The PAX Moot Competition started in 2012 as an internal moot court activity at Sciences Po Paris initiated by Professor Horatia Muir Watt and Hélène van Lith as part of the SciencesPo team.

It is a specialized moot court competition focused on Transnational Law and Private International Law issues. In this competition, participants will be able to learn and apply first-hand the complexities and nuances of how international Conventions and EU Regulations interact in the context of globalization. Without pleading on the merits of the case, PAX Moot participants will be given a case geared towards private international law questions (jurisdictional, choice of law or recognition and enforcement issues). Private International Law, or Conflict of Laws, is the set of legal principles, devices, modes of reasoning and rules that leads to the application of different national laws in international cases, allocates jurisdiction and regulates the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

This field of law has increasingly come to the foreground of significant multinational legal disputes, where sometimes the entire case hinges on jurisdiction, applicability of certain national regulations or cross-border effects of judgments. Private International Law now plays an important role in the area of environmental regulations, labour and human rights protections, digital transactions and other global issues