Honourable Retirements in 2010

Honourable mention here of those mooters who have retired from the moot squad in 2010:

Azad Akhbar Khan (Law Asia 2009, 2010, and IHL 2009) and Daniel Nizam (Law Asia 2009, 2010 and Maritime 2010). Both will be commencing their LL.B(Hons.), congratulations for qualifying for that programme. When both of you become famous senior partners at a big law firm, I expect you to contribute ten percent of your firm's profits to the Moot Club. ;-)

Kodie Hassan (Law Asia 2010). Reverting back to her role as Secretary 'Extraordinaire' of the Moot Club. As UiTM will be hosting the Malaysia National Rounds of Jessup 2011, her administrative expertise will be sorely needed by the faculty and the club. Ellie (Moot Club President), you have another 'slave' to work with! ;-)

Retirement from competitive does not mean in activity, and I expect all of you to be contributing as trainers for the 'Plankton' and 'Bilis' squads, ... ... ... and also all the 'makan-makan' sessions which the Food Club, I mean Moot Club is famous for.

Have a great 2011. :-)

2010 - A Great Year for the UiTM Moot Club

It is that time of the year again when one cannot help but reminisce about the year that is about to come to an end. The overwhelming feeling that I get for 2010 is what a wonderful year it has been and that an even better year lies ahead. What can I say, I am an optimist ... at least, most of the time when I am not cynical.

2010 kicked off with a fantastic win at the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The senior squad at that time (who are not sadly in retirement) consisting of Azinuddin Karim, Afif Ahmayuddin, Hazralika Hamzah and Faez Razak won the National Rounds for UiTM, the very first win for the university in its history. What made the victory even more meaningful was that this very same foursome also won the Best Memorial prize and Hazralika Hamzah pick up the Best Oralist prize. As a coach, I would have been happy if the team had just won the best team trophy, but winning every single prize on offer was an achievement beyond my wildest dreams. This awesome foursome will forever be remembered and given a special place in the history of UiTM.

Inspired by this, the 'Bilis' (i.e. Junior) Moot Squad at that time (who are currently the senior squad preparing for Jessup 2011) had famous victories over Melbourne University and Southampton University at the International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot 2010 during the first week of July. That team, consisting of Shairil Farhana (captain), Khairil Kahlid (vice-captain), Arina Lum and Zarif Shafiq, came back with the first ever prize won a UiTM moot team at an international competition when they picked up the 'Achievement Award'. I just cannot wait until January 2011 when you guys start 'kicking-butt' at the Malaysian National Rounds of Jessup. No pressure! ;-)

Very soon after, it was time for the Law Asia Moots 2010 at KLRCA. This time, a team led by anchor mooter Zarif Shafiq and Arina Lum as well as Nurhadi Zainol made it to the final round. Azad Akhbar Khan also deserves a special mention as he finished as one of the top three mooters for that competition.

With the distraction of most competitions behind the club by August, the UiTM Moot Club had the time to concentrate on internal matters. The moot squads conducted very informative workshops on mooting at branch campuses. As a result of their efforts, when the Inter-Part Moot Competition (i.e. the Dean's Challenge Trophy) was held, there was a record number of entries. This competition unearthed a number of gems. For example, Atiqah Razif (winner of the Most Promising Young Mooter Prize) and Zulfikri Ibrahim (winner of the Best Mooter in the Final Rounds). There were also two teams of very enthusiastic mooters from Asasi / Matrix Shah Alam who will now form part of the 'Plankton' squad (i.e. Baby / very Junior Moot Squad) as well as mooters from Kedah's Asasi / Matrix programme who will be coming into Part One of BLS in January 2011 who will be invited to audition for the regular 'Bilis' (Junior) squad.

Last but not least, the icing on the cake came at the International Humanitarian Law Moots in December. The defence team consisting of Atiqah Razif and Alia Amran made it all the way to the finals. Alia added more icing on the cake by winning the best mooter prize. By the way, both your names are on the list for Jessup 2012!

As I said earlier, it has been a great year. I wonder what's in store next year? If the rock on which this success was built on, Miss Ummi Hani continues to give her time, effort, and geeky knowledge of International Law, great things lie ahead. Thanks also to Mazlina Mahali for keeping the club afloat with your administrative endeavours and thanks to the faculty as well as its leadership for continuing to support the club.

