Mooting competitions are valuable as the students gain experience in courtroom advocacy, and learn from their lecturers how to approach specific issues of law. They were coached to prepare for the competition by Professor Alberto Costi and Dr Marnie Lloydd.
“The students defeated the University of Tokyo in the grand final, before a bench of five judges. They worked very hard, presenting arguments over the course of four days 11–14 March, and the win was well-deserved,” says Professor Costi.
The international Hong Kong competition represents the culmination of a year of IHL study and moot court competitions. The University team won the national IHL mooting competition in November 2020.
The mooting problem involved questions related to IHL, otherwise known as the law of armed conflict, specifically the question of possible individual responsibility of a military commander for war crimes. The alleged crimes related to failures to protect civilians during civil war and the protection of children during armed conflict.
This year is the first time the moot has been held virtually, and there were 26 teams from all over the Asia-Pacific taking part in the competition. This is the third time in a decade that the law school has won this mooting competition, testifying to the quality of the school’s students.