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Moots Spotlight (October 2021 to June 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 October 2021 to June 2022.
NUS Law emerged as Champions at the LAWASIA International Moot Competition 2021
(L-R): Samuel Wee ’24, Nguyen Minh Tri ’24, Karthik Vyas ’24
NUS Law students Samuel Wee ’24, Karthik Vyas ’24, and Nguyen Minh Tri ’24 emerged as Champions at the LAWASIA International Moot Competition 2021. This is the first time NUS Law won the competition.
Undefeated during all the preliminary rounds, the three speakers did outstandingly well. Karthik was awarded the Mah Weng Kwai Trophy as the Best Mooter for his exceptional performance throughout the competition; Minh Tri was the top ranked speaker in the Final Round and Samuel was the top ranked speaker in the Semi-Final Round.
The moot problem involved an interplay of five issues arising from a contractual dispute between two commercial entities, involving the AIAC Arbitration Rules, the Prague Rules on Efficient Proceedings in International Arbitration, laws on trade secrets and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG); amongst other areas of national law. Teams at the competition had to moot as both the Claimant and Respondent throughout the rounds, benched by respected panels of judges from across 23 jurisdictions.
The team expressed their immense gratitude to Yohanes Ng ’21 (LAWASIA Runner-up 2018) for coaching the team while concurrently preparing for the Part B exam, Mr Tan Ken Hwee (Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer – Judiciary, Supreme Court of Singapore) and Ms Lim Wei Lee (Partner, WongPartnership LLP) for taking time off their busy schedules to bench the team, as well as seniors and alumni Stella Teng ’22, Chester Chin ’22, Ariel Tan ’22, Clara Low ’22, Nikhil Angappan ’21, Rebecca Loo ’21, Sia Bao Huei ’21, Abigail Fernandez ’21, Violet Huang ’20, Tan Fong Han ’20 and Lim Siyang Lucas ’20, who have all competed at LAWASIA before, and Ong Kye Jing ’21 and Samuel Teo ’21 for their training sessions and for sharing their astute observations on the moot problem with the team.
NUS Law clinched the top awards at the B.A. Mallal Moot 2021
(L to R): Johan Ding ’24, Audity Tareq ’24, Elizabeth Koh ’24, Dakshayani Ravindran ’24
NUS Law clinched the top awards at the Grand Finals of the B.A. Mallal Moot on 22 October 2021, emerging as the top four finalists from over 70 competitors. The mooters argued on a hypothetical case regarding the constitutional rights of religious minorities in pandemic times, which showcases their research and oral advocacy skills.
Congratulations to Audity Binta Tareq ’22 for winning the B.A. Mallal Moot 2021, and to the finalists:
First Runner-Up
Johan Ding ’24
Joint Second Runners-Up
Dakshayani Ravindran ’24 and Elizabeth Koh ’24
Best Memorial
Joshua Foo ’24
The team expressed their appreciation to the Grand Final Judges – Judicial Commissioner Kwek Mean Luck SC, Jason Chan SC ’02 and Associate Professor Jaclyn Neo ’03 for rigorously engaging the finalists and for providing their insightful feedback to the mooters.
NUS Law won the 20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Sophia 2021 Competition
(L-R): Samuel Tay ’25, Whang Chia Ning ’25, Damian Lee ’25, Khor Jia Wei ’25, Feng Yuxin ’25, Nicholas Ong ’25, Vivien Sim ’25, Kenneth Tan ’25
Held on 6 and 7 November 2021, the 20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Sophia saw participation from Asian law schools across countries such as Japan, Australia, and Thailand amongst other countries. Comprising of both an arbitration and negotiation component, this competition problem required the teams to resolve several dispute based on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC) and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.
After two days of arbitration and negotiation, the NUS contingent emerged as overall champions and received the prestigious Sumitomo Competition Award. Additionally, the contingent received the CIArb Award as the university contingent with the highest total points in the arbitration component.
