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The budding lawyers from Victoria University have talked their way to victory over 233 teams from 59 countries at the largest mooting competition in the world.
A moot is a fictitious legal case argued by law students in front of a judge.
Katherine Belton and David Hume won the coveted Frederic Eisemann Award at the 16th annual Vienna Moot, competing against 1000 participants in the final.
"We were pretty stoked - 233 teams, " Ms Belton said. "It's been referred to as the Olympics of trade law mooting."
Mr Hume described it as very rewarding. "It was great to show New Zealand law students are up there with the rest of the world. Many teams had more members than we did - you could have teams of up to 12 people."
In the final, the pair were up against a team from India's ILS Law College, arguing over liability for a batch of defective cars.
The Victoria students trained for seven months. They were subjected to constant constructive criticism by their coach, Richard May, a solicitor at Chapman Tripp in Wellington, helped by Michael Cavanaugh from Heany and Co. Petra Butler from the university's law faculty provided oversight and expert knowledge.
"Long hours of research and writing went into this competition, as well as several hours of practice moots in Wellington. The flexibility, ability to concentrate on the main issues, and professionalism of the Victoria team led them to victory," she said.
The moot consisted of filing written memoranda before the moot, and an oral argument based on the documents.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh said: "To win the largest mooting competition in the world is a remarkable achievement, and is a credit to the team's dedication and the professional direction of their mentors."
To get ready for the oral arguments in Vienna, Ms Belton and Mr Hume had 25 practice moots in Wellington.
They completed 30 pre-moots in German universities, Madrid, Belgrade, and Leuven for 2½ weeks before the competition, and got through four knockout rounds to reach the final.
Ms Belton and Mr Hume now work for Wellington law firms that helped to sponsor their efforts - Ms Belton for Simpson Grierson and Mr Hume for Russell McVeagh.
"It's good to be out there putting those skills to use," Ms Belton said. |