From left to right: Dr. Nagraj, Registrar, Prof. Venkat Rao, Vice Chancellor, Raeesa Vakil, Abhimanyu Jain, Shwetank Ginodia (winning team) and Prof. Mrinal Satish, Moot Court faculty advisor

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) team comprising Raeesa Vakil, Abhimanyu George Jain, and Shwetank Ginodia have won the world finals of the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot. The moot, which is organised by the International Institute of Space Law, was held in Daejeon, Korea, this year. Each year, the winners of the Asia Pacific, European and North American Regional Rounds compete in the world finals, held in conjunction with the annual International Astronautical Congress and the Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space.

This is the first time an Indian university has won the prestigious moot. NLSIU had also previously won the Asia Pacific rounds of the competition in 2004, but lost to Leiden University in the final rounds. This year, the team beat City University of Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific round to make it to the world finals, where they faced and defeated Georgetown University.

Raeesa Vakil was also named the Best Oralist in the competition. The team was coached by Dr. Sairam Bhat, Assistant Professor. The final round was judged by sitting judges of the International Court of Justice, and included H.E. Judge Abdul Koroma, H.E. Judge Peter Tomka, and H.E. Judge Leonid Skotnikov.

Raeesa Vakil, speaking to Bar & Bench, admitted that it was a great feeling to win. "We've put in over a year of work, so we feel quite vindicated," she says, and adds, "I was honoured to have won the Best Oralist award, although it was quite nerve racking at the time, because we were speaking in front of sitting judges of the ICJ."