NUS Law Students Emerged Quarter-Finalists at International Competition Law Moot Competition

A CCS-sponsored team from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law (NUS Law) emerged quarter-finalists at the Herbert Smith Freehills Competition Law Moot 2016, held at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London. The team consisted of final-year law students Erwin Wan, Lee Ji En, Ng Yee Ting and third-year law student Jeanette Wong.

For the written round of the competition, teams from all over the world were invited to submit their written arguments. The top 12 teams with the best memoranda would then be selected to proceed to the oral mooting rounds. The NUS Law team made it through the written rounds and were selected to compete in the oral rounds in London.

The oral rounds were held at King’s College London from 16 to 18 June 2016. In London, the NUS Law team impressed multiple panels of distinguished judges with their mastery of the legal arguments and technical knowledge of the subject matter – Competition Law and Standard Essential Patents in the telecommunication industry.

This was not an easy subject matter to grasp. The team had to, within a short span of four months of preparation, understand in depth what the 4G LTE, 3G and 2G telecommunications standards comprised of, the standard-setting process in various SSOs such as ETSI and TIA, how the leading technology companies around the world were asserting and exercising their patent rights and also be familiar with the fast-moving European Union jurisprudence in this area. While the preparation for the moot was challenging, it was nevertheless an extremely fruitful and rewarding experience.

The NUS team was in the field with teams from top universities such as Queen Mary University, the University of Leeds and the University of Hong Kong. After several rounds of intense mooting, interjected with stressful and exciting moments, the team reached the quarter-finals where a close fight with the University of Amsterdam saw the latter emerge victorious with a 2-1 margin.

Even though the competition was over for the NUS Law team, the learning experience did not stop there. The teams this year were fortunate enough to witness the Finals of the Moot Competition between Queen Mary University and the University of Hong Kong – at Victoria House – the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal itself! The Finals saw intense questioning from a distinguished bench and enthralled the participants, and the University of Hong Kong emerged as overall champions.

The NUS Law students, (From L-R) Lee Ji En, Ng Yee Ting, Erwin Wan and Jeanette Wong, seen here with distinguished Competition Law experts, Professor William E. Kovacic, Professor Alison Jones, and NUS Law Associate Professor Burton Ong, at the United Kingdom Competition Appeal Tribunal.