Moot success for Monash students
Celebrating making the grand final in Vienna from left, Candice Colman, Jack Naughton, Calum Sargeant, Martin John, Lauren Peacock, Priya Wakhlu, Professor Jeff Waincymer.
Six Monash students have argued their way to second place out of 294 teams at the recent Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna and to a finalist position in Hong Kong.
The team, comprised of Martin John (Arts/Law), Jack Naughton (Commerce/Law), Priya Wakhlu (Arts/Law), Calum Sargeant (Science/Law), Candice Colman (Arts/Law) and Lauren Peacock (Juris Doctor).
“We never expected to advance so far and we enjoyed the attention and compliments that came with doing well,” Martin said.
“Regardless of the result, we all feel that we are now better equipped to face the practical demands of a legal career, from researching the law, to working in a close-knit team, to administration and organisation, and balancing life’s various pressures.”
The Vienna team won the quarter-final against Columbia Law School, the semi-final against the University of Ottawa and then appeared in the grand final, unfortunately losing to a team from City University of Hong Kong. Other universities to participate in the event included Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge.
Before appearing in Vienna the team competed at the 10th Annual Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Hong Kong, where they made the final 16 and Candice Colman received an honourable mention in the best oralist awards.
The Vis Moot is one of the largest, longest standing and most prestigious moot court competitions in the world.
The 2013 edition attracted nearly 300 university law schools to Vienna and nearly 100 to Hong Kong. The actual competition in Vienna and Hong Kong is preceded by over 40 registered practice moots all over the world.
Mentor, Professor Jeff Waincymer from the Faculty of Law, said the competition could act as a gateway to the industry for some students.
“The competition is very well respected in the international arbitration community with large numbers of practitioners and international arbitrators participating as judges and observers,” Professor Waincymer said.
“Past team members have gone on to undertake numerous judicial associate positions at the Supreme and Federal Courts as well as industry internships.”
Professor Waincymer said the competition complimented his work assisting law schools and government lawyers in developing countries to provide problem based learning across trade and investment law.
A video clip of the grand final in Vienna can be viewed on the youtube website.