IHL Moots 2010, 10 and 11 December @ UM

Congratulations to Joshua and Danni (UUM) who defended their title by winning the competition again this year. All the best in Hong Kong. I know you will make Malaysia proud. I hope you will go one better this year and win the international rounds as well.

Further congratulations to the UiTM 'Bilis' (i.e. Junior) Moot Squad for a great performance. The team consisting of Muhammad Nurhadi Zainol and Auzan Syaidi (representing the prosecution) as well as Alia Sumayyah Amran and Nur Atiqah Razif (representing the defendant) performed beyond expectations.

In particular, the defence team of Alia and Atiqah, mooted fantastically and made it to the finals where they eventually lost to Joshua and Danni. Special mention should also be made of Alia, as she won the Best Oralist prize.

The best memorial prize went to ATC. Well done for posting a very good score. Better luck in the oral rounds next year.

Last but not least, thank you to Mr Y.L. Fork and the ICRC as well as UM (i.e. especially Dr Azmi Sharom and Dr Sujatha Balan) for organising a great tournament.

Preparation for International Humanitarian Law Moots 2010

Preparation begins on the day after the final paper. Therefore on Monday, 15 November 2010, please meet at the Cempaka Moot Court at 9 a.m. Miss Ummi Hani will kick off the session a lecture on the applicable law. We will then look at the moot problem and do some brain storming. The team will have to complete the memorials by 19 November 2010 for submission. Good luck. Current 'Bilis' squad members Atiqah, Ojan, Alia and Hadi, please be there. Joining you will be some 'newbies' Khairul Aisamuddin bin Abdul Rahman, Mohd Ashraf bin Azni, Mohd Afif bin Daud and Nur Elissa Baharudin.

Any students from Parts 1 to 3 of BLS who are still interested in joining the moot team, please show up prepared with a five minutes submission based on the Inter-Part Moot 2010 problem question, so that you can audition for a place in the final line-up.

Auditions for the Jessup 2012 Team

Those interested in representing UiTM as mooters, please show up on Friday, 22 October 2010, 3-5 pm at the Cempaka One Moot Court for an audition

Please prepare a submission based on this year's inter-part moot problem that is no longer than 10 minutes and get ready for lots of Q and A. You will be appearing before a panel of selectors consisting mainly of moot club advisers.

For those selected, your first moot will be the International Humanitarian Law moots which will take place sometime in early December.

Those currently in Parts 1-3 are strongly encouraged to audition as those selected will be part of UiTM's team for Jessup 2012.

UiTM vs Queensland University of Technology Annual Moot

On 28 September 2010, the Maritime Moot team from QUT mooted against the Maritime Moot team from UiTM. No memorial were involved, but the teams agreed that the Maritime Moot 2010 (Sydney) problem would form the basis of the moot.

In the first tie, UiTM's team consisting of Miss Arina Lum and co-counsel, Mr Zarif Shafiq as claimants took on the respondents of QUT who were represented by Mr Isaac Buckley and co-counsel, Miss Jamie Nuich. Renowned barrister and coach of the QUT team, Mr Mark Thomas, sat as the sole arbitrator for this round.

For the second tie, QUT started as claimants instead and were represented by Miss Emma Buckley and Mr Tim Alexander. Responding to the allegations, were UiTM's team consisting of team captain, Miss Shairil Farhana and co-counsel, Mr Khairil Khalid. For this round, yours truly sat as the sole arbitrator.

Under the rules agreed between the team before hand, the home team would only be able to claim the challenge trophy if it won both ties outright. In the event of a draw, with each team taking a tie each, the away team would have the right to take home the challenge trophy.

At the end of both ties, after deliberations between the arbitrators, by a very narrow margin (i.e. splitting hairs here), both ties were awarded to QUT. Therefore, QUT won the right to take home the challenge trophy. However, winning is probably a double edged sword for QUT as that means less luggage space for shopping! Well done chaps!

There was a tie for the best mooter award. Both Miss Shairil Farhana and Mr Tim Alexander were equally amazing! However, in the spirit of giving the advantage to the away team in the event of a tie, Tim took home the trophy. Congratulations!

As the moot was a huge success both academically and socially for both universities, I hope that next year, a team from UiTM will be visiting QUT to try and win back the challenge trophies. Congratulations and well done to both teams. You displayed great mooting skills and I am heartened that the legal profession will not be short of hot shot young lawyers joining its ranks in the not too distant future.

My thanks to all who helped in the organising of the moots, especially the moot club and its enthusiastic 'moot clubbers' under the leadership of its president, Miss Elli Suraya.

