Asia Cup Competition: NUS Law marks Fifth Win!

NUS Law emerged overall champion for the second consecutive year, taking home the Asia Cup (Foreign Minister’s Award) as well as the award for the third best memorial. The team was made up of Ayana Ki ’19, Law May Ning ’19, Melody Lau ’19 and Joel Sherard ’20. Joel and Melody were also named joint Best Oralists of the moot, a first for the competition.

This is NUS’ fifth overall Asia Cup victory, tying Ateneo Law School for the most number of Asia Cup wins.

The 2017 moot problem focused on the UN Law of the Sea and Transnational Organized Crime Conventions, with issues including exercise of criminal jurisdiction, the legality of enforcement measures and the use of force against other naval vessels.

NUS Law defeated SMU School of Law in the national memorial round and was selected to represent Singapore. This was the second consecutive win of the national round since both teams started competing for the slot.

Thereafter, the team faced stiff competition from schools including from St La Salle University, Waseda University, Thammasat University and the University of Malaya in the oral rounds. The team advanced to the finals after emerging top in the preliminary round.

The finals of the moot were judged by professors from top Japanese universities and representatives of the International Legal Affairs division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The moot is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as well as the Japanese Society of International Law.

This year marks the 19th round of the competition since its inception in 1999. The moot brings together over 40 schools from various Asian countries, competing first in a memorial round to determine each country’s representative and thereafter the final oral rounds in Tokyo.