Team selected for finals of International Moot Court Competition – Law & Religion
Four students from The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London have been selected to compete in the finals of a prestigious international moot court competition in early March.
King’s mooting finalists, from left to right: Dayan Farias Picon, Fahrid Chishty, Peter Laverack and Ayah Elmaazi
Peter Laverack, Ayah Elmaazi, Dayan Farias Picon and Fahrid Chishty will represent King’s at the competition. Their selection makes the King’s team one of only two UK teams selected on the basis of their written briefs to compete in the finals, which will take place from 9-11 March in Venice, Italy.
The International Moot Court Competition – Law & Religion is hosted by the Fondazione Marcanium and teams from Europe and America will compete to present the best arguments. The subject of the moot is the intersection of law and religion, with the simulated court case revolving around complex issues on the freedom of religious expression in the working environment. The King’s team will compete before a panel of distinguished international judges and will represent the applicant’s side through rounds of oral advocacy before a virtual European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The team write: ‘We are delighted to have been selected for the finals in Venice and are grateful for the support of the Law School at King’s, especially to team supervisor, PhD and Dickson Poon Scholar and international lawyer Kirsten Roberts. The team would also like to thank Dr Phillipa Webb and Mubarak Waseem, King’s alumnus and this year’s Jessup Coach, for kindly judging their practice moots.’
The competition begins in Venice on Monday 8 March. Good luck to all involved!
About the team
The team selected to represent King’s consists of four students from The Dickson Poon School of Law; Peter Laverack, Ayah Elmaazi, Dayan Farias Picon and Fahrid Chishty.
Peter Laverack is presently studying for his LLM in Transnational Law with especial focus on the theory and practice of public international law and human rights. He previously practiced as a commercial litigator with Hogen Lovells and also more recently as a consultant to the Prosecution Section at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, established jointly by the Cambodian government and the U.N. as a tribunal to investigate Khmer Rouge war crimes. Peter works on a part-time basis for the Human Dignity Trusty, a charity aiming to realise the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Commonwealth countries via test-case litigation.
Ayah Elmaazi is studying for her LLM in International Business Law at King’s. Prior to starting her master’s, she practiced as a lawyer at the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority. She is a barrister and has particular interest in Palestinian human rights issues, being actively involved in a number of charities that advocate for peace and justice for Palestinians. Ayah is also a director of a social enterprise that provides employability skills and careers guidance.
Dayan Farias Picon is studying for her LLM at King’s on the transnational pathway, her particular fields of interest being climate change, transnational corporations and human rights. Previously, Dayan obtained a master’s degree in Public Policy as a DAAD scholar at the University of Erfurt in Germany. As a lawyer in Colombia she specialized in commercial law and worked with law firms on arbitration and litigation; she also gained experience in the practice of the laws of intellectual property, energy and natural resources, as well as antitrust and trade regulation. Later on, she continued her career at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
Fahrid Chishty is a Dickson Poon Undergraduate Scholar at King’s, reading for his LLB in Politics, Philosophy & Law (PPL). He studied previously at Mander Portman Woodward in South Kensington, where, as a Principal’s Scholar, he achieved impeccable A-level grades and was subsequently awarded a Council for Independent Education (CIFE) Award for Humanities and English, presented to him by Lord Lexden at the House of Lords. He presently sits as an advisor to New Scotland Yard on issues of extremism and radicalisation among young Muslims in London and has previously served as an Ambassador for the UK at an EU counter-extremism conference for young international leaders.