If there was one disappointment, it was the campus monkeys not keeping to schedule and failing to appear at the rubbish dump behind the Cempaka One building. Sorry Jamie! Good news though, the very next day, I did see them at the dumpster behind PTAR II (the university's second library building). Better luck next time Jamie.

Recruitment for the Junior Moot Squad

As soon as the semester resumes, the moot team will looking to add to the current junior team. Your first moot will be the Maritime Moot 2011. We are looking for mooters currently in Parts 1, 2 and 3 of BLS so that you will still be young enough to be around for Jessup 2012. Best Mooter in the general rounds and winner of the Special Mention award at the Inter-Part Moots 2010, you have automatic entry into the junior squad. All other participants in the Inter-Parts, please get prepared for an audition based on the Inter-Part moot question. Prepare a submission on just one ground that is no longer than 10 minutes and get prepared for loads of Q and A. The date, time and venue will be announced soon. I look forward to seeing all of you at the auditions. :-)

Invitation to Participate in Maritime Moots 2011, Singapore

The following is an invitation to take part in the Maritime Moots 2011 which will be held in Singapore, hosted jointly by NUS and Murdoch University, to which I have of course replied that UiTM will be sending a team. Here is the invitation:

September 2010

School of Law

South Street, Murdoch

Western Australia 6150

Telephone: +61 8 9360 6050

Facsimilie: +61 8 9310 6671

http://wwwlaw.murdoch.edu.au/

THE TWELVTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW ARBITRATION

MOOT COMPETITION, 1 - 5 July 2011, SINGAPORE

The Murdoch University School of Law is pleased to invite your law school to compete in the

12th International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot Competition. The Competition will be

hosted by our colleagues at the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore

(NUS), Asia’s Global Law School. Singapore is an amazing and vibrant city, of great

significance for regional and global trade with the port in Singapore being the busiest in the

world .The student teams are bound to have an incredible experience in this city.

In 2010 the competition was organised by the Murdoch University School of Law and hosted

by the University of Technology, Sydney. Our largest field ever, 19 teams from 7 nations

competed in the event. The competitors were:

University of Technology, Sydney

Queensland University of Technology

University of Queensland

University of Malaya

University of Hong Kong

The University of Notre Dame Australia

University of Melbourne

National University of Singapore

Gujarat National Law University

University of Western Sydney

City University of Hong Kong

Universitas Gadjah Mada

Universitas Indonesia

Murdoch University

National Law University Jodhpur

MARA University of Technology (UiTM)

University of Sydney

University of Southampton

Universitas Padjadjaran

In 2010, the grand final of the competition was won by the National University Singapore.

The key elements of the competition are:

• The problem will be released in early December 2010

• The teams prepare a 25 page memoranda in support of both the claimant and

the respondent, due in April. These memoranda are judged by an international

panel who determine the best written memoranda prizes.

• The teams attend the oral competition at the host university. Each team argues

four times in the general rounds, twice for the claimant and twice for the

respondent. Distinguished members of the legal profession, judiciary and

shipping industry participate as arbitrators.

Awards are presented in the following categories:

• Best written memoranda, and runners up

• Highest Ranked team in the General Rounds

• Best speaker in the General Rounds

• Encouragement Award( team and/or individual) and the Sarah Derrington Award

• Best speaker in the Finals and the Ron Salter Award

• Runner Up - Best speaker in the Finals

• Runner up Team - Orals

• Winning Team – Orals

• Spirit of the Moot award

• Achievement awards (individual and/or team)

The moot is a competition open to any law students (either undergraduate or postgraduate)

who have not been admitted to practice. The moot problem will involve a dispute relating to

commercial maritime law and the controversy will be determined before an arbitral tribunal

pursuant to the L.M.A.A. terms (2006) or other recognised terms. Students need not have

previously studied maritime law and in fact several past winning teams had no prior

knowledge of maritime law before undertaking the moot.

An enjoyable social program accompanies the competition to enable students to meet with

senior members of the profession and the maritime industry and to forge contacts with

students from other law schools. We pride ourselves on running a friendly but intellectually

rigorous competition which gives a real insight into this fascinating area of law.

Details of the competition, together with the registration form for 2011, can be found at:

http://www.law.murdoch.edu.au/maritimemoot/index.html The website also contains the

problem from previous years and the winning memoranda.

