News Item

Following the success of an inaugural competition last year, the Wellington Young Lawyers’ Committee* organised a mooting competition aimed at giving young practitioners an opportunity to develop their court advocacy skills; both in the preparation of legal submissions, and in oral courtroom advocacy.

The event, named the NZ Law Foundation Mooting Competition, was held during May/June this year with twenty young lawyers taking part, from a range of Wellington firms. Participants were involved in a training session and preliminary rounds, followed by semi-finals and a final moot.

The final moot, held 19^th June in Wellington’s Old High Court, was presided over by the Honourable Justice Dame Susan Glazebrook and the Honourable Justice Sir William Young, of the Supreme Court. The appellants were Jennifer Howes and Anna Whaley and the respondents Andrew Pullar and Andy Luck. The respondents were announced the winners at a prize giving held at Thorndon Chambers afterwards.

The Auckland Young Lawyers’ Committee has been given Law Foundation funding to run a similar competition during July/August**. It is hoped that these two competitions will eventually lead to a national mooting event for young lawyers.

NZ Law Foundation has awarded up to $2,395 to the Wellington Young Lawyers Committee to fund the new NZ Law Foundation Mooting Competition.

*The Wellington Young Lawyers’ Committee is a committee of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Law Society.
**Details about the Auckland competition are available on this link, although it has now closed for applications.