BOND TEAM TACKLES WORLD’S BEST
MEET the Gold Coasters taking on the world from the comfort of their own courtroom.
Bond University law students Renee Shike, Millie Jones, Elijah Png, Giles Evans-Barns and Jacob Cookson are competing in The Jessup – the globe’s largest and most prestigious moot competition. The five-member team made it through the early rounds to be among the top 48 teams on the planet.
Already the team has competed against mooters from China, Russia, Belgium, the US and Indonesia.
On Sunday they face off against American University in Washington, DC in the knockout phase of the competition.
“It is amazing to see we can compete and compete well at such a high level,” Mr Png said. “It feels like the World Cup – we get to go up against the best of every country, and hopefully keep taking on the best. That’s the pinnacle — to test yourself at that level.”
Teams from Australia have won The Jessup seven of the past 15 years. Qualifying for internationals in itself is a feat because of the quality in Australia.
“We get really good feedback on our advocacy skills and the way we present,” Ms Shike said. “The skills you learn here are super-transferrable. You get the breadth of the skills from mooting — the aural skills, the research, the writing. They have set us in really good stead to do well at our graduate jobs.”
The 2021 moot concerns legality of border restrictions in a pandemic, asylum for whistleblowers in diplomatic premises, the jurisdiction of court and legality of the use of force against a suspected terrorist attack.
More than 550 teams started the competition.