Enquiries about registration should be forwarded to the moot’s co-ordinator, Miriam Everall:

m.everall@murdoch.edu.au .

I hope your Law School will consider participating in this competition. I look forward to

welcoming your team to Singapore in 2011!

Yours sincerely

Dr Kate Lewins

Moot Director

K.Lewins@murdoch.edu.au

Inter-Part Moots: Dean's Challenge Trophy 2010

Thanks to Ellie Suraya (Moots Club President) for the list of the winners. Congratulations to every participant and the prize winners. You are all winners for boldly going where no ordinary student has dared to.

For the record, this is the roll of honours:

Champions (from Part III BLS)
1. Nur Amalina Ghazali
2. Mohd. Zulfikri Bin Ibrahim

Runner Up (from Part III BLS)
1. Nur Atiqah Razif
2. Atiqah Anas

Note: Only one mark separated the Champion and runner-up teams! Well done to both teams. A truly fantastic moot in the finals although you were thoroughly grilled by a very proactive bench.

Best Mooter General Rounds
Darren N Punnai

Best Mooter - Finals

Mohd. Zulfikri Bin Ibrahim

Special Mention Award (for most promising young mooter)
Nur Atiqah Razif

Spirit Of Interpart Award
1. Kedah Team 1 (Ellena's team) (for being crazy enough to take part even though you only had a week's preparation and were prepared to travel all the way down to Shah Alam)
2. Asasi Team 1 (Lyyana's team) (for daring to take the challenge even though you have not even made it into the BLS programme yet)

Moot Club Inter-Part Moots 2010 Workshop at Kedah

Once again, thanks to Shairil Farhana Ruslan for writing the following report on the workshop at Kedah:

MOOT WORKSHOP, KEDAH

After the roaring success of the moot workshop in Kuantan, the whole team was pretty hyped-up to go to Kedah and (hopefully) create a similar historical event. As the Sungai Petani campus is located about 300kms from Shah Alam, we had to leave a day earlier as the trip would take approximately 5 to 6 hours. However we forget to take into account that, as it was the fasting season so certain special circumstances would arise. The compulsory stop to break fast plus a few extremely long breaks to “recuperate” turned the 6 hours journey into 8 hours. Needless to say, by the time we saw the signboard for Sungai Petani, nobody wanted to see the sight of a bus ever again.

Our accommodation in Sungai Petani was a place called Northern Lodge, located just behind Park Avenue. Other than the memorable first night of trauma for Elli and Cik Pah as they were attacked by a colony of ants, the place is relatively acceptable. Initially we wanted to label it as an average but the fact that its only 5 minutes walk away from Nasi Kandar Pelita gives it a slightly higher rating.

The next morning the moot lemmings woke up bright and early and headed straight for Merbok campus that is located about 15 minutes drive from the hotel. For those of us who did their foundation in Kedah, we were bombarded by memories of studying here the moment the smell of rubber trees permeated the bus. Plus the sight of paddy fields all bright yellow and heavy with grain does strike a chord of melancholy in all of us. Memorable, but I digress. The campus itself had gone through a substantial upgrade since the last time I was here. It now boasts a new mosque, a new academic block plus a well-needed hostel. Kudos to Prof Dr Zaliha Binti Haji Hussin for her ever vigilant effort to upgrade the standard of this campus.

On to the event of the day!

The number of attendees for the moot workshop seemed smaller as compared to the one in Kuantan however it may have been because the venue was bigger. We had to conduct the workshop in the mosque as apparently all the other halls were already booked for other programmes. This made the presentation rather difficult as the sound was bouncing out of the mosque (the mosque had no walls). There was even a moment where we thought we had completely lost the audience’s focus. However the team gritted their teeth and put in an extra effort to be as interactive and approachable as possible and fortunately we managed to pull the audience’s attention again.

The mooting demonstration was held in another venue, Dewan Sarjana as we decided that it was not feasible for it to be held in the mosque. Again, the question and format of LawAsia was used. This time around the mooting demonstration was done by :

1) Claimant : Arina Lum and Izzat Asyraf

2) Respondent : Danial Nizam and Azad Akbar

3) Arbitrators : Afif Ahmayuddin and Shairil Farhana

Eventhough this particular workshop was a bit challenging for us due to the logistical issues, however all our efforts paid off when we found out that Sungai Petani campus would be sending 3 teams for the inter-part mooting competition. Again, congratulations are due to the moot team for pulling this off.

