International court pleadings on WTO law is an imitation of court proceedings, during which the teams represent their party in a dispute before judges. It is one of the most prestigious international moot court competitions. This year, the subject of the Pleadings pertained to trade aspects of intellectual property and relevant WTO agreements.
The first International pleadings were conducted in April 2003. In Ukraine, this is the fourth time that this event has taken place.
There were five teams in this year's competition, representing leading universities of Ukraine from Kyiv, Lviv, Ostroh and Donetsk. The winners - students of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv: Anton Sitsov, Tetyana Kheruvimova, Kateryna Nikipelova, Iryna Polovets and the runners up - from the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, composed of: Yaroslava Sakhno, Iryna Povshebna, Oleh Boichuk and Tetyana Makukha, won the right to participate in the Regional Round, which will take place in Leuven, Belgium.
Iryna Polovets from the winning team was recognized as the Best Orator of the Competition. Students representing the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, the Donetsk National University and the Ostroh Academy National University also demonstrated a high level of preparation.
The competent jury or "Panelists" was composed of leading associates and experts in WTO law and intellectual property: Danyil Fedorchuk (Beiten Burkhardt), Taras Kyslyy (Magisters), Andriy Nikolayenko (AstapovLawyers), Natalya Mykolska (Vasil Kisil and Partners), Nataliya Meshcheryakova (Intellectual Property Experts), Borys Danevych (Paritet), Olha Romanenko (DLA Piper), Olena Hladyuk (Volkov, Koziakov and Partners), Oleksandr Berezov and Yuriy Matrynovskiy.