The Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law was the host for the International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot (IMLAM) 2024, this being the second year in a row that the University hosted the event.
The event was held in Swansea, with the participation of 18 teams from 10 countries and concluded with a grand finale held at the London Offices of HFW in London.
At the heart of the City of London, two mooting teams from the University of Queensland and University of Hong Kong had a final showdown before an elite panel of judges:
- Mr Justice Simon Picken (Lead Judge for European Affairs and Chair of High Court of Judges Association),
- Ruth Hosking (Quadrant Chambers),
- Mr Chris Garley (Partner, HFW),
- Mr Bruce Harris (former President of the LMAA), and
- Mr Ian Gaunt (Barrister and LMAA).
After an hour of top-tier mooting, the University of Queensland (Sinaima Gordon, Elijah Larsen, Heidi Willis, and Asha Varghese) emerged as winners.
The competition had many positives; the mooting team from Universite de Versailles Paris-Saclay) was awarded the ‘Spirit of the Moot’ Award. Similarly, Anna Lasenko from Swansea University was awarded ‘Best Speaker’ from a participating UK team, and the National University of Singapore and University of Sydney teams were jointly awarded the ‘Best Memoranda’ award. Sara Dolera (Universitas Carlos III de Madrid) was the winner of the best female advocate award, sponsored by WISTA UK, and Loong Tin Yiu (the University of Hong Kong) was awarded the best female advocate prize, again sponsored by WISTA UK. Of particular note, from the 47 moots that took place over the weekend, was the performance of the University of Copenhagen on their debut in the competition as they reached the semi-finals.
All at IISTL offer their congratulations to the brilliant mooting teams that made it to the knock-out rounds after tense preliminaries: University of Sydney, Singapore Management University, University of Copenhagen, National Law School of India, National University of Singapore, Universitas Indonesia, Symbiosis University, Murdoch University, Swansea University, and Universitas Carlos III de Madrid.
Speaking after the event, Professor Barış Soyer, Director of the IISTL, commented:
“On behalf of the IISTL, we would like to thank to all our judges from legal practice, academia and the P&I world, who freely gave up their time to contribute to the development of the next generation of maritime lawyers! And of course, once again we would like to pay our respects to all of our supporters: HFW (for the generous sponsorship), International Group of P&I Clubs, WISTA UK, our information partner iLaw, and our technology partner Thomson Reuters.
The event was a great occasion that brought 18 teams to Swansea, and provided a fantastic environment for developing the advocacy skills of those who participated, and a networking opportunity with maritime practitioners. We are also grateful to Matthew Parry who convened the competition.”