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UPDATE: Pair earns No. 3 ranking in international human rights moot court competition

UPDATE: The Liberty University team made it to the top four out of 48 teams in the tournament, and during the award ceremony, they were recognized as the third best team based upon scores from preliminary rounds. Tyler Shannon and Alyssa Rumbuc won their quarterfinals round and were the only team from an undergraduate program to qualify for the semifinal round (the others were from law schools). In the semifinals, they competed against Oxford Law and lost by a slim margin of .12.



Team participates in human rights moot court competition at the U.N. in Geneva

7/16/2019

“Your Excellency.” That’s how two members of Liberty University’s undergraduate moot court team will be addressing judges this week as they take their skills to the international stage at the prestigious Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, hosted at the Palais des Nations, home of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland.

“It will definitely be a different style of competition, going from nationals to internationals, and going from saying, ‘Your Honor,’ to ‘Your Excellency,’ said rising senior Alyssa Rumbuc. She left Lynchburg for Geneva on Saturday, joined by teammate Tyler Shannon, who graduated in May, and their faculty sponsor and coach, Dr. Robert Robertson, who is an assistant professor with the Helms School of Government.

Rumbuc and Shannon are the first team from Liberty to attend the competition and one of only two teams to be selected from the United States — the other is Yale Law School. Because Yale is sending a team of law students, that makes Shannon and Rumbuc the only undergraduate team to represent the U.S. at the competition.

The event is one of the only moot court competitions worldwide explicitly dedicated to human rights. It runs through Friday, July 19, and is presented by the Centre for Human Rights based at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, in partnership with the Academy on Human Rights, Washington College of Law, American University and the United Nations Human Rights Council Branch (HRCB) at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Rumbuc and Shannon submitted written briefs in April and were selected out of over 150 teams, with 48 teams from all U.N. regions around the world qualifying for oral arguments in Geneva. The teams will argue two sides of a hypothetical case, which will center on current global human rights issues, before a “bench” of human rights experts. The eight best teams proceed to the quarterfinal rounds, which are presided over by judges from international courts and tribunals. There will be rounds in English, French, and Spanish, so Rumbuc and Shannon may end up arguing their cases with teams speaking in different languages, using interpreters.

Shannon had just celebrated his graduation when he learned the news that they had been selected.

“It was a good way to bookend my time at Liberty, and who gets to go to Switzerland at 22 years old and compete at the U.N.?” he said.

Rumbuc said she received the text at 5 a.m.

“I couldn’t go back to sleep.” she said. “It’s a great honor. I’m definitely going into it with the mindset that God has blessed us with such an incredible opportunity to represent Him and represent Liberty and the United States.”

While both have argued at moot court nationals — where they helped Liberty’s team to land at No. 9 in the country at the end of the season — Shannon and Rumbuc said learning about international courts has presented them with a whole new challenge. They have spent the last couple months poring over large law texts for research into cases about self-incrimination, cruel and unusual punishment, and invasion of private property.

But it’s an opportunity they are embracing.

“Human rights law was a little new to me at first, but when you love applying the law to real circumstances in life, in ways that can really affect how people conduct their lives, you can find joy and interest no matter what topic you’re given,” Shannon said, “especially when it regards fundamental human rights and the ways that people are able to live their lives despite being disadvantaged.”

He said he’s grateful for the experience to engage with his international peers.

“This is a life experience that I didn’t think I’d get to have, and probably won’t have again,” he said.

The trip was partially funded by Liberty’s Center for Research & Scholarship and supported by the Provost’s Office.

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