All of us can’t wait to see all the participants battling it out this coming weekend, hopefully we will get to see appearances of future moot gods or goddesses that will continue the great standards achieved by the Jessup 2010 team.

Moot Club Inter-Part Moots 2010 Workshop at Kuantan

Thanks to Shairil Farhana Ruslan, team captain of the senior moot squad, for writing the following report:

MOOT WORKSHOP, UiTM KUANTAN

In lieu with the upcoming Inter-part Mooting Competition which will be held soon, the president of the Mooting Club, Madame Elli had a dream that this competition would not only comprise of participants from the Bachelor of legal Studies (BLS. Hons) programme in Shah Alam but also the Asasi students studying in the branch campuses. To those of you who have had the privilege of knowing Elli will be aware of one of her unique attributes that is once she wraps her mind around an idea, she will never it go. Period.

Thus, because of this idea, on the morning of the 14^th August 2010, about 20 committee members and mooters got on board a bus and headed to UiTM Kuantan for the first ever Moot Workshop for Asasi-ans. Prior to this, the club only conducted moot workshops for the participants in the main campus but as we hope to induct more fresh blood into the mooting family, so we decided to expand and hold mini workshops for the asasi students studying in Kuantan and Kedah.

Honestly speaking, we was not expecting much of a response as most of us could still distinctly remember how uninterested we were with mooting when we were doing our foundation in law. Or maybe that was because we were uninformed, hmm. Anyhow, so imagine our surprise at the overwhelming response we received during the workshop in Kuantan. There was of course the initial awkward beginning but once the workshop got in full swing, the interaction between the speakers and the audience was awesome. The mooters put up a great presentation; in fact they even managed to make the boring part of preparing bundles of authorities sound interesting, that’s a feat in itself!

We also conducted a moot demonstration, using the LawAsia mooting competition question and format. I would think that this was the main attraction of the day as from this the participants finally got a clear idea as to what is mooting. The mooting demonstration was done by :

1) Claimant : Khairil Khalid and Izzat Asyraf

2) Respondent : Danial Nizam and Siti Khadijah

3) Arbitrators : Afif Ahmayuddin and Shairil Farhana

All in all, the workshop lasted for about 4 hours, and in those 4 hours we managed to persuade 2 teams to enter the Inter-part competition. Congratulations people! Not bad for a first time event.

Next up, UiTM Sungai Petani!

We hope to be able to create another miraculous event next weekend in Kedah. Hopefully we can fulfill Elli’s dream of getting 20 teams to participate in the inter-part mooting competition.

Inter-Part Moots: Dean Challenge Trophy 2010 - Clarifications No.1

These are clarifications to questions posed by Zuraini Ali Musa. The questions are in the black font, whilst the clarifications are in purple.

1. What is the terms, conditions, and exclusions of the restaurant's wi-fi?

The following are Mamak Shy's Bistro terms and conditions for use of the wi-fi services:

1. THE OBLIGATIONS OF MAMAK SHY'S BISTRO

1.1 We will use our reasonable endeavours to make the Service available 24 hours a day, however we will not be liable if for any reason the Service is not available at any time or for any period. Access to the Service may be suspended at any time. If you require any assistance in relation to the Service, you should contact Hotspots 24hr guest support.

1.2 In order to gain access to the Service, you may be required to provide us with certain personal information. We will use such personal information in accordance with relevant data protection legislation. You warrant and undertake to us that all of the personal information you provide is complete and accurate. We will not disclose any personal information which is provided by you to any third party without your permission, other than (i) to any sub-contractors or agents engaged by us to provide any support or administration, facilities management or similar services (subject to such sub-contractors and/or agents undertaking to keep such personal data confidential), (ii) to any company or organisation to which we transfer our responsibilities to provide the services and products to you or (iii) where required by law or made in connection with legal or regulatory proceedings.

2. YOUR OBLIGATIONS

2.1 You will pay the fees due in connection with the Service in accordance with the fee schedule published by us from time to time. We reserve the right to increase or decrease fees for the Service at any time and from time to time.

2.2 You will keep confidential any access codes or passwords provided to you in order to access the Service, and will not disclose them to any other person for any reason. You will be responsible for any loss that arises from you losing, misusing or otherwise disclosing any such access codes or passwords. If you lose any such access codes or passwords, you should contact the Bistro's wi fi technical support immediately.

