SM St Francis Convent’s ‘lawyers’ win competition By Nancy Lai
KOTA KINABALU: SM St Francis Convent’s team of ‘lawyers’ presented the best case to win first place in the inaugural Griffith Law School Sabah High Schools Mock Trial Competition.
SM St Francis Convent was up against three other finalists, namely, SM La Salle, SM Sung Siew Sandakan and SMK Tawau.
SMK Tawau was placed second while SM Sung Siew and SM La Salle were third and fourth respectively.
According to Griffith University’s Director of Internationalisation, Associate Professor Sven Schottmann, the students did very well in the competition, which was conducted in collaboration with Market Management Services Sdn Bhd (MMS) and the Sabah Law Society (SLS).
“We were impressed by the quality of all the teams,” he said when met after the finals, which was held at the Kota Kinabalu Court here yesterday.
Sven said that it was the first time Griffith University organised the competition in Sabah.
“It is meant to create greater awareness of the legal profession among young Sabahans and to elicit interest in studying law. In this new Sabah, new Malaysia that we are entering now, we believe that law students, future lawyers will be the ones who will be able to rebuild these institutions in society and create a better, more just and inclusive Sabah tomorrow.
“We are passionate about Sabah (and) the new Malaysia and we have very long standing partnerships with Sabah especially. We are very impressed with the quality of Sabahan students, and the good thing about a Griffith law degree is that when you graduate from the university and you get admitted to practise in Australia, you can come back to practice in Sabah. Our law degree is recognised in Sabah,” he stressed.
On the competition, Sven disclosed that the teams were each given a court case to deal with, where they had a month to prepare for, except for the finals where it was only for 36 hours.
They were given course materials and they access to lawyer mentors through SLS, he said adding: “That is what makes this competition different from others because this is done in cooperation with lawyers who gave up hundreds of hours of their time to spend with the students and create a realistic environment of a court case.
Sixteen teams from Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau engaged in this competition, which was made possible through the close collaboration between Griffith University and its local partners, MMS Sdn Bhd and the SLS. The first, second and third placed teams competed for RM6,000 in prize money.
Associate Professor Therese Wilson, Dean of Griffith Law School, meanwhile said that civil society was the real winner.
“Nearly one hundred Sabahan high school students have gained a deeper understanding of law and the role it plays in dispute resolution in our modern world. I would be delighted if as a result of participating in this competition, a couple of young Sabahans have become interested in pursuing law in order to contribute towards a more equitable and just society,” she said.
Meanwhile, teachers and SLS members all agree that the competition is good for the students, especially in helping them to choose their careers.