Judges of the Otago student law moot competition, in back row from left, are Law Faculty member Dr Simon Connell, Justice Graham Lang, and Sophie East, Head of Litigation at law firm Bell Gully, which sponsors the event. In the front from left are the winning pair Oliver Thorns and Samuel Blackwood (also best speaker), with fellow finalists Manawa Te Ahuru-Quinn and Samuel Walker.
Holding the final of the student moot competition in Dunedin’s historic High Court last week was a special occasion for Otago’s Faculty of Law.
As organiser and faculty member Ben Nevell says, “It brought a beautiful reality to the whole thing.”
A moot competition is a mock trial, where competitors present their arguments on a plausible legal case, and answer questions from the judges.
Otago alumni Justice Graham Lang and Sophie East, Head of Litigation at law firm Bell Gully, graciously served as judges, alongside Law Faculty member Dr Simon Connell.
The students rose to the occasion.
The four competing finalists were Samuel Blackwood and Oliver Thorns acting for the Appellants and Manawa Te Ahuru-Quinn and Samuel Walker for the Respondents.
The judges shared some remarks at a prizegiving ceremony afterwards, attended by competitors and fellow law students. All judges agreed it was a close fought contest, on two particularly complex legal issues.
“They were two very crunchy, quite complicated issues on their own,” Sophie says. “I was really impressed with the way you all grappled with the problem. It was really outstanding.”
Graham told the teams, “This was a difficult problem, and I could tell by your written synopses and your oral arguments that you were all over it.”
He also shared some key insights and advice with the gathered students and reminisced about his own time as a moot competitor.
Ultimately Samuel Blackwood and Oliver were the winning side and Samuel was announced best speaker.
“I am really happy, we worked hard for it. It was very difficult area of law to grapple with, especially having never encountered it before,” Oliver says.
An uncharacteristically lost-for-words best speaker winner, Samuel Blackwood says, “It still hasn’t sunk in yet, but I am really happy.”
Bell Gully have been the longtime sponsors of this moot competition, which is an opportunity to develop and demonstrate key legal skills.
Last year, Otago’s team of Lydia Joseph, Rebecca Bridgman and Josef Strauss won the national competition and went on to compete in the Jessup International Law Moot in Washington DC, ranking 17th out of 135 international teams at the competition.
The finalists in the Otago student law moot, pictured from left are Oliver Thorns, Samuel Blackwood, Manawa Te Ahuru-Quinn and Samuel Walker.