Student Successes
Moot Finals
The moot final was held on 18 May 2024, congratulations to Louie Howell, Harry Waddington, Josh Foster-Pearcy and Marize Ras for an exceptional performance all round. The moot concerned implied terms and unjust enrichment, and all students demonstrated clear arguments and robust responses to some curly questions from the judges. Marize Ras won the “Blue” Cup for the Best First-Time Mooter and Josh Foster-Pearcy won the Judges Cup for the Best Overall Mooter. Marize Ras and Josh Foster-Pearcy won the Colin Fife Memorial Prize, established to enhance the development of advocacy skills by law students. The Bench comprised Mr John Matthews (Associate Judge of the High Court) (retired); Graeme Riach (President of the Canterbury/Westland Branch of the NZLS), Stephen Trevalla (Partner, Bell Gully) and our own Professor Liz Macpherson. Mr Matthews had some wise words for the mooters when dealing with the Bench – respectful, intellectual equality. Huge thanks to Jono and the competition officers at LawSoc for doing such a great job in organising the final and all the other associated competitions.
In the Junior Moot Final, Louie Howell, Ally Basa, Hugo Lethbridge and Christian King did a fabulous job arguing about remoteness of damage and whether exemplary damages are available in contract law. Louie Howell as declared the winner of the Junior Moot on the night. Amy Keir (Barrister) was the presiding judge and was joined on the Bench by Taylor Wood from Bell Gully (who also set the problem), and our own Matt Barber. Thanks to Bell Gully for their support of the moot and the well-earned kai afterwards.
On 19 July 2024 the Te Pūtāiki Kaupapa Māori Moot regional competition washeld in the Māori Land Court, judged by Judge Hix and Judge Milroy. With 5 tauira competing (pictured left below), four of which had never mooted before, including the winner, Isabelle Smith. Isabelle will go on to moot at Te Hunga Roia. Keri and Dee also attended the Tūmatakahuki wānanga in Auckland in the weekend, which was a wānanga of all the heads of the Māori Law Students Associations.
Te Pūtāiki sent 14 tauira to the Te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa Hui-ā- Tau in Whakatāne from September 4th to 8th. It was an awesome experience, with our rōpū connecting with other tauira, judges, and legal practitioners. Isabella Smith and Rireana Laauli did us proud, competing with mana in the Kaupapa Māori Moot Final and Negotiation Final respectively. We teamed up with Te Rōpū Whai Pūtake for Te Matature, the kapa haka competition and placed third! The highlight for many was hearing kōrero from Justice Whata, Justice Joe, and the legendary Tame Iti. All in all, it was an amazing week of learning, competing, and celebrating our reo and tikanga in the legal world.