Bond Law takes top honours at mooting competition

11 September 2014

Bond University Law School has scooped four of the seven awards on offer at this year’s Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA) national conference, with two teams now gearing up to represent the country on an international stage.

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The ALSA competition saw teams from 39 universities across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore come together, with Bond Law School students Eoin Coffey and Rupert Holden winning the King Wood Mallesons Championship Moot. Robert Leonard and Rachael Young picked up first place in the Clayton Utz Negotiation Competition, while Connor McBain won the Paper Presentation Competition.  Rupert Holden won an individual prize and was named best oralist in the Championship Moot.
These students will now progress to the International Negotiation Competition and the Commonwealth Moot. The Commonwealth Moot will be held in Glasgow early next year.
Assistant Professor Louise Parsons said the result was a credit to the students’ work ethic and the holistic skills program of the Bond Faculty of Law.
“The fact that the students performed so well is testimony to the Law faculty’s strong focus on developing legal skills,” Ms Parsons said.
“It is particularly note-worthy that all of the Bond teams who participated in skills competitions at ALSA broke through to the finalist rounds. Timothy Noonan was a quarter-finalist in the Witness Examination Competition, and Michael Byrnes and Felicity Young also competed in the quarter-finalist rounds in the Norton Rose Fulbright Client Interview Competition.
“Our students have the opportunity to take part  in  a range of skills-based competitions run internally each year by the Bond Law Students Association, and the students have also taken part in moots, client interviews, presentations and negotiations in the compulsory law subjects.
“By the time our students step out on a national or international stage they feel confident and well-prepared, which gives them an edge over their competitors. The Bond Mooting program also provides a range of opportunities for students to represent Bond both nationally and internationally.
“While our teaching staff have given these students the foundation skills and techniques to excel, the students had to complete all of the preparation for the ALSA competition on their own. Their success demonstrates  that they are able to independently apply what they have learned, and ultimately means that they are ‘work force’ ready. ”
Rupert Holden, who hails from Sydney and was team winner of the mooting championship and recipient of best oralist—said Bond University had offered many opportunities for him to test his skills in competitions.
“My dad is a career advisor and he suggested Bond University from the outset. I was lucky enough to be awarded a full Vice Chancellor’s scholarship and I think Bond was certainly the right decision considering all of the opportunities I have had over the past four years in my Law and International Relations degree,” he said.
“I started out in competitions that were organised by the university and following that, I was selected for the Torts Moot Team, which was my first nationwide competition.
“Since then, I have represented Bond at the ALSA competition in Perth, and the International Criminal Court Moot Competition in The Hague—where our team was second-runner-up in the finals. I returned to mooting in 2014, and won Bond University‘s Brian Orr Competition, and then went on to win ALSA with my partner Eoin Coffey.
“Mooting has been the single most valuable aspect of my law degree. However, our success at ALSA is a testament to the tireless efforts of our teaching staff, in particular, Ms Parsons.
“Ms Parsons always understates her role in the success of Bond mooting, but her support, positivity and mentorship has inspired each student who comes through Bond mooting to achieve more.”
OzTREKK Note: The NCA has formally notified Bond University that it will no longer be waiving the requirement for Bond graduates to sit the four exams that other graduates from non-Canadian law schools must sit. This decision by the NCA was not the result of any concern about the quality of Bond’s subjects or its graduates, but the result of numerous requests from law schools in the US and elsewhere for the same arrangement to be extended to them.
This change does not affect current students or new students enrolling in September 2014 and January 2015 at Bond University Law School, who will continue to benefit from the present arrangement; however, Canadian students enrolling in May 2015 and onwards will have to sit the 5 NCA exams upon their return to Canada. Since it takes two years to complete the JD full time, Bond students will not start sitting these exams until after the end of the January 2017 semester. Bond Law School will continue to offer the current Canadian subjects into the future to assist Canadian students enrolling from May 2015 onwards to prepare for these exams.
If you have any questions about the NCA exams and the change noted above, please contact OzTREKK’s Australian Law Schools Admissions Officer Sarah Bridson, or read “Bond Law School NCA subjects update.”

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Do you have any questions about this NCA update and how it may affect you? Would you like more information about Bond Law School? Contact OzTREKK’s Australian Law Schools Admissions Officer Sarah Bridson at sarah@oztrekk.com or call 1-866-698-7355. We’re here to help!

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