Indigenous students at the University of New South Wales recently held the inaugural Mooting Competition of Australia’s First Peoples – a moot especially for indigenous LLB and JD students.
The moot was the idea of second year JD student Teela Reid and other indigenous law students, with Reid playing a key role in preparing the completion rules and coordinating the moot.
Academics from the faculty ran an advocacy and research workshop for students ahead of the moot, and provided a moot problem relating to s18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). Competition rounds were judged by practising barristers, academics and experienced student mooters.
Judge Matthew Myers of the Federal Circuit Court, the first Indigenous person to be appointed a federal judicial officer in Australia, adjudicated the grand final. First year student Kate Sinclair was named the winner of the competition, and Bridget Cama, also a first year student, was runner up.
“The UNSW Law Mooting Competition of Australia’s First Peoples was established to showcase the calibre of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at UNSW Law. It specifically allows students to engage with a legal matter that is culturally significant and aims to increase participation in advocacy”, said Reid.
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