2.3 The Service is intended to allow you to access the internet in order to use, amongst other things, the worldwide web, e-mail, messaging services and chatrooms. You undertake to us that your behaviour while using the Service will be lawful, honest and proper. Without prejudice to any other provision of this agreement, we may terminate your use of the Service at any time without notice if we become aware of any behaviour that has a negative impact on our equipment or network or the use by other customers of our equipment or network or the internet in general, or which damages, or has the potential to damage, our reputation or standing.

2.4 Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph 2.3 above, you may not:

2.4.1 use the Service for any illegal purpose;
2.4.2 access or attempt to access the Service via more than one device;
2.4.3 access or attempt to access the Service provided to any other customer;
2.4.4 use the Service in such a manner as to host a web or other server, send or facilitate the sending of bulk e-mail or collect third party personal data without appropriate consent;
2.4.5 exceed the download limitations relevant to the particular period of use by you; or
2.4.6 resell, or attempt to resell, the Service to any third party.

3. BREACH OF THE AGREEMENT

We shall investigate any suspected breach of the agreement by you, and reserve the right to take such action as we, in our sole discretion deem appropriate, including suspension or withdrawal of the Service with immediate effect and without notice to you.

4. DISCLAIMER

4.1 You acknowledge that your use of the Service is at your own risk. The Service is provided on an "as-available" basis, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we hereby exclude all and any warranties or conditions of any kind, whether express or implied, in respect of the Service and any content or data obtained or downloaded from it. Without prejudice to the foregoing generality:
4.1.1 we do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free at all times or will meet your requirements; and
4.1.2 we are not responsible for the security, integrity, accuracy or completeness of any information that you transmit or receive while using the Service.
4.2 The disclaimer under this paragraph 4 is without prejudice to your statutory and other rights as a consumer.

5. LIABILITY

5.1 Nothing in this agreement shall exclude or limit your or our liability for death or personal injury.
5.2 Subject to paragraph 5.1, we shall not be liable to you in contract, tort or otherwise arising in connection with this agreement for any economic losses (including, without limitation, loss of revenues, profits, contracts, business or anticipated savings), any loss of goodwill or reputation, any special, indirect or consequential losses or any destruction or loss of data.
5.3 Our liability to you shall be restricted to the amount of fees you have paid to us in connection with the services. If no fees have been paid then our liability is effectively limited to zero Ringgit.
5.4 If any part of the Service is not available to you through no fault on our part or where the failure, suspension or withdrawal of the Service is beyond our reasonable control, we shall not be obliged to pay any compensation to you. If the Service is not available to you due to any failure on our part, we may, at our sole discretion, re-imburse you in respect of an appropriate proportion of the fees you have paid which relate to that period of unavailability of the Service, if you have paid for such services.
5.5 You will indemnify us against all and any losses or claims arising from any breach of the agreement by you, and against any claims or legal proceedings arising from your use of the Service which are brought or threatened against us by another person.

6. GENERAL

6.1 We reserve the right to amend this agreement at any time.
6.2 You acknowledge and agree that all intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to copyrights (including rights in software), trade marks, database rights, patents and inventions) in and relating to the Service are owned by us and our licensors or contractors. Nothing in this agreement operates to transfer any such intellectual property rights to you.
6.3 We reserve the right to assign or sub-contract any of our rights and obligations under this agreement without notice to you.
6.4 If any provision of this agreement is found to be unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the other provisions will nevertheless remain in full force and effect.
6.5 This agreement is governed by the laws of Malaysia and the parties hereto submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Malaysian courts, and if there were to be an appeal, to the jurisdiction of the Moot Court of Appeal UiTM.
BY CLICKING ON THE LOGIN BUTTON ABOVE YOU WILL BE DEEMED TO HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, ACCEPTED AND AGREED TO BEING BOUND BY THE FOREGOING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE.

2. Can we raise new ground of appeals?

No. The appellant has filed an appeal on the grounds given in the notice of appeal. You are to adhere strictly to those grounds of appeal.

3. Brief background of Mr. Toopie Aduslalu.

Mr Toopie Aduslalu's background has been provided by Haryanti Mansuri J in her judgment.

4. when do we have to exchange the bundle of authorities?

There will be no exchange of the bundle of authorities. Just prepare one for the bench, one for your opponent and a suitable number for your own personal reference. On the day of the moot, just hand a copy to the bench and hand over another copy to your opponent. You may retrieve the copies after the moot.

