International law students to argue cases before moot court in Bangor Dec. 5

For a second year, University of Maine students taking an upper-level, political science seminar on international law will get a chance to try out their newly acquired skills inside a courtroom.

Patrick Downey, an adjunct assistant professor in political science, teaches the seminar and is overseeing an international law moot court on Monday, Dec. 5 at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 202 of the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

“The exercise, I think, is invaluable,” says Downey, “in that everything comes together, the students work with each other collaboratively and get to see how the law plays out in a role-play setting, meant to mirror the real world.”

The 22 students will present simulated oral arguments in three mock cases.

The first involves possible U.S. intervention in a civil war in the made-up African nation of Loango. U.S. forces have intervened in the conflict, under the scenario, and Portugal and Belgium are proposing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the U.S. for violating international law.

The second mock case deals with women’s reproductive rights in the fictitious nation of Hibernia. A magistrate court in the fake country has convicted one woman for attempting to procure an abortion and another for providing information on the procedure. The women, who’ve been sentenced to six months in jail and large fines, have made petitions seeking relief under Article 34 of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

A third mock case concerns a trade dispute over the availability and price of HIV/AIDS drugs in a fictitious African nation.

The moot court is the culmination of a semester’s worth of study and preparation. Downey’s class includes undergraduates studying political science and sociology and graduate students from the Cohen Institute for Leadership and Public Service. At the beginning of the semester, students split up into three teams, each assigned to a different role within each of the three mock cases. Each team, in turn, will get a chance to play the prosecutorial, defense and judicial roles within their cases.

Last year, notes Downey, students didn’t start working on the moot court part of their coursework until well into the semester.

“I’m throwing them in the deepest end of the pool. One of the biggest reforms (this year) was to set everything up at class number one, so they live with the cases the entire semester,” says Downey.

Contact: Jay Field, 207.581.3721; 207.338.8068