News Item

For the second year in a row the regional team from Canterbury-Westland won the Law Foundation’s National Young Lawyers’ Mooting Competition. Our congratulations go to the winners Stephanie Mann and Sam Henry who won the final moot against Tim Burtenshaw and Simon Schofield from the Waikato-BOP team.

The final was held in Wellington at the old High Court on Thurs 21st July and judged by Supreme Court Judges Sir William Young, Dame Susan Glazebrook and Sir Terence Arnold.

Four regions competed this year: Auckland, Waikato-BOP, Wellington and Canterbury-Westland. This was the first year the Waikato-BOP region entered and they put forward six teams. Our congratulations also go to Tim and Simon for making it through to the national final against Canterbury-Westland.

The competition, held annually, is funded by the Law Foundation and aims to provide young lawyers with the chance to practice oral advocacy skills in a courtroom environment. Competitors benefit from mentoring and feedback from senior members of the judiciary. Matt Dodd, National Mooting Coordinator for the competition, says this support is extremely valuable – it is the oral questioning from the judges and their feedback that provides the greatest value for competitors.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court of the UK released a judgment on the morning of the national final dealing with precisely the same issue raised for the competition.

The moot problem involved three public servants conspiring against their Ministry’s CEO with false tort claims. The employees were sued under the tort of malicious prosecution. The question of law arising was whether the tort of malicious prosecution applies to civil proceedings, and if so, whether that cause of action could be assigned in this manner. The UK case resulted in a 5:4 split, and the Court held that the tort of malicious prosecution can apply in relation to civil proceedings.

The Law Foundation has awarded up to $12,000 towards the running of this competition