A TEAM from the Solicitors' Apprentice Debating Society of Ireland (SADSI) will represent Ireland in the final of the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, to be held in Washington DC later this week.

The SADSI team beat teams from TCD, UCD and King's Inns to get to the final of the Jessup, which is the world's premier mock court competition.

The team's oral and written submissions involved extensive written legal pleadings on, extradition, privacy, discrimination and the laws of war, including aspects of the Bosnian situation. They will now face competition from teams from up to 80 institutions, including representatives from the Sorbonne, Harvard, Yale and Cambridge, The experience of "mooting" offers considerable advantages to the competitors. "First, there's the legal training aspect," says Jeanne Kelly, a member of the SADSI team and an apprentice solicitor with Willan Fry.

"It helps them decide if they want to be a solicitor or a barrister. Second it's a great opportunity, if you progress to the US final, to meet other student lawyers. Some even go on to work in the US.

Finally, it's also something very beneficial to do, even if you don't want to be a barrister, given the whole argument over the right of audience for solicitors." The SADSI team comprises' Jeanne Kelly, Tara Doyle (Matheson Ormsby Prentice), Michael Barr (A&L.; Goodbody), Stephanie Kennedy (O'Rourke Reid) and George Brady (Matheson Ormsby Prentice). The Jessup is run by the American Society for International Law, which publishes the problem; set to the competitors and the winning memorial, or written submission, each year.