STL Team Secures “Top Four” and Best Memorial Award at the 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Round of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition

From January 22nd to 24th, 2025, the 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Round (the “Asia-Pacific Round”) of the “Price Media Law Moot Court Competition” was successfully held in the Philippines. The team from Peking University School of Transnational Law (STL) performed outstandingly. They stood out from the fierce competition in the Asia-Pacific Round, advanced to the “Top Four” in the Asia-Pacific region, and won the Best Memorials Winner Award. Among the team members, Liu Yuan was recognized as the 7th Best Oralist.

The Price Media Law Moot Court Competition (fully known as the Monroe E. Price Media Law Moot Court Competition, abbreviated as Price Moot) was established by the Oxford University in memory of Professor Monroe E. Price, the founder of the “Comparative Media Law and Policy Programe” at the Oxford University’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. Since its inception in 2008, the competition has been mainly organized by the “Comparative Media Law and Policy Programe”. Its core objective is to encourage law students worldwide to conduct in-depth research and debates on cutting-edge human rights legal issues in the context of the rapid development of social media platforms and information technology. It aims to guide both students and judges to pay attention to and discuss important topics such as freedom of speech, privacy rights, data protection, and international human rights law in the digital realm.

This year’s competition case involved Yara, a well-known online public figure in the Republic of Boto, as the applicant. She posted a series of controversial posts on AzulFish, a social media platform and co-applicant, expressing her support for public protests and also making accusations regarding the attack behavior of the president’s son, Jabuti. The competition case explored whether Yara’s freedom of speech rights had been violated and the responsibilities and obligations of AzulFish as a platform in content regulation.

STL team was formed in July 2024. Ms. Qiu Xiaoya, the Director of Moot Court Competitions, and Mr. Pu Jinke, the Senior C.V. Starr Lecturer of Law, served as the instructors, ans Ms. Li Yaxin from the Class of 2022 served as the student coach. Team members included Guo Xiaoqi, Shao Yingqi, He Xun, and Liu Yuan, all from the Class of 2023.

During the preparation process, the team members overcame objective difficulties such as tight schedules and heavy research tasks, as well as exam pressure. In the early stages of drafting legal documents, they worked together as a team, dedicating themselves fully to the preparation. In the later court debates, despite the challenge of final exams, the team members maintained intense training. They continuously improved their fluency in answering judges’ questions, paid attention to time management skills and moot court etiquette, and especially expressed their gratitude to previous contestants Cheng Fangfei, Lian Yiwei, Liu Xing, Xiao Nan, and Yang Wenxin for their invaluable assistance during this stage.

On January 22nd, 2025, the competition officially kicked off. STL team competed fiercely against the teams from Shandong University, the University of the Philippines (which was the world champion of the 2024 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and the Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition), and Ateneo De Zamboanga University. On the competition field, our team members, relying on their solid professional knowledge, skillfully used relevant materials and supported their viewpoints with strong arguments, winning unanimous praise from the judges present. In the semi-finals, our team had a fierce competition with Singapore Management University, which has won numerous global championships. During the competition, the team members went all out, demonstrating outstanding competitive skills and team spirit. However, they ultimately fell short and missed out on reaching the finals.