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NUS Law students chalk up wins at prestigious international
mooting competitions
The
National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Law has been sweeping
aside stiff competition from other prestigious internationally-renowned law
schools to win big on the international mooting scene.
Since January 2008, they have been awarded champions in four international
mooting competitions from different parts of the world. They include the
Oxford Intellectual Property Mooting Competition held in London, the
Alexander Stone Mooting Competition held in Scotland, the 6th
Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot and the
international mooting competition at the Asian Law Students’ International
Conference held in Kuala Lumpur.
Oxford International Intellectual Property Mooting Competition (14 -
16 March 08)
An NUS team comprising 4th year law undergrads Liu Zeming and
Nuraisah Ruslan had beaten off stiff competition from 23 international teams
to clinch first position at the highly prestigious Oxford Intellectual
Property Moot Competition. They had beaten the University of British
Columbia in the final round to clinch the title. This is the second time
that NUS had won this competition in three years, an achievement that Lord
Justice Mummery highlighted when announcing the results. Lord Justice
Mummery was the chief judge of the competition and a senior Lord Justice of
the Her Majesty’s Courts Service under the Ministry of Justice.
Organised by the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, this year’s
competition attracted teams from as far afield as Canada, Australia, Hong
Kong and Sri Lanka. Teams from United Kingdom include Oxford University,
Cambridge University, University College London, London School of Economics,
King’s College London, Edinburgh Law School, University of Aberdeen and
others. The NUS team’s participation in this competition was sponsored by
the Singapore IP Academy.
Alexander
Stone Mooting Competition (13 March 08)
An NUS law undergrad on exchange at the University of Glasgow had helped the
university defend its championship title at the Alexander Stone Mooting
Competition, a national-level competition among Scottish law schools. Top
universities like the Edinburg Law School, The University of Strathclyde,
University of Dundee, University of Aberdeen and others participated in this
competition.
Third year undergrad Navin Shanmugaraj Thevar was nominated to represent the
University of Glasgow after clinching the 3rd placing in its
internal mooting competition, the Glasgow Dean’s Cup. Navin was the only
exchange student participating in this year’s Alexander Stone Mooting
Competition, and the final of the competition was judged by a judge from the
House of Lords, the highest civil court in Scotland.
6th Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law
Moot (8 March 08)
The 6th Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot
was co-organised by the Hong Kong Red Cross and the International Committee
of the Red Cross in collaboration with the Faculty of Law of the University
of Hong Kong and the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong.
Clinching the first position for NUS were 4th year undergrad Chan
Yong Wei and 3rd year undergrad Lim Ching Wen.
This is the second time that NUS has won this competition, touted as the
first and unique Institute of Higher Learning moot competition in the
Asia-Pacific region that aims to raise awareness of international
humanitarian issues among law students through examination and debate of
wider social issues rather than black letter law. Participating universities
include China Foreign Affairs University from Beijing, Chulalongkorn
University from Bangkok, Ewha Womans University from Seoul, Monash
University from Australia, The University of Hong Kong from Hong Kong,
National Taiwan University from Taipei, and others.
Asian Law
Students’ International Conference 2008 (10 - 18 Jan 08)
An NUS team comprising 3rd year undergrads Joel Chen, Edward Ti,
Zhuo Wenzhao, and first year undergrad Christine Huang had won the
international mooting competition at the Asian Law Students' International
Conference (ALSIC) 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, organised by the Asian Law
Students' Association (ALSA).
This year's moot problem centered around issues of International Criminal
Law involving the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in
respect of war crimes. The final round was held before a panel of three
judges comprising two Malaysian Federal Court Judges, and a Judge of the
Court of Appeal. After a tough battle against the delegates from Hong Kong,
Singapore emerged champions, with one of the students winning the additional
award of Best Mooter. NUS has won the last two international competitions in
2006 in Singapore, and in 2007 at Bangkok.
Other
mooting achievements
In addition,
NUS teams did consistently well in all the other moots they participated in
this year.
NUS were the
runners-up in the Asia Pacific Regional Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space
Law Moots. Final year student Adam Maniam was named overall best speaker as
well as best speaker in the finals, a feat the judges described as rare.
Third year law undergraduates
Harpreet Kaur Dhillon and Vishal Harnal came in third in the Asia Cup
International Law Moot Court Competition which was held in Japan from 26 to
28 August 2008. Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan since
2003, this International Law Moot Court Competition is highly reputed among
the Asian international law circles and has acquired a large number of
participants and galleries every year. The team was also awarded the
Fighting Spirit Award at this year’s competition.
NUS also
topped all scores in the general rounds of the Willem C. Vis International
Commercial Arbitration Moot -- a moot where over 200 teams take part. The
team advanced all the way to the quarterfinals and received honourable
mention for its written submissions and oralist Wong Liang Wei.
In the
Sherman Sterling Philip C. Jessup International law Moot, the NUS team also
advanced to the quarterfinals losing only to eventual winners Case Western
Reserve University.
Third-year law student Teo Kai Xiang represented
Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven while on the Student Exchange Programme
and was unanimously elected as the best orator for the European Regional
Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Moot Competition. His team was ranked
first at the end of the preliminary rounds and eventually went on to
participate in the finals where they edged out their opponents in the oral
arguments. The team was ranked second overall and notably, was one of only 2
undergraduate teams in the competition.
The NUS
mooting programme aims at providing opportunities for students to take part
in a wide range of international competition. While the school has an
enviable winning record, it prides itself on, more importantly, consistently
reaching an advanced level in virtually every competition it participates
in.
http://newshub.nus.edu.sg/headlines/0805/law_14may08.htm
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