NYU School of Law students Mark Kleyna, Meera Pradhan, Sami Rashid, Thomas Rosenstock and Andrew Wong proudly displayed NYU's colors at the second convening of the Sidley-IIEL WTO Moot Court Competition held in Washington DC on January 29-30, 2004. Student teams from eight academic institutions and joint degree programs participated this year: Columbia Law School, Duke University School of Law, George Washington University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard Law School/Fletcher School, Tufts University (joint degree program), Howard University School of Law, New York University School of Law and University of Chicago Law School

The character of the competition is multi dimensional, providing the team with an incredible opportunity to rise to the various challenges and an opportunity to learn and hone the necessary skills involved in the event. Our team, in preparation for the competition, drafted two briefs, each 25 pages in length, in which they argued for the fictional countries of Brucia, the complainant, and Analand, the respondent. The dispute in question was a complex trade dispute that implicated traditional violations of GATT Articles I, III and XI as well as more unusual issues such as the applicability of res judicata in the WTO context and the scope of the Article XXI national security exception. The briefs were submitted and marked by judges prior to the team's arrival in Washington D.C. What then followed were three rounds in which the team argued against teams from other top schools. Panels were assembled for each, with government officials, trade practitioners and academics experienced in WTO dispute settlement and WTO law, as well as former WTO Panel members. We were very proud that NYU's team received praise from judges on their outstanding oral performances. Notably, they earned the overall competition award for the "Best Written Submission". All team members found it to be an outstanding and rewarding learning experience, and hope that the foundation has been laid for future years of NYU participation.