From Saturday 20 May to Monday 22 May 2017, UNSW Law hosted the Allen & Overy Private Law Moot, an intervarsity mooting competition open to competitors from all over Australia and select international universities. This prestigious competition, now in its fourth year, is Australia’s only national moot focussed on private law and commercial topics.

Thirteen teams from universities in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Pakistan travelled to UNSW to compete this year. The 2017 problem raised complex issues on equity and remedies, and was written by Professor Simone Degeling and Jessica Hudson, the academic advisors of the competition.

All competitors and teams performed to a very high standard and are to be congratulated for their participation.

The results of the 2017 competition are:

  • Champions: National University of Singapore (Team 2)
  • Runner-Up: University of Otago (Team 3)
  • Best speaker in the Grand Final: Joshua Phang (National University of Singapore)
  • Best speaker in the Preliminary Rounds: Wong Yan Yee (Singapore Management University)
  • Best appellant and respondent written submissions: Melbourne University (Team 1)
  • Semi-Finalists: Singapore Management University (Team 10) and National University of Singapore (Team 4).

The Grand Final was judged by The Honourable Patricia Bergin SC, International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court and formerly Chief Judge in Equity and Judge of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Professor Simone Degeling, UNSW Law; and John Samaha, Partner, Allen & Overy.

The semi-finals were judged by two three-judge panels, comprising: The Honourable Professor Joseph Campbell QC FAAL, Dominique Hogan-Doran SC and Associate Professor Yip Man; and The Honourable Michael Justice Lee of the Federal Court of Australia, Michelle Painter SC and Brenda Tronson.

Preliminary round moots were judged by barristers, solicitors, private law academics and recent graduates of UNSW Law with significant mooting experience.

The participating universities were:

  • Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
  • Macquarie University
  • Melbourne University
  • National University of Singapore (two teams)
  • Singapore Management University
  • Sydney University
  • University of New South Wales (two teams)
  • University of Otago, New Zealand
  • University of Technology, Sydney
  • University of the South Pacific, Fiji and Vanuatu (two teams)

A special thank you to the following representatives of their universities, who visited UNSW Law to act as coaches over the course of the competition: David Naylor and Sofia Shah (University of the South Pacific), Assistant Professor Chen Siyuan (Singapore Management University) and Assistant Professor Khyzar Hussain (Lahore University of Management Sciences).

Allen & Overy sponsored the competition and generously hosted the semi-finals, grand finals and prize presentation cocktail event. Professor George Williams, Dean of UNSW Law, gave the vote of thanks at the prize presentation.

The Federation Press provided each member of the winning team and the best speaker in the preliminary rounds with a copy of Fiduciary Obligations: 40th Anniversary Republication with Additional Essays, by Paul Finn. The competition convenors wish to acknowledge the support of The Federation Press for their generous donation of these prizes.

The 2017 competition convenors were Wee-An Tan and Veronica Sebesfi. For further information about the Private Law Moot, please visit: http://unswlawsoc.org/private-law-moot/