MOOT CLUB SPOTLIGHT

QUTLS MOOT CLUB

Catherine Bugler (Director of Moot Club), Elizabeth Stanley (Lawyer, Ashurst), Rebecca Treston QC (Class of 1989), Giulia Marrama (final year law student) and Courtney Howarth (Moot Club Officer)

The QUTLS Moot Club aims to promote mooting in the Law School, provide educational seminars on mooting and host practice moots to law students in a non-competitive environment. Our practice moots and seminars occur approximately three times per semester in the law library moot courts and are a great opportunity to try mooting, hone your skills and meet people over pizza.

Ashurst Welcome to Moot Club Night

We started the year with our Ashurst Welcome to Moot Club Night in March. This is a social event in which we had our keynote speech delivered by Rebecca Treston QC, President of the Bar Association of Queensland. Ms Treston is a leading estates barrister and QUT Law Graduate, and she spoke to the students about her top tips for advocacy. We also heard from Elizabeth Stanley, lawyer at Ashurst, about her experience coaching a winning Jessup International Law Moot team and how that assists her in her work at Ashurst today. Expert mooters Giulia Marrama and Teagan Matthews also told the group about their amazing Gibbs Moot achievements in 2019 (they were the runners up of the competition alongside Matthew Hickey). The Director of Moot Club, Catherine Bugler, also provided new mooters with an overview of mooting and mooting opportunities at QUT.

Turning Moot Club Digital

There were lots of challenges this semester and hosting moot clubs during isolation was one of them! Our first moot club was on the papers so that mooters could practice their written submissions. Martin Bartlett, lawyer from a top tier law firm and QUT Law Graduate, and Matthew Hickey generously offered their time to judge the written submissions and provided law students with invaluable feedback. Our second digital moot club was held over zoom. We had 4 moots in which a range of skill sets were able to practice and get valuable feedback. Elizabeth Stanley, lawyer at Ashurst and former Jessup Coach, kindly judged the practice moot and provided feedback to all participants. Well done to Zane Jhetam who was awarded the Most Dedicated to the Moot Prize!

MOOTING AT QUT

Intervarsity moots are organised by the law school and provide a great opportunity to travel the world to get academic credit while mooting to improve your advocacy skills.

Oxford Intellectual Property Law Moot QUT has a world renowned reputation at the Oxford IP Moot, which is one of the most prestigious global moots. QUT is the only university in the world to win the competition three times. QUT law students Giulia Marrama and Austyn Campbell were selected to represent the team and were coached by Dr Lucy Cradduck. The team made it to the world finals, being the top 20 teams in the world, and were to compete in Oxford in March. Unfortunately, the Oxford IP Moot was cancelled.

International Criminal Court Moot Competition

QUT Law students Teagan Matthews, Hannah Witten, Daniel McLindon and Justin Christoforou were selected to represent QUT and Australia at the ICC Moot, hosted annually in The Hague. The team was coached by Mark Thomas. Unfortunately the ICC Moot Competition was cancelled.

Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot

The QUTLS sends a team annually to the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot, hosted by the Australian Law Students’ Association (‘ALSA’). This year we had unprecedented interest in the moot, with over 20 people trying out for the team. Simona Varga (Director of Competitions, QUTLS) organised the try outs and Dr Lucy Cradduck and Mark Thomas (pictured) selected the team. Daniel McLindon, Catherine Bugler and Austyn Campbell were selected for the IHL team. The competition was the largest ALSA has ever hosted and was held over zoom during the July holidays. The team made it to the semi-finals before being knocked out by the team who won the grand final.

What’s coming up for Semester 2, 2020

Like our Facebook page, The QUTLS Moot Club, to stay up-to-date on mooting at QUT. We will host seminars on client interviewing and mooting, practice moots and the QUT High School Moot this semester. The QUT High School Moot Grand Final will be on August 23 in the Banco Court, Supreme Court of Queensland, and judged by President Sofronoff of the Queensland Court of Appeal.

https://www.facebook.com/qutlsmootclub/