5. Is the doctrine of stare decisis applicable in this case?

As the case was litigated in a High Court in Malaysia and will go before an appellate court in that same jurisdiction, all the relevant laws of Malaysia are applicable, including the principle of 'stare decisis'.

6. Is Aini Lambat a part time employee or full time employee?

Aini Lambat is a full time employee of Mamak Shy's Bistro. She has been working there since last year. Previously, she was employed by Diva Unlimited Sdn Bhd, a company specialising in modelling shoes.

7. How old is Mr. Toopie Aduslalu?

Mr Toopie Aduslalu is past the age of majority. His exact age is not relevant to the legal issues at hand.

Law Asia Moots 2010: Day 3 - Final Rounds

Congratulations to Zarif, Arina and Hadi who qualified for the final round. Although you did not win the competition, I am very proud of you. Who would have thought that it would be the 'bilis' in the moot team that would go so far.

Congratulations also to the other UiTM teams that did not make it past the preliminary rounds. You live to do battle another day. It will be a different story at Jessup. The important thing here is that you've managed to squeeze in more mooting experience and as a result you will be a better person. Remember the prophetic words of Raphael Tay, it is not the winning that counts, it is whether you fulfill your potential. All of you are in the process of doing that and I look forward to seeing you celebrating in victory in a moot competition not too far in the future.

For the record, the winning team was Taylor's University College. Congratulations, you are worthy champions and will make Malaysia proud at the international competition. Nabila Kamarudin, you are an amazing mooter and really unlucky not to win the best mooter prize when you finished runner-up. ATC was the first runner-up and will also be joining Taylor's at the international competition. In third place was KDU, followed by IIUM and UiTM respectively.

The best mooter prize was won by Nora Huseinovic. Congratulations! You are the most systematic mooter that I have seen in the last five years and the clarity of your arguments deservedly won the hearts and minds of many judges. Special mention must also be made of the following UiTM mooters who finished in the top ten of the mooters rankings:

Azad bin Akbar Khan - 3rd place.

Shairil Farhana Ruslan - 6th place. Really fantastic performance considering the fact that you only had a few days to train and had to fly back from South Korea just the day before the competition.

Mohd Zarif Shafiq - 7th place. An amazing performance, as you are only in your first year (having just started part 2 of BLS). I have heard through the grapevine that you now have a fan club as you have been described as having that 'WOW' factor.

Law Asia Moots 2010: Day 2 - Preliminary Rounds

UiTM sent four teams for the competition. The composition of the teams were as follows:

Team 1 (M2070)
Muhammad Danial Bin Mohamad Nizam – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 3
Azad Bin Akbar Khan – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 3
Alia Sumayyah Bt Amran – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 2

Team 2 (M2090)
Muhammad Khairil Bin Khalid – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) 2
Izzat Asyraf Bin Zamri – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) 3
Siti Khadijah Bt Hassan Hasri – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) 2

Team 3 (M3040)
Mohd Zharif Shafiq Bin Badrul Hisam – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 1
Arina Bt Mohd Fairin Lum – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 2
Muhammad Nurhadi Bin Zainol – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 2

Team 4 (M3010)
Auzan Syaidi Bin Abdul Lateh – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 2
Shairil Farhana Bt Ruslan – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 3

(Note: Hilwa Nazifa Bt Bustam – Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons) Year 3 did not moot for this Law Asia competition as she withdrew from the Team M3010 just a couple of weeks before the competition).

By the end of the day, after all the scores were added up, Team 3 consisting of Zarif, Arina and Hadi qualified for the finals. The other teams that qualified for the final were Taylor's, KDU, UIA and ATC.

There are just too many rounds / ties to write about, and there will not be enough space here. Anyway, here are some of the 'juicy' details:

One team was actually sent into the wrong room and mooted against a team that they were not scheduled to meet. Luckily, no harm was done and all the other team coaches agreed to just proceed despite this irregularity. This is definitely in the spirit of the Law Asia competition. Unlike the Jessup national rounds, there was no petty squabbling over rules and lodging a complaint at every perceived minor infringement of the rules. Bravo to all the team coaches for being civilized and the mooters for exercising restraint.

Law Asia Moots 2010: Day 1 - Registration and Checking In

The team booked a bus from 'unit kenderaan' to travel to the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA). Just as the bus was about to get on the Federal Highway, the clutch froze up and the smell of something burning permeated the bus. The driver stopped and called for a replacement bus. Ironically, the clutch was replaced just recently and unfortunately had to break down. The replacement bus arrived after a long wait. It was a small rickety mini bus and the whole team hopped on board.

