News Item

Each year the NZ Law Foundation assists student mooting teams’ participation in competitions by funding their travel costs. For almost 20 years, it has supported the following four key mooting competitions annually:

Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition

This year’s competition was hosted by the University of Nebraska School of Law in Lincoln (USA) 15-18 April. New Zealand was represented by Jasmin Moran and Luke Archer from Victoria University of Wellington. They had previously won the national Client Interviewing Competition entitling them to represent NZ at this event.

Jasmin and Luke had the highest scores of any team in the preliminary rounds but were defeated in the semi-final by the England and Wales team, that went on to win the competition.

Twenty countries took part, and the theme for this year’s competition was “Small Business”.

Their coach, Associate Professor Selene Mize from the University of Otago, accompanied the team and assisted with training sessions leading up to the event.

Victoria University of Wellington news article about the 2015 NZ team

NZ Law Foundation awards up to $15,000 annually for travel to the competition for a two-person team and their coach.

Philip C Jessup International Law Moot

New Zealand’s 2015 team came from University of Auckland and was made up of Caitlin Hollings, Aidan Lomas, Danielle Houghton and Sally Wu. They earned the right to represent NZ by winning the national inter-university mooting competition.

The Jessup Moot is the largest, oldest and most prestigious competition of its kind. It is held in Washington DC annually; this year from 6-11 April. This was the 56th year for the Jessup Moot; 500 teams and 2000 student competitors took part, making it an exceptionally challenging event.

The NZ team completed 4 preliminary rounds, winning two and losing two but did not make the advanced rounds. This was a very challenging draw as two of the teams they met in the preliminary rounds were eventually placed in the top eight. The NZ team was however ranked in the top 25 for written submissions, and their speakers Aidan Lomas and Caitlin Hollings made the top 100. They were ranked 48^th overall.

Their coaches were Associate Professor Caroline Foster from the University of Auckland and Isaac Hikaka from the law firm Lee Salmon Long. The overall competition winners were from the University of Sydney.

NZ Law Foundation awards up to $30,000 annually for a four-person university team and two coaches to travel to the competition in Washington DC.

International Negotiation Competition

University of Otago students George Meale and Ben Bielski won the final of the Negotiation Competition at the 2014 NZ Law Students Association Conference, giving them the right to represent New Zealand at the 2015 International Negotiation Competition, held in Dublin 6-10 July.

Their coach, Associate Professor Selene Mize, said the team was placed second equal, tying with India and Ukraine behind the winners Canada A. There were 26 teams in the field.

NZ Law Foundation awards up to $15,000 annually for travel for a two-person team and a coach to travel to the country hosting the event.

New Zealand Law Foundation National Family Law Moot

The 2015 competition for this annual Dunedin event was held on 1^st August, when students from four universities, two from each, competed for the Mahony Cup. This year’s winners were Jennifer Smith and James Anson-Holland from University of Canterbury.

The Cup was donated by retired Principal Family Court Judge Patrick Mahony to recognise the importance of fostering and developing advocacy in the Family Court. The moot problem is always a family law one. The mooters prepare a synopsis of argument and are questioned by two judges who provide detailed feedback on their performance. The competition is aimed at ensuring a strong group of family law advocates emerge from New Zealand universities.

NZ Law Foundation awards up to $12,000 annually for travel and competition costs for teams from all NZ law schools to compete in Dunedin.