The Malaysian National Rounds for the 10th LAWASIA International Moot Competition was held recently from the 5th to 6th September 2015 at the prestigious Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration’s (KLRCA) state-of-the-art facility at Bangunan Sulaiman in Kuala Lumpur.
MahWengKwai & Associates has a proud history of supporting the LAWASIA Moot in its mission over the last decade to offer a systematic training process of the essential skills of problem solving, legal analysis, drafting legal submissions and the development of public speaking – all fundamental skills necessary for a prospective lawyer.
Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai was invited to judge in this year’s National Rounds.
What is mooting?
Mooting is a mock court proceeding where student teams give an oral argument of a legal issue or problem against opposing teams before a panel of ‘judges’ or ‘arbitrators’. The tradition of mooting began in England more than five centuries ago in the ancient medieval ‘inns of court’. Young lawyers training to become barristers were required to perform a series of oral arguments in front of more experienced lawyers who acted as judges. This practice of ‘mooting’ has survived and evolved over 500 years and is still widely used as a teaching tool in universities globally. It also provides an arena to bring leading law schools and universities together at national and international mooting competitions which promote a spirit of friendly rivalry, as well as camaraderie.
(L-R) Moot Judges: Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai, Dato’ Umi Kalthum binti Abdul Majid, Dato’ Varghese a/l George Varughese
The Mah Weng Kwai Challenge Trophy for Best Mooter
The Best Mooter trophy is named after our Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai who is a past President of LAWASIA in recognition of his commitment and contribution to the LAWASIA International Moot competition.
This trophy is awarded to the mooter who best demonstrates the ability to articulate one’s thoughts and arguments by condensing disparate, conflicting legal authorities into succinct and persuasive arguments in a professional, gracious and persuasive manner.
Malaysian National Rounds 2015
Our Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai and Mr Raymond Mah were once again honoured to accept the invitation of the LAWASIA Standing Moot Committee to judge the National Rounds at this year’s Moot Competition.
A total of 25 teams consisting of 75 law students participated in the two-day competition. This year’s challenging moot problem required the competitors to arbitrate a hypothetical dispute over a statue of great antiquity with origins in Nepal which found its way to the Australian Museum in Sydney and now on loan to the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The mooters had to resolve what laws or legal principles would establish Nepal’s right to demand the return of the statue or Australia’s right to retain it: Australian law, Nepalese law, International law or UN Conventions.
The team from Advance Tertiary College emerged as The Champion Team with team member Ms Lee Mei Xian winning The Mah Weng Kwai Challenge Trophy for Best Mooter.
(L-R) Moot Judges: Mr George Varughese, Puan Jamhirah binti Ali, Mr Raymond Mah with the student mooters
