Bond University law students excel at annual Kirby Moot

Bond University was the only university to place two teams in the final rounds of this year’s Annual Michael Kirby Contract Law Moot Competition held in Melbourne last week.

Hosted annually by the Victoria Law School at Victoria University, Bond competed against 21 teams.

Bond’s grand final team of Tess Cann, Matthew Leskiw, Alice Marshall and Jess Wilson narrowly lost to Australian National University.

The team won the award for Best Written Claimant Memorandum, recognising the quality of its written advocacy.

Bond’s second team, comprising Ethan Amos, Brooke Lane, Lina McCoy and Michael Ting, was the second-highest scoring team in the general rounds before advancing to the quarter-finals.

Ms Lane was named the second-highest scoring oralist in the general rounds, while Ms Wilson won the award for second-highest ranking oralist in the final rounds.

Bond University Deputy Dean of Law and mooting co-coach Associate Professor Louise Parsons said the results reflected the depth of talent within Bond’s mooting program.

“We are extremely proud of our teams,” Dr Parsons said.

“Not only have they excelled in the competition, but their demeanour has distinguished them.”

Co-coach Assistant Professor Jo Hintz said: “They have demonstrated everything that we value in our students and they make us feel that the future of the profession is in very safe hands.”

The coaches also praised the students’ dedication, professionalism and oral advocacy skills.

“We could not have asked for a more hard-working but easy-going group of students to coach, and they have consistently impressed us with their dedication and high ethical and professional values,” they said.

“They also received very favourable feedback from many judges on their oral skills and the sophistication of their arguments.”

Named after former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, the moot is regarded as one of Australia’s leading advocacy competitions, testing students on both written submissions and oral advocacy.

The result follows Bond’s victory in the 2026 International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition, in which its team defeated competitors from 94 universities worldwide.