February 2020 marks the very first Taylor’s Inaugural Internal Mooting Competition organised by Taylor’s Mooting Society in conjunction with Taylor’s Law School. A contingent of 24 young mooters stepped up and joined the competition. Despite most of them being first-year law students with minimal mooting experience, the judges were impressed by their performance.
Taylor’s Inaugural Internal Mooting Competition 2020 was structured to be 2 stages, the first being the general rounds held on 22nd February 2020 and the second being the out-rounds held on 29th February 2020. In the general rounds, 12 teams battled out against each other to secure themselves spots in the out-rounds. Each team was judged based on their advocacy skills, which includes their knowledge of laws, application of laws, ability to answer questions and their mooting styles. The general rounds were judged by Ms Nicola Tang from Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, Mr Arthur Ng from Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, Ms Jie Jiun from Zain and Co., Mr Kenny Lam Kian Yip from Azman Davidson & Co. and Mr Harcharan Singh from Taylor’s University.
It is safe to say that the participants performed outstandingly in the general rounds. As the judges gave their feedback to the participants, they were surprised to learn that it was the first mooting experience for most of them.
Undoubtedly, teams scored amazingly well in the general rounds. Originally, only the top 2 teams would advance directly to the grand finals. However, upon studying the scoresheets, the difference in scores for the top 4 teams were not significant. Hence, the organising committee decided to hold the semi-finals before proceeding with the grand finals. The 4 teams were:
Team 1 “Nimesha Thevananthan” and “Tan Ejin”
Team 3 “Ong Eng Hong” and “Adrian Chioh Jia Feng”
Team 5 “Yeow Jie Hang” and “Joel Tan”
Team 11 “Audrey Oo Shu Nee” and “Wong Yoong Earn”
The top 4 teams faced off against each other on the following Saturday. The semi-finals were judged by Mr Tay Hong Huat from Tay & Helen Wong and Mr Ahmad Addlan from Hap Seng Consolidated Berhad. The teams stood toe-to-toe valiantly in the semi-finals. After an intense battle, Team 1 and Team 3 emerged victorious and made their way to the grand finals.
Both teams put forward an amazing final which was honourably judged by Ms Lavinia Kumaraendran from Thomas Philip, Ms Kwong Chiew Ee from Rahmat Lim & Partners and Mr Arawind Kumarr from Izral Partnership. To challenge the finalists, numerous questions were raised by the judges to encourage them to think on their feet.
After much deliberation in the judges’ room, it was announced that Team 3 edged over Team 1 and was crowned champions of the competition. Yeow Jie Hang from Team 5 bagged the Best Speaker Award based on individual scores from the general rounds.
Nevertheless, the mooters were repeatedly reminded that “win or lose matters little” throughout the competition, because it is the journey of learning that matters most. As Taylor’s Inaugural Internal Mooting Competition 2020 came to an end, we look forward to the next one as the mooting journeys of these young mooters had only just begun.
For more photos on the event, do visit our gallery or click here: https://lexicontaylors.wixsite.com/lexicon/taylors-internal-moot-comp-2020
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