Moots Spotlight (July – September 2022)

One of the valuable educational experiences an NUS Law student can have is to represent the university in mooting competitions. These are some of our students’ achievements in competitions from July to September 2022.

NUS Law claimed the top two spots at the inaugural Rajah & Tann Moot Court Competition 2022!

(L to R): Chua Rui Yuan ’23, Samuel Wee ’24

Congratulations to Chua Rui Yuan ’23 (Champion) and Samuel Wee ’24 (Runner-Up) for their stellar performance at the Rajah & Tann Moot Court Competition!

Over 40 law students from universities in Singapore and UK engaged in a dispute involving allegations of fetters on the exercise of contractual discretion, wrongful termination, as well as the applicability of the minimum legal obligation rule in assessing the quantum of damages to be awarded on appeal.

Rui Yuan and Samuel both emerged as finalists after competing in the preliminary, quarter-final and semi-final rounds – displaying high levels of advocacy, a firm grasp of the materials provided to them, and thorough research skills.

Rui Yuan would like to thank Jacob Tay ’23, Calvin Ong ’23, Muhammad Salihin ’23, Chung Sohyun ’23, and Tan Ying Qian ’24 for their generous support and feedback.  Samuel would like to thank Ng Wei ’24, Caleb Goh ’23 and Tim Ng ’24 for their kind support and feedback.

NUS Law emerged as runner-ups at the 22nd International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot Competition (IMLAM)

(L to R): Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10 (Coach), Wang Shang Yew ’23, Wu Muyu ’22, Muhammad Salihin Bin Mohd Zahrin ’23

NUS Law congratulates Wu Muyu ’22, Wang Shang Yew ’23, and Muhammad Salihin Bin Mohd Zahrin ’23 for winning multiple prizes as a team representing NUS Law at the 22nd International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot (IMLAM) competition held virtually from 3 to 8 July 2022. The NUS Law team was the best performing team in the General Rounds and fought their way to the Grand Finals, where they emerged as the runner-up. Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10, Partner, Rajah & Tann LLP, and a member of the victorious NUS team in 2010, coached the team.

IMLAM 2022 was organised by the School of Law, Murdoch University, but hosted virtually by the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University. At the heart of the IMLAM competition is a moot dispute on commercial maritime law heard before an arbitral tribunal. The dispute in IMLAM 2022 revolved around cargo claims arising out of the international carriage of goods by sea. Teams were required to submit written memoranda for both the claimant freight forwarder and the respondent carrier. They also had to present their arguments as a team of two counsels appearing virtually before an international panel of three arbitrators.

During the General Rounds, the NUS Law team faced four teams, namely, teams from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the University of Hong Kong, the Sri Lanka Law College, and the University of Queensland. Despite facing three of the top eight teams, the NUS Law team won all of their General Rounds. The top eight teams – with NUS Law being in first position – of the General Rounds proceeded to the Quarter Finals.

Thereafter, the NUS Law team competed against teams from the University of Hong Kong (Quarter Finals) and the University of Queensland (Semi-Finals). And in the Grand Finals, NUS Law appeared against the University of Sydney, who competed against teams from the Universitas Indonesia (Quarter Finals) and the Singapore Management University (Semi-Finals).

The NUS Law team appeared before various IMLAM 2022 arbitrators around the world in different time zones. These included leading maritime law practitioners from common law and civil law jurisdictions, a Queen’s Counsel from England, Senior Counsels from Australia, a marine surveyor from Australia, and a well-known academic, Professor Martin Davies.

In the Grand Finals, the NUS Law team appeared before an experienced panel of judges known for their expertise in maritime law: Sir Bernard Eder (International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court and former Judge of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales), Justice Sarah Derrington (Federal Court of Australia), who founded IMLAM in 2000, and Justice Belinda Ang (Supreme Court of Singapore). The team from the University of Sydney won the Grand Finals, which was live-streamed on YouTube.

As the highest ranked team in the General Rounds, the NUS Law team takes home a two-fold award: the David Martin-Clark Trophy donated by the TT Club, and the accompanying prize sponsored by Helmsman LLC. The NUS Law team also received the first runner-up prize sponsored by DLA Piper.

