The future of the Culture & Law Moot looks assured with more than 200 people attending the second annual event at Banco Court in Brisbane on 20 March.
The event is a collaboration between the Pasifika Lawyers Association of Queensland (PLAQ), the Queensland African Lawyers Network (QALN), the Asian Australian Lawyers Association of Queensland (AALA) and the judiciary, and this year’s topic was The Australian legal System is an effective tool to address intersectionality of discrimination.
Supported the Queensland Law Society, the topic was chosen by emcee Sheetal Deo.
The mooters were: Bless Mafile’o, Linda Tongia (PLAQ); Jade Dickson, Jiabei Qi (AALA); Apolina Balebanga, Uzoamaka Precious Egwu (QALN); and Rebecca Ferguson, Chloe Parsons-Pope (Queensland Young Lawyers).
The judges were their Honours Chief Justice Helen Bowskill, Judge Nicholas Andreatidis KC and Deputy Chief Magistrate Gett.
The moot winners were the QALN team.
When asked how she prepared for the moot, Precious said: “I made a conscious effort to humanise the issue using hypotheticals and accessible language, while maintaining a formal and engaging tone. Research is essential, but delivery is everything — so despite our nerves, we pushed ourselves to present with confidence and composure.”
When asked what it was like to win, Apolina said: “Winning the competition was a special moment for me as an aspiring legal advocate. I felt a sense of accomplishment and was inspired to take up more advocacy work.”
Moot co-organiser from the AALA Queensland branch Reimen Hii said: “I was so impressed by the high calibre of each of the mooters. The level of sophistication, preparation and polish in their argument belies the fact they are ‘junior’ practitioners.
“They raised some thought-provoking ideas about what it means to be a culturally and linguistically diverse lawyer in Australia. It was wonderful to see how comfortable they were with appearing in Court, which bodes very well for our profession as a whole.”
Fellow organiser, the Honourable Judge Balic said: “We are motivated by the future of our legal profession. The performances of the participants were the highlight of this wonderful event.”
PLAQ President Vai Leavaiseeta said: “I am very proud of all of the mooters, but I must make a special shout-out to the PLAQ team who were told they had the cleverest argument of the night.
“I think the topic is very important and I thank all of the teams for taking the topic very seriously noting that many people who experience discrimination, experience it from an intersectional lens. It’s a consideration for all lawyers because of the diverse communities we serve”.
QALN member and moot co-organiser, Olamide Kowalik said: “This year it was fabulous to have members of the Queensland Young Lawyers join the moot. It was wonderful to have them put up their hands enthusiastically to take on this opportunity.
“I was pleasantly surprised when one member of that QYL team was the daughter of a friend I used to work with 20 years ago. Further to that, I know that our organising committee are also really grateful to the judiciary, especially the Chief Justice, for allowing us to utilise the Banco Court for a second year in a row and for judging our moot for the second year in a row.
“But we are also grateful for all of the judges who sat on the judging panel or who came along to observe and support the moot and stay behind to meet with our associations.”
PLAQ member and co-organiser Tilé Imo said: “We had proof of concept with the Culture and Law Moot last year, and we were excited for it to return this year.
“We saw the moot replicated by our colleagues in New South Wales being inspired by our moot last year, and we would love to see the moot replicated in every state if possible.
“Many of the mooters have shared with me that the experience ‘was life changing’ and did a lot to boost their confidence in pursuing other opportunities.”
The Culture and Law Moot was also supported by the Tilé and Olly Meets Podcast and the Bar Association of Queensland.
Share this article