The University of Queensland Law School has celebrated and wrapped up its most successful year in mooting.
UQ teams secured five grand championships (including Jessup Nationals and Vis Budapest Pre-Moot), two runners-up awards, plus semi-final and quarter-final honours, and more than 17 team awards and 11 individual best oralist accolades.
The outstanding achievements were celebrated at the recent 14th annual David F Jackson Memorial Mooting Dinner where the Honourable Justice Sue Brown delivered an inspiring keynote address.
Director of Mooting at UQ Law School Dony Rodriguez said mooting competitions provided law students with unrivalled opportunities to develop both exceptional oral and written advocacy skills alongside their formal academic studies.
“Students often credit mooting competitions as their most formative experience of law school, as it requires them to apply their research skills and comprehension of complex legal concepts into succinct and persuasive written arguments, and then present and test those arguments in front of expert judges,” he said.
“Participation in mooting competitions also allow students to build incredible networks with the legal profession in both domestic and international practice areas, it’s not uncommon for our mooters to gain direct employment opportunities via the connections they have made through these competitions.”
Dony confirmed that mooting competitions had become more popular.
“At UQ we have certainly seen student interest in mooting competitions grow quite rapidly,” he said.
“I believe the main reason is that students understand the value in taking part, but also because our law students are keen to really put their legal skills to the test in such a tangible way and to find opportunities outside the classroom that give them an opportunity to grow and develop further.”
Dony said the university was proud of its strong history of success in mooting competitions over the past decade, including multiple domestic, international and grand champion wins.
“I think the success over the year is what continues to inspire many of our students to take part and for our alumni to stay involved as a way to pay forward the positive and formative experiences they had.”
Major award recipients were:
David Jackson Trophy for Outstanding Advocacy – Simaima Gordon and Alexandra Nash;
Bar Association of Queensland Award for Best Oralist in a Moot Competition – Katelyn Dyer and Sam Goodwin;
Queensland Law Society Award for Best International Moot Team – The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot team, consisting of Katelyn Dyer, Sam Goodwin, Raul Emanuel Iute, Elijah Larsen and Nina Sang and coaches William Garske and Angharad Beach;
University of Queensland Law Alumni Association (UQLA) Award for Best Domestic Moot Team – Sir Harry Gibbs Constitutional Law Moot Team, consisting of Advitya Arora, Charlie Hoare, Bianca Leathers, Léon Natus and coach William Simons.
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