“May it please the Court”: Monash mooting success in 2023

In an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne, AAT Moot winning team member Alec Miguel described mooting as, “the closest thing that law students have to running a real trial without the risk of accidentally sending a client to jail.”

“You get a fictional problem and have to prepare legal arguments for one side and present them to a judge or judges,” explained Alec. “Usually what this means is you get a set of facts, you go off and do some legal research, then you present your arguments, often in a real court room, before an academic, a barrister or a judge.”

Demonstrating the benefit of our investment in both our moot court and in sending our students nationally and internationally to compete, Monash Law has had another triumphant year of mooting in 2023, including;

• Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot: Runner Up, Grand Final
  • Best Speaker and Best Second Speaker
  • Best Team in the Preliminary Rounds and Best New Team
• Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Law Moot: Quarter-Final
• International Bar Association International Criminal Law Moot: Semi Final
  • Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot: Best Oralist in preliminary rounds
• Phoebe Gray won the Best Oralist in the 2023 Philip C Jessup moot
• Sir Alfred Deakin International Commercial Arbitration Moot: Preliminary Rounds Top 16
  • Monash team 2 ranked 8 out of 42 teams
  • Monash team 1 ranked 11 out of 42 teams
  • Three students ranked 9, 16 and 23 out of 105 oralists
• Michael Kirby Contract Law Moot
  • Zach Sheridan won the Best Individual Oralist in the General Rounds of the Michael Kirby Moot 2023.
• Administrative Appeals Tribunal National Mooting Competition: Grand Final Winner
  • Monash Law students won the Grand Final for the second year in a row
  • Mridul Garg was awarded Best Advocate in the Grand Final
• Victorian Bar Equality & Diversity Moot: Grand Final Winner

In 2022, Monash University was ranked No. 4 in the world and No. 1 in Australia by nica.team. In 2023, Monash University was ranked No. 16 in the world and No. 1 in Australia.

20th Annual Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot, Oxford, United Kingdom

L to R: Dev Sharma, Tristan Hocking-Brown, Lord Kitchin, Jeremy Brown

The Oxford IP Moot is widely regarded as the most prestigious international IP moot competition in the world.

This year, 28 teams were invited to compete in the oral rounds after competitive memorial rounds.

The Monash Law team, including Dev Sharma (Team Captain), Jeremy Brown, and Tristan Hocking-Brown finished as Grand Final Runners Up.

• Jeremy Brown was judged the best speaker in the Preliminary Rounds.
• Tristan Hocking-Brown was the joint 2nd best speaker.
• Monash was declared the best team in the preliminary rounds and the best new team in the competition.

Thanks go to the countless people who provided support and assisted in the practice sessions with our students, including Professor Mark Davison, Dr David Brennan, Marcus Fleming and Frank Di Giantomasso.

The bench in the Grand Final comprised of Lord Kitchin of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Justice Arnold of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, and Professor Robert Burrell, Chair of Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law, Oxford and Professor of Law at University of Melbourne.

Congratulations to the team from University of Ottawa who won the Grand Final, and to the Australian teams competing this year - ANU College of Law, QUT Law, UTS Faculty of Law, UNSW Law & Justice.

A special mention goes to the team from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, who was able to make it with the generous support of one of the sponsors. The Ukrainian students received the Spirit of the Moot Award for triumphing over adversities to make it to Oxford.

Many thanks also to Professor Emily Hudson, King's College London, and her team for making this year's competition another huge success.

2023 International Bar Association International Criminal Law Moot, The Hague

Monash Law’s Merryn Cagney (team captain), Phoebe Gray, Rushil Saluja, and Ayathma Withanage travelled to Leiden University Campus in The Hague, Netherlands for the International Bar Association (IBA) International Criminal (ICC) Law Moot.

In the Semi Final round, Monash University was up against National University of Singapore and Maastricht University. The local team from Maastricht won that Semi Final round to go into the Grand Final round. ICC Judge Joanna Korner was presiding with Professor Milena Sterio and Jason Blevins.

In the Grand Final round, Universidade Federal da Bahia (Brazil) won the 10th Edition of the ICC Moot Court Competition, English version, held in ICC Courtroom I in The Hague.

On the judge's bench for the competition were ICC Judge Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor, presiding, and ICC Legal Officers Cynthia Chamberlain and Farhaan Ahmed.

The Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) won, respectively, second and third places.

The award for the Best Speaker went to Maraya Mihaylova of Maastricht University.

The success of Monash University in reaching the Semi Final round as a first time participant is an incredible achievement.

To all the teams, coaches, advisors, evaluators, and judges: Well done!

Special thanks to Ioana Moraru and her team for organising a superb competition. And thank you to Dr Michelle Sharpe and Dr Jason Harkess, who served as panel examiners for the Memorials.

2023 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot, Canberra, ACT

L to R: Chris Kounelis, Emily Culphy, Phoebe Gray, William Lye OAM KC, Jessie Wen, Michael Tan

The Monash Law team of Emily Culph (Team Captain), Phoebe Gray, Jessie Wen, Michael Tan, and Chris Kounelis demonstrated fantastic determination at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot.

Each of them displayed incredible teamwork when supporting team members who were feeling 'under the weather' during the competition. A team is only as strong as each individual member rising to the occasion to support colleagues in the midst of adversity.

Congratulations to Phoebe Gray, who while feeling unwell persisted in the competition, and was named best oralist for the preliminary rounds!

Special mention also goes to team Captain Emily Culph for her leadership, even though she too was feeling unwell.

We congratulate Macquarie University Law School for winning the Grand Final, and Bond University as well as the University of Queensland for finishing in the top 3 in the final rounds in Washington DC.

