This Court sees delegates collaborate in teams of four to prosecute or defend one side of a case dealing with matters such as genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes. Teams produce written legal research briefs prior to the conference that serve as the foundation for their arguments. When a team’s case is not being heard, delegates act as judges for the other three cases being debated by the committee, following the legal sides of the arguments being made to render their verdicts.
A brief is the guiding document that justices will use to prepare themselves to hear your presentation of the case as well as use as a reference when deliberating your case. The brief consists of several distinct sections:
Introduction. It is designed to give the team a brief opportunity to give the historical background of the case in no more than one single-spaced page.
The Statement of Facts. Within this section, the team is given the opportunity to provide an orderly written presentation of the facts directly involved with the case at hand. This should be an unbiased, non-debatable presentation and should be three to four single-spaced pages in length.
Argument. In this section, you present your case supporting or opposing each charge. You present the evidence in this section in whatever manner you choose- biased or unbiased, chronologically or otherwise, but keep in mind that the most direct, simple, and convincing case is often times the best for the court to read and understand. The length of this section will differ depending on the number of charges in the case.
Conclusion. Reinforces the strong points of your argument and makes the final push for why your side of the case is the correct side to rule in favor of. A good conclusion will remind the court of the charges and outline with specific facts as to why or why not the charges are valid.
Table of Authorities. Is essentially a bibliography for the information you used in your brief. A short inclusion of the surrounding context for any information you use in your brief should be included in the Table for the benefit of the court at the conference. Also included at the beginning of the brief should be a title page and Table of Contents.
Intl Criminal Court (ICC)
Rome Statute Elements of Crimes Charged 2009
