16
November
2021
|
09:52
Asia/Singapore

NUS Law students hit the high notes as top mooters and arbitrators

NUS Law students have done the faculty proud again with their recent triumphs in mooting and negotiation competitions.

Samuel Wee, Karthik Vyas and Nguyen Minh Tri were champions in the LAWASIA International Moot Competition 2021. This was the first time that NUS Law has won the competition.

On another battle front, Audity Binta Tareq, Johan Ding, Dakshayani Ravindran, Elizabeth Koh and Joshua Foo made a clean sweep at the B.A. Mallal Moot 2021. This competition is one of Singapore’s oldest and most prestigious competitions.

Two other NUS Law teams, Damian Lee, Khor Jia Wei, Samuel Tay and Whang Chia Ning from Team A; Feng Yuxin, Kenneth Tan, Nicholas Ong and Vivien Sim from Team B, also clinched the overall champion at the 20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Sophia 2021.

2021 LAWASIA International Moot Competition

Teams were presented with the moot problem for the 2021 LAWASIA International Moot Competition -- an interplay of five issues arising from a contractual dispute between two commercial entities. This involved 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), among other areas of national law.

Besides being the Best Mooter, Karthik was also awarded the Mah Weng Kwai Trophy for his exceptional performance. Minh Tri and Samuel were the top ranked speaker in the final round and semi-final round respectively.

“This was a meaningful competition. In recent years, the finalists at LAWASIA have included the same few universities. It was therefore immensely satisfying for NUS to have emerged from the preliminary rounds with the highest round points and to eventually win the competition for the first time in our faculty’s history. We would like to thank our respected opponents from the law schools around Asia for the tough and engaging rounds,” shared Samuel.

B.A. Mallal Moot 2021

NUS Law topped at the grand finals of the B.A. Mallal Moot 2021 held in October, debating on a hypothetical case regarding the constitutional rights of religious minorities in pandemic times.

Audity, who emerged champion over 70 other competitors, said, “Behind every good submission is a whole village. Each argument in this moot was moulded not just by my own research and words, but the words, advice and help of many friends, seniors and professors. It was exciting to tackle novel issues in patent and constitutional law throughout the moot. The problems made me think deeper about contemporary social issues and I am grateful for these opportunities to learn and grow.”

Johan was the first runner-up with Dakshayani and Elizabeth sharing second runners-up. Joshua was awarded the Best Memorial Award.

20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Sophia 2021

Teams from Asian law schools participated in the 20th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition Sophia 2021 held on 6 and 7 Nov. They were required to resolve several dispute based on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (UPICC) and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.

The NUS contingent comprising Damian, Jia Wei, Samuel and Chia Ning; Yuxin, Kenneth, Nicholas and Vivien were crowned overall champions and received the prestigious Sumitomo Competition Award. They also received the CIArb Award as the university contingent with the highest total points in the arbitration component.

The students benefited largely from the experience. Not only did they learn more about the different laws that governed arbitration proceedings, their perspectives of international dispute resolution were also broadened from interacting with professors and students from other Asian law schools as well as judges who are esteemed practising lawyers.