A team of University of Queensland law students who won an international law moot competition earlier this year 'are not only up with the top but are the top', according to Governor-General Sir William Deane.
Sir William and Lady Deane recently celebrated the students' world-class achievement with team members and members of the University community at Brisbane Customs House.
University Secretary and Registrar Douglas Porter said the competition founder, Michael Sher's visit from New York for the presentation was 'clearly a sign of this competition's international standing'.
Third- and fourth-year students Joanne Coates, Lisa Cohn, Lisa Ford, Jacqueline Mowbray, Darren Peacock and Dugald Wishart courted international success in Austria to win one of the world's top two law moot (hypothetical) competitions, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.
At the presentation of the competition awards, Sir William said of the team members: 'you've brought credit, not only on yourself and your law school but also on teachers of law and law schools in this country. You've also brought a degree of credit on the country itself.'
Sir William, whose 40-year legal career has included a specialisation in international law, said moots played a very important part in legal education, teaching students to listen to the argument of others.
'The moot is an ideal way of learning because if you don't listen to the other side and appreciate their arguments, you'll never really convince anyone of anything,' Sir William said.
'But if you've learnt to listen I think you're on the way to legal success.
'When I started law and when I practised law the possibility of being involved in an international commercial moot or an international commercial case was something that one only dreamt about.
'These days international commercial law and international commercial arbitration are the very stuff of successful practice of the law.
'It's particularly good to see that our law schools can produce people who, even at university standard, are not only up with the top but are the top.'
Lisa Ford and Jacqueline Mowbray argued the University's case against the University of Cologne, Germany in the final which was judged by a panel of international legal heavyweights.
Forty-eight first-rate law schools from 19 countries were represented at the finals.
Mr Sher's aim in founding the competition was to raise awareness of the United Nations' Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods among business people and lawyers, by encouraging the study of international commercial law and methods of alternative dispute resolution.
Mr Sher said the competition was 'very much a real world experience' of international commercial law and an educational experience which brought together students and coaches from different countries with different legal systems and different cultures.
Chancellor Sir Llew Edwards congratulated Professor Gabriel Moens for his 'vision and dedication in pursuing and achieving excellence'.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Lisa Ford said the competition was a fantastic experience, and had provided the opportunity to meet lawyers and students from around the world.
She thanked competition sponsors, Mr Sher, University academics, members of the Brisbane legal profession and Professor Moens for his 'friendship, hard work and sheer determination to succeed which was the basis for our victory'.
Professor Moens has selected law students John Bona, Niels Jensen, Marjorie McDonald, Fiona Kennedy and Derran Moss to defend the title in 1998.
For more information, contact Professor Moens (telephone 07 3365 2220).
