NUS Law Wins Asia Cup Moot Court Competition

After an absence of six years, Team NUS Law marked its return to the Asia Cup Moot Court competition with stunning success. The team, comprising Kiu Yan Yu ’18, Dana Chang ’18, Ephraim Tan ’18, Ong Chee Yeow ’18 and Charlotte Wang ’18, pulled off a clean sweep of the top prizes including the Best Overall Team, Best Memorial and Best Oralist (Dana Chang ’18). This is only the third time in the Cup’s 19-year history that a team has managed to achieve such a feat.

The Asia Cup Moot is a regional moot court competition hosted by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that attracts teams from law schools all around Asia. The 2016 edition of the Cup featured 43 law schools in total, out of which 13 went on to represent their country in the oral rounds held in Tokyo.

This year’s moot problem centred on the law of the sea, involving a State’s claim of historic fishing rights in another State’s territorial sea and its EEZ. Oralists had to present on issues such as historic fishing rights in UNCLOS, principles of good faith in international law, and the powers of the ICJ to order specific remedies.

The journey to the finals in Tokyo was an arduous one. The team first had to compete against SMU for the privilege of representing Singapore in the international rounds. There, they mooted against teams from Tokyo University and West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in the preliminary rounds, before advancing to face regional powerhouse Ateneo Law School (the most successful law school in the history of the competition) in the finals. After an intense final round, the NUS Law team emerged triumphant, bringing home the trophy for the first time since 2005.

Ong Chee Yeow ’18, said: “Beyond what we have accomplished in the competition, I am prouder still of what we have become – a tightly knit group that is nothing short of a family. Despite having entered the competition at a fairly late juncture, we still managed to pull through due to the hard work put in by everyone on the team. Special thanks, of course, also goes out to NUS’s mooting alumnus and faculty. Your input and guidance has made every difference in the outcome of this competition.”

The team would like to extend their sincere gratitude to those who have helped them throughout their journey. Their success would not have been possible without the help and guidance of:

• Team coach and mentor: Associate Professor Lim Lei Theng ’92
• Faculty members: Associate Professor Robert Beckman, Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85, Professor Antony Anghie, and Dr Gerardine Goh-Escolar ’02
• Practitioners: Ms Joan Lim-Casanova ’06, Mr Jordan Tan ’08, Mr Jason Chan ’02, Mr Ramesh Selvaraj ’04, Ms Koh Swee Yen ’04, Ms Mak Shinyi ’14, Mr Daniel Liu, Ms Hannah Lee ’15, Ms Deena Bajrai and Ms Yau Pui Man
•  NUS mooting alumni: Chin Jincheng ’13, Victor Leong ’16, Joshua Hiew ’17, Sim Bing Wen ’15, David Isidore Tan ’16, Kelvin Chong ’15, Hairul Hakkim ’16, Mehaerun Simaa ’16, Douglas Wong ’16 and Parveen Kaur ’16

NUS Law congratulates the team on their well-deserved victory!