NUS Team A:
Damian Lee ’25
Khor Jia Wei ’25
Samuel Tay ’25
Whang Chia Ning ’25
NUS Team B:
Feng Yuxin ’25
Kenneth Tan ’25
Nicholas Ong’ 25
Vivien Sim ’25
The team expressed their gratitude to Jeriel Teo ’24 andSamuel Wee ’24 (INC Sophia Champions 2020) for coaching the team while preparing for their own moots and exams; Samuel Teo ’21, Nikhil Angappan ’21, Jeremy Teo ’21, Edwin Chan ’24 and Kaezeel Yeo ’24 for the benching sessions.
NUS Law showcased excellent performance at the International Mediation Singapore 2021
Five of our NUS teams performed excellently well at the recently concluded International Mediation Singapore (IMSG) 2021, which was held across two weekends (22 to 24 October and 30 to 31 October) virtually.
| Team | Mediation Advocacy | Mediator |
| Team 35 – Team Team Team
Kaezeel Yeo ’24 |
Gold | Gold |
| Team 36 – Here.We.Go
Wayde Chan ’24 |
Bronze | Bronze |
| Team 37 – Concord
Melvin Seto ’25 |
Gold | Gold |
| Team 38 – Mediation Team 6
Benjiro Tan ’22 |
Gold | Gold |
| Team 39 – Oldham
Ernest Chua ’22 |
Gold | Bronze |
Congratulations to our CMS Intellectual Property Moot 2022 winners
(L to R): Jarrett Chen ’24, Valerie Lim ’22, Kevin Tang ’23, Shaun Hue ’25
The CMS Intellectual Property Moot 2022 saw 57 competitors battling it out and after several gruelling online rounds, the finals were held on 21 January 2022 at the Wee Chong Jin Moot Court. The top four finalists engaged each other on an interesting problem involving the topic of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and intellectual property law. After an exciting performance by the finalists, we congratulate our winners for their rousing performance at the finals!
Champion
Kevin Tang ’23
1st Runner-Up
Valerie Lim An Qi ’22
Joint 2nd Runners-Up
Chen Tong Hao Jarrett ’24 and Shaun Hue Yong Shan ’25
NUS Law won the John H Jackson WTO Moot Competition Asia Regional Round 2022
(L to R): Jack Hu LLM ’22, Ang Kai Le ’22, Samuel Koh ’22, Gerry Zhang ’22
NUS Law won the John H Jackson WTO Moot Competition Asia Regional Round held virtually between 17 to 20 February 2022. The winners of the NUS Law WTO Moot Team 2022 consisted of Jack Hu LLM ’22, Ang Kai Le ’22, Samuel Koh ’22, and Gerry Zhang ’22. Jack Hu clinched Best Speaker in the Preliminary Round, and Samuel Koh won Best Speaker in the Finals. This is the second time NUS Law has won the John H Jackson WTO Moot Competition Asia Regional Round in the last 3 years.
The team thanked Tan Pei Wei ’17, Samuel Lee ’19 (Best Speaker Geneva Rounds 2018), Colin Wu ’18, Suah Boon Choong ’18 (Best Speaker Asian Regionals 2018), Sandra Tan ’20, Melinna Teo ’20, Stephanie Sim ’20, Tan Wen Qi ’20 (Best Speaker Asian Regionals and Geneva Rounds 2020), Jayesh Melvani ’22 (Best Speaker Asian Regionals 2021), Jonathan Ng ’22, Sherlyn Lim ’21, and Elizabeth Chin ’22. Other people who also helped coach the team and panel for the training were Jordan Ng ’22, Ethan Song ’22, Suraj Bagalkoti ’22, Bay Jia Wei ’22, Natalie Poh ’22, Chong Fu Shan ’22, Fuad Johari ’13.
As Asian champions, the team will be proceeding to the Geneva Round which may possibly be held in person at the WTO in late-2022.
NUS Law made a clean sweep at the Grand Finals of the International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2022
(L to R): Ng Wei ’24, Dakshayani Ravindran ’24, Elizabeth Koh ’24, Sarfaroj Malik ’24
NUS Law once again excelled at the Grand Finals of Wong Partnership International Commercial Arbitration Moot, held at the Wee Chong Jin Moot Court, on 18 February 2022.
