRU won the award for the 2nd Best Brief in the competition and captured three of the top ten speaker awards (Patricia Taylor was 5th Best Speaker, Brianna Schmidt was 9th Best Speaker and Ellie Buerk was 10th Best Speaker).
Established 61 years ago, the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the oldest, largest and most prestigious moot court competition in the world. U.S. teams compete in two national competitions (Nationals West in Portland and Nationals East in Charlotte). This year marks the 11th time over the past twenty years that CWRU performed well enough at Nationals to earn a berth in the World Championship Rounds. In 2008, CWRU won the World Championship, one of only two U.S. Schools to do so over the past two decades (the other was Harvard), and CWRU’s 2025 team is excited to have the opportunity to try to reclaim the Jessup Cup, which is modeled after the NHL Stanley Cup. The team is coached by Professor Michael Scharf and alumni and Squire Patton Boggs attorneys Liz Safier (LAW '21) and Will Baker (LAW '24).
Congratulations to the Jessup team and good luck at the World Championship Rounds!