Congratulations to Stephen Ke (final-year Sydney Law School student, and former intern at the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law), Kieran Pender, Camilla Pondel and Dan Trevanion (ANU law students), who recently came out ahead of excellent teams from the National University of Singapore, followed by Osaka, Sophia, and Kyoto / Hitotsubashi universities. They had already competed very strongly in the INC moot as part of a larger Team Australia, including students competing also in the parallel Japanese-language division. Practice makes perfect! This year’s students won the Squire Patton Boggs Best English Negotiation Team award. Team Australia also was just short of the highest mark awarded in the English-language division for the Arbitration round, where students apply the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.
The cross-institutional Australian Network for Japanese Law thanks Carol Lawson (ANU PhD candidate and former ANJeL Executive Coordinator) for her intensive coaching last year and for helping with practice sessions in Tokyo before this year’s competition. We are also grateful to ANJeL Advisory Board member Prof Veronica Taylor (ANU) for assisting this year’s Team with practices and logistics, and to Baker & McKenzie and Herbert Smith Freehills for hosting further practice sessions (as well as for their financial support last year, along with Allens Linklaters and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators). ANJeL also acknowledges “New Colombo Plan” travel funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, secured by Prof Taylor for students this year (as well as 2017 and 2018).
We look forward to fielding a larger Team Australia again for the INC moot over 18-19 November 2017, despite the challenge of coordinating final preparations in Tokyo during Australian university exam periods! (That extra pressure can help focus the mind, and better prepare students for the demands of contemporary legal practice.) Calls for expressions of interest will be available in early/mid-2017.