The finals saw four finalists from NUS Law battling it out for the top position in front of a distinguished panel of judges comprising the Honourable Justice Andre Maniam, Chiann Bao of Arbitration Chambers, and Ms Koh Swee Yen, SC ’04 (Partner at Wong Partnership’s Commercial & Corporate Disputes, and International Arbitration Practices).
We would like to offer our finalists our heartiest congratulations!
Champion
Dakshayani Ravindran ’24
First Runner-up
Ng Wei ’24
Joint Second Runners-up
Elizabeth Koh Yuan ’24 and Sarfaroj Malik ’24
The team expressed their heartfelt appreciation to the Grand Final Judges, Justice Andre Maniam, Ms Chiann Bao of Arbitration Chambers and Ms Koh Swee Yen, SC ’04 (Partner at Wong Partnership’s Commercial & Corporate Disputes, and International Arbitration Practices) for their insightful questions and invaluable feedback. The team also thank Wong Partnership LLP for sponsoring the ICAM 2022 Moot.
NUS Law emerged as Champion in the Mediation category for Lex Infinitum 2022
(L to R): David Zhang ’24, Ashley Teh ’22, Andrew Ng ’22
Congratulations to David Zhang ’24 for emerging as the Winning Mediator, and Ashley Teh ’22 and Andrew Ng ’22 for emerging as Quarter-Finalists at the Lex Infinitum International Dispute Resolution Competition 2022! This is the third year running that NUS Law has clinched the Mediator championship and the fourth consecutive year that our Negotiating Team has made it to the Quarter-Finals.
Lex Infinitum 2022 took place virtually from 24 to 27 February with a total of 28 negotiating teams and 14 mediators from different countries such as India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Russia.
The team expressed their heartfelt gratitude to their coaches Isabella Tan ’21 and Ong Hui Wen ’22 for their generous and unwavering support. The team also thanked the their seniors and course mates for taking time out of their busy schedules to provide their valuable insights: Nikhil Angappan ’21, Samuel Teo ’21, Samuel Wittberger ’21, Suraj Bagalkoti ’22, Chan You Quan ’22, Darren Chen ’22, Ernest Chua ’22, Karen Cusion ’22, Ernest Low ’22, Rachael Seow ’22, Jerald Tan ’22, Nicole Tan ’22, Tan Pei Han ’22, Audity Binta Tareq ’22, Eudoia Chi ’23, Marc Tham ’23, Yee Teng ’22, Yeo Jing Wen ’22, Edwin Chan ’24, Sarfaroj Ahmed Malik ’24, Nicholas Phang ’24, Megan Tan ’24, Kaezeel Yeo ’24, and Seth Tay ’25. A special thanks was also extended to Professor Joel Lee for his learned guidance.
NUS Law clinched the Top place at the NLIU INADR International Mediation Tournament 2022
(L to R): Celester Tan ’24, Chloe Kho ’25, Melvin Seto ’25
Congratulations Celester Tan ’24, Chloe Kho ’25 and Melvin Seto ’25 for emerging as the Champion Negotiation team, as well as the 1st Runner-Up for Mediation in the 10th NLIU INADR International Mediation Tournament 2022.
The team was the only team to have advanced into the finals for both the client-counsel and mediation categories. In addition, Chloe bagged the Best Counsel and 2nd Best Mediator in the preliminary rounds, while Melvin bagged Best Client in the preliminary rounds. Both Chloe and Melvin were also named the 2nd Best Client-Counsel Pair in the preliminary rounds.
The competition was held virtually from 24 to 27 March 2022, hosted by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Cell and National Law Institute University, Bhopal. The participants had the honour of going up against 33 teams from all over the world.
The team expressed their heartfelt gratitude towards their coaches Sarfaroj Ahmed Malik ’24 and Edwin Chan ’24 for taking time out of their busy schedules to guide the team. The team would also thanked the following seniors who have helped them in preparation for this competition: Audity Binta Tareq ’22, Clement Yew ’24, Muhammad Syazwan Bin Ramli ’24, Caleb Lim ’24, Jotham Ng ’24, Sinharoy Suranjana ’24, Aileen Lee ’24, Emily Francis ’25, Kim Ye Dam ’25, Hazel Wong ’25, Samuel Tay ’25, and Darius Lee ’25.
