NUS Law emerges as 1st Runners-up at IMLAM 2025

From left: Wu Muyu, Nur Namirah Binte Abdul Rahim, Lin Jiasheng, Bryan Liow Jia Rong, Professor Stephen Girvin and Jeremy Lok Jie Kang.

NUS Law congratulates Lin Jiasheng ’25, Nur Namirah Binte Abdul Rahim ’25, Jeremy Lok Jie Kang ’26 and Bryan Liow Jia Rong ’26, who represented NUS Law at the 25th International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot (IMLAM) competition held from 6th to 11th July 2025 (IMLAM 2025) in Sydney. The NUS Law team fought their way to the Grand Finals, where they emerged as the runners-up. Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10, Partner at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, a member of the victorious NUS team in 2010, coached the team, assisted by Wu Muyu ’22, a former IMLAM team member and member of the runner-up team in 2022, now Associate at Incisive Law LLC, and Wong Weitao ’22, Associate at Helmsman LLC.

IMLAM 2025 is administered by an Organising Committee supported by the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) and was hosted by the University of Sydney Law School. At the heart of the IMLAM competition is a moot dispute on commercial maritime law heard before an arbitral tribunal. The dispute in IMLAM 2025 concerned a cargo claim arising from the carriage of a cargo of soya beans in bulk and required consideration of the Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement (as amended). Teams were required to submit written memoranda for both the claimant shipowner and the respondent charterer. They also had to present their arguments as a team of two counsel before an international panel of three arbitrators.

22* teams submitted written memoranda. During the General Rounds, the NUS Law team faced four teams: the National Law University, Jodhpur, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, University of Copenhagen, and University of Versailles (Paris-Saclay). The top eight teams from the General Rounds proceeded to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, NUS Law faced Singapore Management University and emerged victorious.

Thereafter, the NUS Law team competed against the team from the University of Sydney in the semi-finals and were again victorious.

In the Grand Finals, NUS faced the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, who were declared the Champions.

The NUS Law team appeared before various IMLAM 2025 arbitrators,  including leading maritime law practitioners from throughout the common law world.

In the Grand Finals, the NUS Law team appeared before an experienced panel of judges known for their expertise in maritime law: the Honourable Andrew Bell (Chief Justice of New South Wales), Justice Sarah C Derrington (Federal Court of Australia), who founded IMLAM in 2000, and Mr Gregory Nell SC (New Chambers).

The NUS Law team takes home a two-fold award for the Best Speaker in the General Rounds (awarded to Lin Jiasheng ’25), and the first runner-up prize in the Grand Finals.

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

1. Professor Stephen Girvin
2. Adjunct Professor Neale Gregson
3. Associate Professor Eleanor Wong
4. Thomas Tan ’87 (Haridass Ho and Partners) (CML Advisory Board)
5. Leong Kah Wah ’90 (Rajah & Tann Singapore LLC)
6. Winston Kwek ’90 (Rajah & Tann Singapore LLC)
7. Dedi Affandi bin Ahmad ’10 (Coach) (Rajah & Tann Singapore LLC) (CML Advisory Board)
8. Jason Leong ’10 (MPA)
9. Maureen Poh ’07 (Helmsman LLC) (CML Advisory Board)
10. Erik Widjaja ’10 (Allen & Gledhill LLC) (CML Advisory Board)
11. Leung Liwen’17 (2017 IMLAM team member) (Research Assistant, CML)
12. Douglas Lok ’17 (2017 IMLAM team member)
13. Wang Yufei ’17 (2017 IMLAM team member)
14. Bay Jia Wei ’22 (2021 Jessup team member) (Allen & Gledhill LLP)
15. Arjit Pandey ’22 (2021 Jessup team member) (Supreme Court of Singapore)
16. Wu Muyu ’22 (Assistant Coach) (Incisive Law LLC)
17. Wong Weitao ’22 (Helmsman LLC)
18. Low Yan Feng ’23 (Helmsman LLC)
19. Muhammad Salihin Zahrin ’23 (2022 IMLAM team member) (Rajah & Tann Singapore LLC)
20. Lennon Chia ’24 (MPA)
21. Teo Zi Yang ’25 (2024 IMLAM team member)
22. Zenos Jin Haofeng ’25 (2024 IMLAM team member) (Allen & Gledhill LLP)
23. Nick Fell (BW Group) (CML Advisory Board)
24. Justine Fox (BW Group)
25. Shanna Ghose (Hill Dickinson LLP) (CML Advisory Board)
26. Shruthi Harini Janardhanan (MPA)
27. Johnny Lam (Helmsman LLC)
28. Dirk Janßen (independent Arbitrator) (CML Advisory Board)
29. Shanen Nanoo (Incisive Law LLC)
30. Dorcas Seah (Allen & Gledhill LLC)
31. Siddharth Sriram (Incisive Law LLC)
32. Staff of the Centre for Maritime Law, especially Ms Rowena Goh and Ms Jothi Bhavani, 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 their assistant coach, Wu Muyu ’22, and also Wong Weitao ’22 for their constant support throughout the past year.

*The 22 teams were from the following universities:

1. Aix Marseille Université
2. Christ (deemed to be University), Bangalore
3. Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Sabbavaram
4. Erasmus University Rotterdam
5. Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
6. Kirit P Mehta School of Law, NMIMS Mumbai
7. NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
8. National Law School of India University, Bangalore
9. National Law University, Delhi
10. National Law University, Jodhpur
11. National University of Singapore
12. National University of Management (NUM), Phnom Penh, Cambodia
13. Singapore Management University
14. Symbiosis Law School
15. University of Copenhagen
16. Universitas Diponegoro
17. Universitas Indonesia
18. University of Hong Kong
19. University of Queensland
20. University of Sydney
21. University of Versailles (Paris-Saclay)
22. West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata