Underdale Stage 2 Legal Students Shine at Flinders Mooting Competition
Week 9 saw the Underdale legal studies team of Mina Aamir, Harsimar Johal and Karmanya Verma travel to the Flinders University city campus to compete against other schools in a mooting competition. Mooting is a simulated hearing in front of judges where students argue a fictional case critically analysing legal issues and researching relevant laws. This year’s case centred on the misuse of bleach in a business, resulting in claims of trespass and nuisance.
Preparation begins with a written submission outlining the main points to be presented for both the appellant and the respondent, followed by the oral delivery on competition day where persuasion, quick thinking and engagement with judges is paramount. Each team has two speakers, allocated ten minutes to present and answer questions from the judges.
The focus on preparation by the students during recent lessons was fantastic and after a strong showing against ASMS and Nazareth in the preliminary rounds, we headed into the semi final against Thomas Moore College confident and comfortable in the formalities required in mooting. The semi final saw an increase to two judges and the questions much tougher, however, we shone once again and headed into the final.
The final saw us lose the coin toss and end up on the more challenging appellant side, and unfortunately came up short in the final where we now had 3 judges and a crowd of all students from the day.
An excellent showing and an effort that the students should be proud of. A special thanks to the Flinders University school of law who provided a third year student to assist prior to competition day, some excellent feedback after each moot and a future invitation to attend criminal law classes for further exposure and experience.
We look forward to next year and the opportunity to build upon this success and go one better as our Legal Studies program at Underdale continues to grow.
Daniel Hoskin
Stage 2 Legal Studies Teacher
