Strong showings from NUS Law at Oxford University Moots

NUS Law students participated in two mooting competitions organised by the University of Oxford between March and April 2019.

Annual Oxford Intellectual Property Moot

The NUS Law team comprising Najla Ba’ashim ’21, Shreya Kittur ’19 and Thaddaeus Tan ’19 emerged Semi-finalists at the 2019 International Finals of the Annual Oxford Intellectual Property Moot.

The competition was hosted by the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre from 14 to 16 March 2019 at the University of Oxford. This year’s moot question focuses on trade mark law, and introduces a new fictitious country: Shangri-La. The hypothetical revolves around the registration, in Erewhon, of a mark that contains Shangri-Lese characters alongside an English word. There is an allegation of trade mark infringement in relation to that mark.

The team was selected as one of 28 finalists for the oral rounds based on their written submissions and edged out strong competition from teams including National Law School of India University, Bangalore, University of Cambridge, University of Technology Sydney and Singapore Management University (SMU) to reach the semi-finals, losing in a close match to University of Ottawa by 2-1.

“We had a fantastic run this year. From winning every single round in the preliminaries to being in the semi-finals, beating our local rivals in SMU at the quarter-finals was the cherry on top of the cake. All three members of the team came away from this experience having learnt a lot about ourselves, of each other and the art of legal persuasion,” said Thaddaeus Tan ’19.

The team would like to thank their coaches Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85 (Vice Dean (Student Life and Global Relations), NUS Law), Associate Professor Burton Ong ’99 (NUS Law), Felicia Tan ’06, Mathias Goh ’13, Adrian Tan ’91, Ramesh Kumar ’07, Valerie Goh ’13, Liu Zeming ’08, Joshua Chia ’18, Amanda Lim ’17, Elaine Tan ’96, Timothy Chan ’18, Matthew Hunter, Elliot Yeo ’18, and Samuel Lim ’19.

Price Media Law Moot

Tammie Khor ’19 and Liu Siew Rong ’19 were awarded First Runners-Up Best Memorial in the International Rounds of the Price Media Law Moot at Oxford. Tammie Khor was also awarded the fifth Top Oralist out of the 40 qualifying teams.

Held from 8 to 12 April 2019, a total of 36 teams argued a complex Competition Case on free speech, privacy and the regulation of social media before distinguished benches of lawyers, academics and practitioners from the media industry serving as judges.

The NUS Law team emerged as Octo-Finalists after winning all three general rounds, ceding to eventual champions, University of Philippines.

The team would like to express their gratitude to coaches Mr Chen Zhida ’13 and Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85 (Vice Dean (Student Life & Global Relations), NUS Law). They would also like to thank Professor Simon Chesterman (Dean, NUS Law), Professor David Tan (Vice Dean (Academic Affairs), NUS Law), Mr Benjamin Wong ’15 (NUS Law), Assistant Professor Swati Jhaveri (NUS Law), Associate Professor Jaclyn Neo ’03 (NUS Law), Tan Pei Wei ’17, Ashley Loh ’17, Elias Arun ’17, Swathi Bhat ’17, Basil Lee ’16, Cheryl Chui ’16, Lee Zhe Xu ’17, Timothy Yong ’16, Darren Sim ’20, Ayana Ki ’19, Poon Xue Wen ’19, Jessica Sam ’19, Joshua Phang ’19, Glenn Sim ’19, Low Ee Ning ’19, Joshua Hiew ’17, Victor Leong ’16, Rachel Tan ’17, Nicholas Choo ’19, and everyone who helped them in their preparations and supported them throughout this journey.