Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2027 by ILSA: International Rounds in Toronto

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is run by the International Law Students Association (ILSA) from its executive office in Washington, DC. Teams argue a hypothetical dispute between fictional States before the International Court of Justice, pleading for both the Applicant and the Respondent. ILSA states that the Competition today welcomes more than 800 teams from over 100 countries, against about 300 law schools from 55 countries twenty-five years ago.

Jessup 2027 breaks with tradition. For the first time in the Competition's 67-year history the White & Case International Rounds move outside the United States, to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto from 27 March to 3 April 2027. ILSA's Board took the decision after nearly a quarter of the 2026 field had to compete remotely, unable to obtain United States visas, and recorded its unanimous view that remote participation does not align with the spirit and purpose of the Competition.

The Jessup 2027 Problem is scheduled for release on 15 September 2026. ILSA has confirmed the issues it will present:

• allegations of gender apartheid;
• State responses to a mass influx of migrants seeking asylum;
• sanction designations generated by artificial intelligence; and
• all of this in the wake of a coup d'etat, resulting in a government whose status within the international community remains contested.

Basic Materials are expected from 7 October 2026 and are added to ILSA's website over the course of the season. Requests from teams for Corrections and Clarifications to the Problem close on 17 October 2026, with the Corrections and Clarifications anticipated on 17 November 2026.

Under Official Rule 2.1(a) all educational institutions offering a degree, or similar graduate or postgraduate qualification or training, in law, in a field related to international law, or in international relations are eligible to participate. ILSA imposes no jurisdictional restriction, its registration form lists India among the countries a team may register from, and India appears on ILSA's own list of national jurisdictions, so Indian law schools enter on the same footing as teams from anywhere else.

Each institution may enter one Team only, regardless of how many colleges, departments, faculties or schools it contains, and that single Team may include students drawn from more than one of them (Rule 2.1(b)).

A Team may be composed of two to five Team Members (Rule 2.2(a)) and may have up to five Team Advisors, all of whom must be registered. Every student who contributes to the Team's work product at any point in the competition year, whether by researching, writing any part of a Memorial or presenting oral argument, must be registered and counted toward the five-member cap; students designated as alternates or back-ups may not be registered and may not contribute. Members need not declare fixed roles and any member may act as researcher, writer or oralist at any time.

In each moot, oral presentations are made by two, and only two, members of each Team. An in-person moot runs 90 minutes with 45 minutes per side, and no oralist may be allocated more than 25 minutes including rebuttal or surrebuttal.

A person may be a Team Member if they are pursuing a degree or similar qualification in law, in a field related to international law, or in international relations, with adequate instruction in international law, and are enrolled full-time or part-time at the entering institution as of the registration deadline, the Qualifying or Friendly Rounds, or the International Rounds. A person is not eligible if, after graduating from a law degree programme, they have practised law, enrolled in or received a doctoral-level legal degree such as a Ph.D., D.Phil. or J.S.D., or taken up any activity giving them an undue advantage; nor may anyone who has ever judged Memorials or moots at any level of the Jessup compete.

Written permission from the Executive Director is required under Rule 2.4 for visiting or exchange students, students enrolled at more than one institution, students serving as an extern or apprentice in lieu of class, and anyone already holding a graduate legal degree such as an LL.M., J.D., Canadian LL.B. or Juris Master. ILSA treats most LL.B. degrees as undergraduate degrees, so LL.B. students do not need special permission. Eligibility inquiries close on 6 November 2026.

Every Team, wherever based, registers and pays directly to the ILSA Executive Office through ILSA's own online form under Rule 3.1(a). There is no separate route through a national body for registration itself. What is administered nationally is the qualifying stage: ILSA's National and Friendly Rounds table lists Anjali Chawla as the administrator for India for Jessup 2027, contactable at mcsfd@jgu.edu.in. She administered the Jessup India National Rounds hosted at Jindal Global Law School in 2026. The dates, format and India Rules Supplement had not been posted by ILSA at the time of this listing; ILSA updates that table on a rolling basis as details are finalised.

Because more than one Indian team registers each year, Indian teams must take part in Qualifying Rounds, scheduled across January to March 2027 and capable of being held in person or virtually. Under Rule 3.1(c) an administrator may, with the Executive Director's consent, levy a further reasonable fee to defray the cost of organising that Round; that fee is separate from the ILSA registration fee. Teams advancing from the India Rounds go on to the White & Case International Rounds in Toronto.

ILSA levies one team registration fee on a six-band schedule keyed to the Team's jurisdiction, payable to the Executive Office by 20 November 2026:

• Schedule I, USD 1,090: United States
• Schedule II, USD 830: Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and other listed jurisdictions
• Schedule III, USD 600: Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkiye and others
• Schedule IV, USD 440: Argentina, Brazil, Estonia, Philippines, Russia and others
• Schedule V, USD 270: India, along with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and others
• Schedule VI, USD 135: all other jurisdictions

Teams unable to pay in full may apply to the Executive Director for a waiver or discount under Rule 3.2, which may be granted only in exceptional circumstances through the online form on the Team Homepage. National, Regional and Friendly Round administrators have no authority to waive or discount the ILSA fee.

Each Team must submit an Applicant Memorial and a Respondent Memorial to the Executive Office by 12 January 2027; a Team that fails to submit both is disqualified. A National Rules Supplement may impose additional submission requirements, so Indian teams should check the India supplement once ILSA posts it.

Qualifying and Friendly Rounds normally consist of Preliminary Rounds of four matches, twice as Applicant and twice as Respondent, followed by Elimination Rounds sized to the field. The International Rounds in Toronto consist of Preliminary Rounds of four matches, Advanced Rounds of two matches, Elimination Rounds, and the World Championship Jessup Cup Round on 3 April 2027.

Team registration opened on 3 August 2026 on ILSA's team registration page. The form asks for the institution's country, university, city and state, the name and contact email of the Law School Dean or Head of School, and the details of the person who will serve as the Team's primary contact through the season, and it creates the login for the Team Homepage where clarifications requests, waiver applications and announcements are handled.

A Team counts as fully registered only once it has registered, submitted a completed team roster and paid. All three must be done by 20 November 2026; teams that have not paid by that date risk disqualification.