Oxford team reaches semi-finals of Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition in Strasbourg

The Oxford team in the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition - comprising Rivu Chowdhury (Law, Magdalen College), Emma Rowland (MPhil Law, Exeter College), Cassandra Somers-Joce (MPhil Law, St Anne's College) and Justin Winchester (BCL, New College) - reached the semi-finals of the international rounds in Strasbourg.

After qualifying from the regional rounds in February, the team along with coach Alyssa Glass (DPhil Law, Balliol College), travelled to Strasbourg in late May to represent the University in the final rounds of this Europe-wide competition, hosted by the Council of Europe.  The competition was set in the European Court of Human Rights and involved the human rights engaged when a same-sex couple enter a gestational surrogacy agreement to start a family.  In Strasbourg, the team - represented by Emma and Cassandra - faced off against the top teams from across Europe, after qualifying for these final rounds in February.  After preliminary rounds, the team 'broke' second into the knock-out rounds, and after winning their quarter-final, reached the semi-finals of the competition.  

In Strasbourg, the team had the privilege to meet law students and academics from across Europe, Ambassadors of various Council of Europe member states, and judges of the European Court of Human Rights.  

The team are extremely grateful for the experiences offered by this competition, and wish to acknowledge the outstanding support they received from the Law Faculty and from many academics and practitioners around the world who generously gave up time to judge practice rounds over the past six months.