The National Law School of India University (NLS), Bangalore, India, won the 21st Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, organized annually by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). The 2012 World Finals were held as usual during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which took place in Naples, Italy, 1-5 October 2012. In the Final Round, held on October 4, the NLS, as the winner of the Asia Pacific region, faced the winner of the European region, the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. The winning team also won the awards for Best Memorial and Best Oralist.

Continuing the tradition of the IISL, the Final Round was judged by three Judges from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This year, the IISL was honored to have a panel consisting of Judge Leonid Skotnikov, Judge Hanqin Xue, and Judge Joan Donoghue.

Four regions participated in the World Finals for the first time in Naples, as the competition welcomed the addition of the African region this year. The Obafemi Awolowo University, City of Ile-Ife, Nigeria, representing Africa, and the University of California, Davis, California, USA, representing North America, participated in the semi-final rounds. Students from more than 54 universities across the globe competed in the Manfred Lachs Competition this year, which concerned a hypothetical case involving the unauthorized removal of hazardous satellites from Earth orbit.

The case for the 22nd Manfred Lachs Competition has been released, and preparations are underway for the World Finals which will be held in Beijing, China, in October, 2013, during the 56th Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space of the IISL. Additional information concerning the 2012 and the 2013 competitions is available at the Manfred Lachs Competition website http://www.iislweb.org/lachsmoot

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