The NUS Law team would like to express their gratitude to the following:

Professor Stephen Girvin, Associate Professor Paul Myburgh, Adjunct Professor Neale Gregson, Derek Tan ’98, Bernard Yee ’00, Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10, Chen Zhida ’13, Jonathan Tan ’14, Davis Tan (Partner, Rajah & Tann LLP), Huang Peide LLB ’16, LLM ’22, Leung Liwen ’17, Wang Yufei ’17, Douglas Lok ’17, Tan Kah Wai ’19, Low Zhe Ning ’19, Marcus Chiang ’19, Fabian Chiang ’19, Kenneth Lim ’19, Alfred Li ’20, Benson Fan ’22, Wong Weitao ’22, CJ Koh Law Library and its librarians, especially Ms Suguna Balasingam, for their help in providing research resources and library support. Staff of the Centre for Maritime Law, especially Ms Rowena Goh, for administrative support throughout the competition.

Finally, in addition to their coach, Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10, the team members would especially like to thank Leung Liwen ’17 and Wong Weitao ’22 for their constant support throughout the year.

Congratulations to the Champions of the 8th Herbert Smith Freehills Competition Law Moot 2022

(L to R): Samuel Ye ’22, Associate Professor Burton Ong ’99, Stanley Woo ’22, Brandon Wong ’23, Zhong Tianyu ’23

This international moot competition was conducted in-person at King’s College London, where 12 teams were selected from an initial pool of over 40 participant teams to present their oral submissions on a moot problem dealing with the regulation of mergers in oligopolistic markets.  The NUS Law team was represented by Stanley Woo ’22, Samuel Ye ’22, Brandon Wong ’23 and Zhong Tianyu ’23.  The team coach was Associate Professor Burton Ong ’99.

In a moot competition where most of the participants were graduate law students, our NUS undergraduate team powered through the preliminary oral rounds on Friday, 17 June and the knock-out rounds on Saturday, 18 June for 12 hours on both days.  Along the way, the team encountered and prevailed over teams from the Jindal Global Law School, Utrecht University Law School, Hong Kong University Law School, Mumbai University and, at the final round, the Dickson Poon School of Law from King’s College London. In addition, the team’s written memorial was ranked second in the competition. Brandon also received a Certificate of Achievement for his outstanding advocacy skills.

This is the third time in three years that NUS Law has reached the finals of this competition, with the two previous editions conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams. This is also the second time that NUS Law has won this moot competition, the first time occurring in the inaugural edition in 2015.

Tomoe Suzuki ’21 and Benjamin Wong ’15 provided on-site support for the team in London

Stanley Woo ’22 and Samuel Ye ’22 at the NUS Law 2022 Commencement ceremony with Dean Simon Chesterman, Vice Dean Eleanor Wong and A/P Burton Ong

The team would like to acknowledge the sponsorship and support of Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) for its sponsorship of the team, especially Winnie Ching, Herbert Fung and Cindy Chang for their time and guidance. We are also grateful to Scott Clements, Chan Jia Sheng ’18 and Priscilla Seah ’21 from Allen & Gledhill, as well as Marc Waha, Jeremiah Chew ’10, Abigail Wong ’21, Jamie Cooke and Jason Logendra from Norton Rose Fulbright for their generous assistance.

Finally, we are extremely thankful for the unwavering encouragement and friendship of our community of ardent HSF alumni teams, who gave the team numerous practice rounds and provided constant moral support: Melissa Heng ’21, Jeremy Teo ’21, Nicholas Yeo ’21, Ryan Kwan ’20, Rachel Ang ’20, Abigail Wong ’20, Kim Bumsoo ’19, Sharon Lee ’18, Teo Shu Hui ’19, Jessica Mau ’17, Gan Wei Rong ’17, Mok Ho Fai ’17, Arjuna Segathesan ’17, Jeanette Wong ’17, Lee Ji En ’17, Erwin Wan ’16, Ng Yee Ting ’16 and Jeremiah Lau ’15. Special recognition to Benjamin Wong ’15 and Tomoe Suzuki ’21 for their “on-site support” in London – thank you for your incredible kindness and inspiration to the team!