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UWA fourth-year Law student Hayden Teo was ranked as the second-best speaker in the world at the recent Jessup International Law Moot Competition in Washington DC.

The silver medal was some compensation for the fact that the University lost by less than one per cent in the preliminary rounds to the eventual grand finalist team, University College London. Because of the size of the competition, eight teams with only one loss did not proceed past the preliminary rounds.

The winner of the competition was University of the Andes (Colombia), which also won the Overall Best Memorials prize.

"My number two ranking is still a little hard to comprehend," Hayden said.

"It's an incredible honour, given that well over 200 oralists were eligible for an award, and only the top 10 are recognised with prizes. I only hope that my prize is seen to reflect on the quality of our team, not just myself. The Jessup Moot is a team game, and my achievement resulted from a combination of effective coaching and research."

Team coach Jeremy Sher said everyone involved in the competition was proud of Hayden's success.

"This achievement is the direct result of the whole team working incredibly hard for over four months to deliver a world-class performance," Sher said.

"In order to be ranked second, Hayden and the team had to effectively memorise their arguments and be familiar with hundreds of cases in great detail to support their arguments. They also needed to be familiar with cases which were irrelevant but which other teams could rely on and then show why these cases were irrelevant.

"Most importantly, the secret of this team's success was their teamwork - they got on, they all worked very hard and they maintained their good humour. One of the best outcomes is that the five students, who did not know each other previously, are now good friends."

In February, UWA representatives Hayden and Rachel Joseph were awarded individual oralist's medals for outstanding performances in the Jessup preliminary National Rounds held in Canberra. The competition involves the preparation and presentation of a mock case before the International Court of Justice.

2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.