NUS Law emerged as Champions at the Virtual International Mediation Competition 2022
(L to R): Darius Lee ’25, Ashley Ong ’25, Lee Hilman ’25
Congratulations Ashley Ong ’25, Lee Hilman ’25, and Darius Lee ’25 for emerging champions of the MediateGuru 2nd Virtual International Mediation Competition 2022!
Held from 24 – 27 March 2022, the team went through 2 preliminary rounds before getting past the semi-finals and emerging champions in the finals the competition. The team was also scored the highest out of 44 participating teams for the 2 preliminary rounds.
The team expressed their deepest gratitude to Shannen Chua ’23, Tan Pei Han ’22, Ernest Chua ’22, Heather Ng ’24, Joel See ’23, and Wayde Chan ’24 for their guidance and support leading up to the competition.
NUS Law achieved excellent results in the CDRC x SULS Bilateral Mediation Competition 2022
(L to R): Beatrice Yeo ’25 and Tan Yin Xuan ’25
Congratulations to Tan Yin Xuan ’25 and Beatrice Yeo ’25 for achieving excellent results at the CDRC x Sydney University Law Society (SULS) Bilateral Mediation Competition 2022!
The competition was held virtually from 26 to 27 March 2022, hosted in collaboration with the University of Sydney Law Society and supported by Allen & Gledhill LLP and the Society of Mediation Professionals (Singapore).
The participants had the honour of testing their skills as mediators and be judged by professional mediators and negotiators from Singapore and Australia. It aimed to promote cohesiveness and cultural exchanges between the two law schools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The team would like to express their heartfelt gratitude towards the CDRC Ex-Co for organising the competition and taking the time to educate their members in the foundations of mediation. None of this would have been possible without their generous support. The team would also like to thank the following peers who have helped them in preparation for this competition, Melvin Seto ’25 and Gracia Chua ’25, for their invaluable guidance.
NUS Law took First place (Team of Mediators) at the UCF Conciliator Mediation Tournament held in Florida
(L to R): Samuel Tay Zi Bin ’25, Clement Yew Yee Han ’24, and Muhammad Syazwan Bin Ramli ’24
Congratulations Muhammad Syazwan Bin Ramli ’24, Clement Yew Yee Han ’24, and Samuel Tay Zi Bin ’25 for achieving excellent results at the first annual UCF Conciliator Mediation Tournament!
The team achieved the First and Third Places for the Mediation Team and Advocate/Client Team categories, respectively. For the individual achievements, Samuel Tay achieved the Fifth Place (Individual Mediator) out of 27 individual mediators, while Syazwan Bin Ramli and Clement Yew achieved the Third Place (Outstanding Advocate/Client Pair) out of 27 pairs.
The competition was held in-person from 1 to 2 April 2022, at the University of Central Florida. The team underwent three rounds of mediation, mediating and negotiating disputes across a variety of topics such as family matters, worker’s rights and compensation, and business-consumer negligence. The competition, which allowed only 30 minutes of preparation with Confidential Information per round, ensured that the team leaned on their technical abilities and teamwork throughout the competition.
The NUS Law team went up against 8 other teams from represented by multiple universities across the USA, and was the only participating team from outside of the USA.
The team expressed their gratitude towards their coaches Ong Hui Wen ’22 and Shao Xun ’21 for taking time out of their extremely busy schedules to guide the team; as well as Joel See ’23, Euodia Chi ’23, Charmaine Chong ’24, Edwin Chan ’24, Sarfaroj Ahmed Malik ’25, Celester Tan ’24, Melvin Seto ’25, Seth Tay ’25, Chloe Kho ’25, Jotham Ng ’24, Caleb Lim ’24, and Suranjana Sinharoy ’24 for their support.
NUS Law student won the vLex 2022 International Law and Technology Writing Competition
Rahul Vyan Nayar ’24 from NUS Law won the vLex 2022 International Law and Technology Writing Competition.
Following an extremely close competition, with entries from students all over the world, Rahul won with a thought-provoking article on Thaler, Artificial Intelligence and the Law.
