Singapore, 7 September 2015 (Monday) – Following an excellent showing in academic year 2014-2015, Singapore Management University’s (SMU) international mooting teams have gotten off to a good start in the new academic year 2015-2016, beginning 17 August 2015, with impressive results.  They achieved Singapore’s first championship title at the WTO-FTA Moot held in Tokyo, Japan, on 29 August 2015, with two mooters named Best Orator.  They also won first runner-up position at the Asia Cup International Law Moot Court Competition held in Seoul, Korea on 27 – 28 August 2015, with two mooters named Best Oralist.

WTO-FTA Moot 2015

A total of 22 teams participated in the sixth edition of the competition this year, with the top 16 making it to the international round in Seoul.  The SMU team comprised recent SMU Juris Doctor graduate Nicholas Liu, and recent LLB graduates Qabir Sandhu and Nanthini Vijayakumar.  Commendably, this team was self-funded and self-coached, and as none of the members had taken a trade law course before, they were faced with a steep learning curve and had to understand a complex area of law in a short period of time.

Inaugurated in 2010, the WTO-FTA Moot held at the Seoul National University is an annual moot court competition co-hosted by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), and the Korean Society of International Economic Law.  This is the first time law schools outside Korea have been invited to take part in the competition, which featured, in the final round, a judging panel of seven senior lawyers comprising members of the WTO Appellate Body, including Ricardo Ramirez-Hernandez from Mexico, Thomas R. Graham from the U.S., Ujal Singh Bhatia from India, and Yuejiao Zhang from China.

This year's moot problem required teams to examine the legality of various trade-restrictive measures imposed on an imported car priced significantly lower than other cars in the market, in light of the states' WTO obligations.

After five rounds of competition held back-to-back in a single day, the SMU team triumphed over Korea University in the final to emerge champions.  Nicholas and Qabir were also named Best Orator for the final and semi-final rounds respectively.

SMU’s Associate Professor of Law Henry Gao, who was on the judging panel, called the team’s performance ‘superb’.  “As I am also a judge in the moot, I couldn't advise the team or judge their rounds for obvious reasons, but according to the lawyers who judged their rounds, including several WTO Appellate Body members, they were really impressed with both their deep understanding of the WTO rules and advocacy skills.  Given that none of them have taken a trade law course before, this is really a remarkable achievement,” he said.

Asia Cup International Law Moot Court competition

The SMU team at the Asia Cup International Law Moot Court Competition comprised third year law undergraduates Chow Zi En, Daniel Ho, Sean Sim, Beatrice Wee and Wong Yan Yee.  This is SMU’s sixth year of participation, and for the sixth year running, the University has managed to reach the championship final.  SMU was the champions in 2010, 2011 and 2014.

This year’s competition saw 31 teams from 11 countries competing for the top awards, with the top 11 teams making it to the international rounds.  The moot problem involved the interpretation of a jurisdictional clause, as well as the obligations of States in a disputed maritime zone.  SMU met India’s West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and Thailand’s Thammasat University in the preliminary rounds and the University of Malaya in the final.

Besides clinching the first runner-up position, Daniel and Yan Yee were also ranked first and second for Best Oralist, which means SMU now have the most number of Best Oralist titles in this moot competition despite being a relative latecomer.  The team was coached by SMU alumni Daniel Liu and Kenny Lau.

SMU’s international mooting achievements

With these recent results, SMU has now reached 28 international championship finals, winning 14.  The university has also reached the championship final on its international debut in 11 moots, winning six.  Nanthini also became the 14^th mooter in the world to win more than one international moot championship.  These are significant achievements for the SMU School of Law, a young law school which was established in 2007 and had graduated its first batch of students in 2011.

Assistant Professor of Law Chen Siyuan, who heads the International Moots Programme at the law school, said, “This is a good start for SMU in this international moot season, and we will aim to do even better than the last.”

The law school’s remarkable achievements have also garnered the attention and support of the legal fraternity in Singapore.  In August 2015, SMU School of Law signed a partnership agreement with WongPartnership, where the firm will not only support the School’s moot budget for the next three years, but also provide greater mentorship to SMU’s mooters and work even more closely with SMU to coach the various international moot teams.

“The enhanced support from WongPartnership, in addition to the support and commitment of our faculty members and alumni, will certainly inspire and further encourage our young mooters to excel in their mooting endeavours,” Assistant Professor Chen added.

- End -

Please visit the respective competition websites for more information:

• WTO-FTA Moot: http://english.motie.go.kr/?p=5941
• Asia Cup International Law Moot Court Competition: http://2015ilsec.wix.com/ilsec#!about-1/c21l1

Enclosures:

• Annex 1: Photos of the WTO-FTA and Asia Cup moot competitions
• Annex 2: SMU School of Law – List of international moot competition achievements (From Academic Year 2009-10 to date

Media Contact:

Huang Peiling (Ms)

Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications, SMU

Tel: 6828 0964, Email: plhuang [at] smu.edu.sg