2023 Sir Alfred Deakin International Commercial Arbitration Moot

L to R: Avia Sanders, Shreshtha Gupta, Tepnorrak Long

Monash Law fielded two teams this year and both teams made it to the preliminary rounds of 16 competitors.

Alongside 42 teams from 12 countries, our Monash Law teams delved into the complex and fascinating world of international commercial arbitration to research, draft and present submissions.

Monash 2 placed 8th out of 42 teams, with Avia Sanders ranked 9 out of 105 oralists. Monash 1 placed 11th, with Sophia Ao ranked 16th out of 105 oralists.

These results are a great achievement!

Avia Sanders took to LinkedIn to thank Deakin University, Linda Black and Nicholas Allen for making the event such a memorable experience and wished a huge congratulations to the University of Queensland team on their well-deserved victory.

2023 Administrative Appeals Tribunal National Mooting Competition

Bottom L to R: Mridul Garg, Alec Muir, and Pimal Senanayaka

Monash Law students have won the AAT mooting Grand Final for the second year in a row. The Monash team was the first team from a Victorian University to win this competition last year, since its inception in 2005. Winning the Grand Final for the second straight year is truly remarkable!

Congratulations to Alec Miguel, Mridul Garg and Pimal Senanayaka whose collective work has won the 2023 Administrative Appeals Tribunal Moot.

This mooting competition was held over five rounds between July and October 2023. Law students demonstrated their advocacy skills in a diverse range of administrative law problems involving NDIS, migration, workers' compensation, and tax.

Monash Law fielded two teams that competed against universities across Australia.

In the Grand Final Alec, Mridul and Pimal represented the Federal Commissioner of Taxation in a complex scenario involving sophisticated gambling software. The team presented closing submissions before a three-member bench comprising The Hon Emilios Kyrou AO, Senior Member Andrew Nikolic AM, and Senior Member Gina Lazanus.

Mridul Garg was awarded Best Advocate in the Grand Final.

Congratulations to the runner-up team from Queensland University of Technology.

The teams were assisted by Chris Kounelis, who was part of Monash's winning team in 2022.

A big thank you to Chong Yu Quaik, Partner/Principal at Hunt & Hunt who provided very helpful guidance to our team about migration law matters.

2023 Victorian Bar Equality and Diversity Moot

L to R: Nadia Stojanova, Victorian Bar; Olive Go, Victorian Bar; Apryl Christidis, La Trobe University; Mila Olsen, La Trobe University; the Honourable Justice Peter Almond; Muhammad Naufal Mohamed Hanipa, Monash University; Joel Law, Monash University; William Lye OAM KC, Victorian Bar

The Monash University team of Joel Law and Muhammad Naufal Mohamed Hanipa won the 2023 Equality and Diversity Moot Competition against La Trobe University.

The Team appeared before The Hon. Peter Almond KC, former justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and the moot topic related to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).

This moot is the inaugural Victorian Bar Equality and Diversity Moot, the Patron of which is The Hon. Justice Kirsten Walker of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

We acknowledge and thank Michelle Button of Counsel (Monash LLB alumna) and Dr Brydon Wang (Monash JD alumnus) for their feedback to our students in their practice before the Grand Final.

Mooting Acknowledgements

The unwavering support and encouragement from the Monash Law academic and professional staff have continued to fuel our students' growth and foster invaluable experiences through their participation in mooting competitions.

I extend my sincere appreciation to our Dean, Professor Bryan Horrigan, whose exceptional leadership and constant support have been instrumental in advancing Monash Law's mooting program.

On behalf of our dedicated law students, I express gratitude to my esteemed colleagues who consistently cheered for our students with each triumphant report in the competitions: Professors Melissa Castan, Andrew Mitchell, Luke Beck, Jeff Giddings, Marilyn Pittard, Jean Allain, and Stephen Barkoczy; Associate Professors Jacqui Horan, Ross Hyams, and Gerry Nagtzaam; Dr. Eric Windholtz and Dr. Drossos Stamboulakis.

My heartfelt thanks also go to the outstanding Monash professional staff, expertly led by Faculty Manager Fiona Bygraves. Chris Hincliffe and Andrew Winn played pivotal roles in resolving our students' technical challenges and ensuring the seamless functioning of technology in the Moot Court at Monash Clayton campus. Morag Milne, Arthur Chan, Alice Hannan-Grondman, James Brandis, and Bridget Sadler have been instrumental in promoting our students' mooting successes, with special recognition to Alice Hannan-Grondman and Andrew Winn for assisting me each week with the wigs and gowns for our students' use in the Moot Court during class.

The success of the 2023 Mooting Program was made possible through Melissa Fletcher's meticulous budget management and the invaluable administrative assistance provided by Geetika Mehta.

Our Monash students were also fortunate to engage with the following legal practitioners and academics who generously dedicated their time to assist in the practice runs of their moots:

• Dr. Michelle Sharpe, Victorian Bar
• Dr Jason Harkess, Victorian Bar
• Michelle Button, Victorian Bar
• Chong Yu Quaik, Partner/Principal, Hunt & Hunt

Monash Law staff’s support and dedication have continued to shape the future of our law students, and we are immensely grateful for their contributions in 2023.

Mooting in 2024

I am reminded of the words of Marian Wright Edelman: “You cannot be what you cannot see".

Monash Law students actively engaged in our mooting program, diligently honing the art of advocacy. They observed the exemplary performances of accomplished oralists, and week after week, they dedicated themselves to practising and perfecting their skills. Their unwavering commitment reflects their aspiration to become the very advocates they envision in the pursuit of justice.

William Lye OAM KC is Chief Moot Coach at Monash Law