12/10/15 (written by msmith) – A team of OASIS workshop and study trip participants, Eduardo Martínez Martínez, Diego Manrique Azzolini, Brenda Montes de Oca Acatitla, and Axel Valverde Andalón, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico Law School (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM), participated in an international moot court competition in November. The team of four UNAM students were coached by two OASIS instructors. The three other UNAM students on the team were Jazmin Martínez García, Brandon Miguel Reyes Salinas, and Ximena Decelis Chavez.
After winning the regional competition in Mexico, the UNAM team traveled to Argentina to compete in the National University Criminal Litigation Competition (Concurso Nacional Universitario de Litigación Penal). In the elimination round, the UNAM team argued three cases, with three UNAM students per case. The first case against the Catholic University of Chile (Universidad Catolica de Chile) was argued by Eduardo Martínez Martínez, Diego Manrique Azzolini, and Brenda Montes de Oca Acatitla. The second case against the University of Pampa, Argentina (Universidad de la Pampa, Argentina) was argued by Axel Valverde Andalón, Jazmin Martínez García, and Eduardo Martínez Martínez. The third case against the University of Columbia (Universidad de Colombia) was argued by Brandon Miguel Reyes Salinas, Diego Manrique Azzolini, and Brenda Montes de Oca Acatitla. In the final, Eduardo Martínez Martínez, Diego Manrique Azzolini, and Brenda Montes de Oca Acatitla argued against the University of Guanajuato (Universidad de Guanajuato). The international competition was organized by the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales, INECIP), the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the National University of la Plata (La Universidad Nacional de la Plata).
The UNAM team came in second place. As Brenda Montes de Oca Acatitla recalls her time in Argentina, she notes how much her time in OASIS helped her prepare for the competition. “I reviewed my notes that I had taken throughout my time in OASIS to prepare my opening statements and cross-examination questions with the structures that were given to us during the course…Argentina applauded us a lot, the evaluators constantly told us we knew well how to manage the witnesses, how to transmit what we wanted to communicate and that there was always consistency from the opening statement to the closing statement.”
