The University of Queensland's T.C. Beirne School of Law mooting team has been ranked first in the world for the third consecutive year at the prestigious Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
Law School Head and Sir Gerard Brennan Professor of Law Tony Tarr said the outstanding win over 79 teams from leading American and European universities show-cased the talents of UQ law students on the international stage.
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot pits students in a competition to discuss a hypothetical legal case. The moot is organised by the Institute of International Commercial Law at the Pace University School of Law, New York.
The UQ team consisted of Sarah Holland and Kateena O'Gorman (the two oralists) supported by Sophie Devitt, Thomas John and Andrew Stumer. Ms Holland achieved the third best oralist award while Ms O'Gorman was awarded the sixth placed speaker in the competition.
"The two students' achievement was all the more remarkable because of the stiff competition they faced from more than 200 oralists in the competition," Professor Tarr said.
"To reach the final on April 20 they had to survive eight head-to-head clashes with other teams, each arbitration being conducted before a panel of three arbitrators.
"The final was conducted in the Vienna City Hall before an audience of 500 people. The University of Queensland team received a standing ovation that lasted more than five minutes. In short, the audience was delighted that such a young pair of oralists had prevailed over much older European and North American rivals in the final rounds.
"The objective of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot is to train the law leaders of tomorrow in principles of international commercial law and techniques of international commercial arbitration."
Opposition teams in the competition hailed from 29 countries throughout the world and included Columbia University, Cornell University, University of Cologne, University of Montpellier, Moscow University and the University of London.
Co-sponsored by the American Arbitration Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the Vienna International Arbitration Centre, each round of the competition is judged by more than 200 arbitrators from all over the world.
Professor Tarr said credit for their success went to the five team members and their coach, Law School Professor Gabriel Moens, the winner of a 1999 Australian Award for University Teaching and a UQ Excellence in Teaching Award.
"The moot win for The University of Queensland before an academic and legal audience from around the world represents wonderful publicity. We are also very grateful to Corrs Chambers Westgarth and, in particular, John Story, for their financial support covering the costs of the team's participation and travel."
For more information, contact Professor Tony Tarr (telephone 07 3365 1021) or Shirley Glaister in UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2339). Photographs are available.
