Monash Law success at Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Moot 2025
When we think of the summer, we might picture beaches, summer units or internships. However, for Monash Law mooters Joel, Naufal, and Qianhao summer was spent preparing oral submissions for real-life insolvency law litigators and judges of the United States Bankruptcy Court.
The team’s efforts paid off. Joel, Naufal, and Qianhao progressed to the Semi-Finals of the prestigious Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Moot 2025!
What is the Ian Fletcher International Insolvency Moot?
The Fletcher Moot is coordinated by INSOL International and the International Insolvency Institute. It encourages the best and brightest students around the globe to learn about international insolvency law and international commercial litigation while raising the profile of insolvency and restructuring within university curriculums.
Students were presented with a moot problem involving a cross-border insolvency proceeding in the fictional state of Nuzilia. The relevant statutes were derived from the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency and Model Law on Enterprise Groups, developed by Working Group V.
Monash Law's Fletcher Moot Track Record
According to the Monash Law team’s coach, Adjunct Professor (Practice) William Lye OAM KC, the 2025 edition marked the third time that students in Monash Law's moot program advanced to the oral rounds. Previously, Monash Law won the 2022 Ian Fletcher Insolvency Moot and advanced to the quarter-finals in 2023.
The 2025 edition featured a highly competitive and diverse pool of participants from 38 universities. Mooting heavyweights such as Singapore Management University, Peking University, and Symbiosis Law School were among the participants.
After qualifying as one of the Top 12 teams in the written submissions phase (held in November 2024), Team Monash progressed to the oral rounds which took place from 17-23 February 2025. All rounds were held online in the UK timezone (GMT+0), with the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals being held late in Melbourne time (9pm and 11pm respectively).
Watch Joel's VLOG of the 2025 Ian Fletcher Insolvency Moot.
Following two gruelling oral preliminary rounds, Team Monash was shortlisted as part of the Top 8. The team emerged as one of the Top 2 teams from the Quarter-Finals and thus earned the privilege of choosing which side they wanted to represent in the Semi-Finals.
Eventually, Team Monash bowed out very narrowly to the eventual Champion, Symbiosis Law School. The Semi-Final was adjudicated by two judges from the US Federal Bankruptcy Court: Judge Elizabeth S. Stong of the Eastern District of New York, who sat with Working Group V for 20 years; and Judge Robert A. Mark of the Southern District of Florida, who served as Chief Judge in the Southern District of Florida from 1999-2006.
Both judges laboriously highlighted that the result was difficult to determine, even stating they wished for a third judge to break the tie. The closeness was reflected in Naufal being jointly named co-Best Individual Mooter of the Semi-Finals alongside Abhinav Gour of Symbiosis Law School!
Encouraging words from the Ian Fletcher Insolvency Moot judges
Naufal received particularly high praise from Judge Elizabeth S. Stong for his 'thoughtful' disposition, with her noting, “If I was speaking from the podium instead of the bench, I would be taking notes from your style—thank you for that.”
Judge Robert A. Mark commended Joel on, “very good composure, strong reference to facts, and a clear summary of the rights being undermined.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Moi, Partner at Mayer Brown, described Joel’s engagement with the bench in the quarter-finals as 'elegant'.
Staring down the challenges of the Ian Fletcher Insolvency Moot
The team observed that all judges shared a common refrain: the facts were extremely complicated and confusing, even for experienced practitioners. The moot scenario’s debtor was an enterprise group with multiple subsidiaries, creditors, and investors spread across four different jurisdictions.
As the team scribe, I can share that I drew up chronologies in various formats—mind maps, tables, and flowcharts—to develop a strong grasp of the facts.
Additionally, time zone differences meant oue team would often receive the results at 2–3 am and then have just one hour between 4.30–5.30 am to submit our revised outline of argument.
Monash Law 's Ian Fletcher Insolvency Moon 2025 team at 5.30am after finishing the Respondent's Outline.
Succeeding with the support of the Monash Law Faculty and fraternity
Team Monash extends our sincerest gratitude to the LAW4805 Mooting and Advocacy Competition’s Chief Examiner and Mooting Coach, William Lye OAM KC, for his invaluable feedback and enduring mentorship. On behalf of the team, I'm proud to share that we are incredibly grateful to William for this immense opportunity to participate in an international moot even though we have already completed LAW4805.
Having also completed LAW4310 Trial Practice and Advocacy, I'm also proud to credit our success to Associate Professor Dr. Jacqui Horan. Jacqui’s insightful feedback and encouragement certainly built my confidence and skills at the podium.
The alumni of LAW4805 were undoubtedly critical to the team’s success: winners of the 2022 edition, Kimberley Ng and William Liu, watched the team’s practice rounds and provided invaluable feedback. On behalf of the duo, William Liu expressed pleasure in helping the team and praised them for performing to an excellent standard, especially considering that most students typically have little to no experience in insolvency law.
Reflecting on the Monash community’s support, Naufal said, “Without the continued support of William Lye and our seniors, I could not have clinched Best Individual Mooter of the Semi-Finals. I am thankful and hope Monash continues to provide such brilliant opportunities for students.”