NUS Law would like to thank the judges, Dr Liz Dowthwaite and Masoud Gerami, who gave their time and expertise, and the competition founder, Dr Matthew Terrell, for his continued support and dedication to law students preparing for careers in the legal industry.
When asked more about the process about putting thoughts to word, Rahul said, “Fortunately, I had participated in a moot competition earlier in the year that concerned the issue of Artificial Intelligence and patent rights, so much of the research that I had to conduct then was applicable to the topic I had chosen for the vLex competition. I would say that research spanned approximately five days, and as for the actual writing, I sat myself down over a single night in late December, and then spent the next morning trimming the fat and proof-reading my work.”
Rahul’s article on Thaler, Artificial Intelligence and the Law, can be found here: https://blog.vlex.com/winner-announced-for-vlexs-2022-international-law-and-technology-writing-competition-3ad50335ef18.
NUS Law clinched Top place at the 2022 Advocacy Cup
(L to R): Zephan Hwang ’24, Karthik Vyas ’24, Mavis Zhang ’24, Jolene Abelarde ’23 (not in picture)
The 2022 Advocacy Cup Finals was held on 31 March 2022 at the Wee Chong Jin Moot Court. The preliminary rounds dealt with the tort of negligence, involving professional negligence, while the semi-finals and finals dealt with the criminal offence of Murder under section 300(a) of the Penal Code. After three rounds of competition, NUS Law would like to congratulate our winners for their outstanding performance at the finals!
Champion
Karthik Vyas ’24
1st Runner-Up
Jolene Gina Abelarde ’23
2nd Runners-Up
Mavis Zhang ’24 and Zephan Hwang ’24
The NUS Law Mooting and Debating Club would like to thank the NUS Law Vice Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor Arif Jamal, for being the Guest of Honour, and would like to extend their heartfelt appreciation to the esteemed judges, Justice Vinodh Coomaraswamy, Associate Professor Mervyn Cheong ’08, and Wendell Wong ’97 from Drew & Napier for gracing the event. The team also thank Drew & Napier LLC for their kind sponsorship, and to Mr Daniel Lye for his invaluable contribution to the success of the Advocacy Cup 2022.
NUS Law achieved commendable results at the 29th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2022
(L-R) Chong Fu Shan ’22, Oliver Tan ’23, Osel Pan ’22, Nicole Seah ’22, Vidya Singanathan ’22, and Benson Fan ’22
The NUS team achieved commendable results at the 29th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2022! The team consisted of Chong Fu Shan ’22, Benson Fan ’22, Osel Pan ’22, Nicole Seah ’22, Vidya Singanathan ’22, and Oliver Tan ’23.
The team was placed third in the Vis East Moot against 139 teams from around the world. Chong Fu Shan and Vidya Singanathan received Honourable Mentions for Best Oralist, ranking 4th and 20th respectively out of 450 oralists.
The team also received an Honourable Mention for Best Respondent Memorandum in the Vis Moot in Vienna, and emerged as First Runner Up at the Shanghai Pre-Moot, where Chong Fu Shan and Benson Fan received Honourable Mentions for Best Oralist.
The Vis Moot is the largest competition featuring international commercial arbitration. This year’s problem involved a disputed contract for the sale of palm oil, with questions on contract formation and incorporation of standard terms under the CISG, as well as the tribunal’s jurisdiction under the 2021 Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) Arbitration Rules.
The team expressed their heartfelt gratitude to their coaches, Tiong Teck Wee ’09, Mitchell Yeo ’14, Loh Tian Kai ’16, and Ryo Yap ’19. The team also thank Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85, Paul Tan ’05, Benson Lim ’11, Jonathan Lim ’11, Victor Yao ’17, Chen Shilun ’18, Ephraim Tan ’18, Mark Lim ’19, Kenneth Lim ’19, Teo Tze She ’19, Glenn Sim ’19, Marcus Liew ’19, Sia Bao Huei ’21, Abigail Fong ’20, Leong Kit Weng ’21, Sarah Lu ’21, Long Shihan ’21, Wee Min ’22, and the faculty for all the support and guidance.