Bond Law mooting team competes in state and national pre-moots

The 2017 Bond University Vis (East) Moot team competed in the Queensland round of the CIArb Australia Vis Pre-Moot in Brisbane on 16 February 2017, and as winners of that round progressed to the national round of the CIArb Australia Vis Pre-Moot in Melbourne held on March 1, 2017.

Although Australian pre-moots have been held for a number of years, it is the first time that the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators have become involved in the pre-moot competition. It is also the first time that Bond University participated. Pre-moots are an important part of the Vis moot competition, and pre-moots are held all over the world.
The Vis moot competition is the second largest moot competition in the world, and has two ‘sister’ moots—the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition held in Vienna, and the Willem C Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition held in Hong Kong. In 2016, more than 350 teams from all over the world participated in the Vienna moot, and 115 in the Hong Kong moot. The Vis (East) moot is now in its 14^th year, and the Vis Vienna moot in its 24^th year.
Bond University has participated in the Willem C Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition since 2009, and has won three of the major awards in the competition since 2011. In 2011, the Bond team won the David Hunter Award for the Team that prevails in Oral Arguments. In 2012 the Bond team won the Eric Bergsten Award for the Best Claimant Memorandum, and in 2015, Lachlan Hopwood, a Bond team member won the Neil Kaplan Award for Best Oralist.
The moot problems set for this competition always deal with matters relating to international commercial dispute resolution through arbitration, and they always involve the application of the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods. The issues in the problem this year are very interesting, and include the question as to whether an order for security for costs should be granted against the party bringing the matter to arbitration. Another issue is whether a vaguely worded hand-written addendum to an agreement can have the effect of including a fixed exchange rate clause into the original agreement where there was no express regulation of the exchange rate in the original agreement.
The 2016-2017 Bond University team is a diverse team with two Canadian Juris Doctor students, Moira McAvoy and Blake Thomas, and two Australian LLB-combined degree students, Stephanie Centorame and Makaela Fehlhaber. They are coached by the Director of Mooting, Assistant Professor Louise Parsons. The student coach, Jeremy Butcher, was the runner-up in the Neil Kaplan Award for the Best Oralist in the Vis (East) moot in 2016.
The team will head off to Hong Kong at the end of March 2017 where they will compete against 125 other teams from all over the world.
About Mooting
Mooting is a simulated court proceeding where student teams are presented with a legal problem which they are required to argue before a “judge” or panel of “judges.” Through their preparation and presentation of each case, students show an understanding of the relevant law and how it should be applied in their client’s case.
Program: Juris Doctor (JD)
Semester intakes: January, May, or September
Next intake: May 2017
Duration: 2 years (over 6 semesters)
Application deadline: There is no official application deadline. Students from Canada should apply at least three months prior to the beginning of the program.
Entry Requirements

• Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree in any discipline. Students who have not yet completed a bachelor degree may apply, as long as they will have graduated prior to commencing the Bond JD program. In common with most other Australian universities, Bond does not use the LSAT as an entry criterion.
• Two reference letters are required.
• Applicants who have a cumulative average of 70% or above should apply.

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Would you like more information about Bond Law School and this information session? Contact OzTREKK’s Australian Law Schools Admissions Officer Shannon Tilston at shannon@oztrekk.com!