Just as the mini bus reached the Batu Tiga toll along the Federal Highway, the driver received instructions to stop the bus. Apparently, the bus was old and probably could not take the stresses of being driven into Kuala Lumpur. A third bus was sent to pick up the team. This time, a UiTM stage bus was sent to rescue us. But his time, we had already missed the registration session. Miss Ummi and Puan Mazlina who wisely took the option of driving there in the comfort, luckily managed to get the organisers to waive registration for the team. By the time we reached KLRCA, it was 5.30 pm. It had taken us three hours to get from Shah Alam to Jalan Conlay.

After a brief word with Raphael Tay, the charismatic organising chairman of the Law Asia Moot, the team made its way to its base of operations, Citrus Hotel, situated along Jalan Raja Laut. The rooms in the hotel are 'cosy', i.e. you can substitute that with the word 'small' here. The service at the Squirrel Cafe was really slow and the food, over-priced for a hotel of this stature. Just a short note to myself, 'do not have dinner at that place again'.

The rooms were allocated as follows:
513 - Miss Shairil Farhana and Miss Arina Lum.
512 - Pn Mazlina Mahali and Miss Ummi Hani.
511 - En Muhammad Danial and En Azad Akbar Khan.
510 - Miss Siti Khodijah Hassan and Miss Alia Amran.
405 - En Muhammad Nurhadi and En Auzan Syaidi
315 - Your's truly and En Mohd Zarif Badrul
309 - En Izzat Asyraf and En Muhammad Khairil Khalid

Dean's Challenge Trophy 2010: Inter-Part Moot Question

DEAN’S CHALLENGE TROPHY 2010

MOOT QUESTION


The following is a copy of Haryanti Mansuri J’s judgment in the case of Toopie Aduslalu v Mamak Shy’s Bistro Sdn Bhd (Civil Suit No: 210-2009) (Transcript 23 July 2010)


IN THE HIGH COURT OF MALAYA, SHAH ALAM

CIVIL SUIT NO: 210-2009

BETWEEN

TOOPIE ADUSLALU … PLAINTIFF

AND

MAMAK SHY’S BISTRO SDN BHD … DEFENDANT


JUDGMENT


HARYANTI MANSURI J


The Facts

[1] Mr Toopie Aduslalu, a citizen of the Federated Republic of Cheapmonk, was on holiday in Malaysia early last year. He had just attended a conference in Kuala Lumpur and presented his paper on ‘The True Nature of Gravity: A Study of Falling Acorns and Why Einstein General Theory of Relativity is Wrong’ at the International Theoretical Physics Conference 2009. Whilst visiting Shah Alam, he stopped at Mamak Shy’s Bistro for lunch.

[2] Mamak Shy’s Bistro is owned by Mamak Shy’s Bistro Sdn Bhd. The majority shareholder of this enterprise is Miss Shyla Funhaha Rusa. She is known to her customers as being very introverted and frequently too embarrassed to do anything in public. Her famous quip is: ‘I let my food do the talking’. Mamak Shy’s signature dish is venison curry, made from a recipe that Miss Shyla learnt from her father but she has had to water down his recipe for commercial purposes as the original was just too darn hot for most Malaysians.

[3] I would like to thank both the Plaintiff and the Defendant for contributing to the cost of a ‘bungkus’ of Mamak Shy’s famous ‘nasi briyani’ with venison curry and pickled vegetables. It is important for a judge to put the dispute in context by getting the experiencing the actual taste and smell where the incident complained of took place.

[4] When Mr Toopie Aduslalu had lunch at Mamak Shy’s Bistro, he ordered its signature dish and a cup of coffee. It was prepared by the head chef, Mr Lazat Babab, who brought the plate personally to Mr Toopie Aduslalu. As he was tucking into the juicy and tasty morsels on his plate, he noticed a sign just behind the cashier’s counter which stated: ‘Free wi-fi at Mamak Shy’s Bistro. Subject to the restaurant’s usual terms, conditions and exclusions’. When Mr Toopie Aduslalu asked the cashier, Mr Mazin Laidan, about the service, he was told: ‘Just read the instructions and then log in. The ID is Arif Qafir, and the password is Ojanda666. You can find the terms and conditions on our website after you log in’.

[5] As Mr Toopie Aduslalu launched his Safari browser, he was directed straight to the log in page at . He typed in the ID and password that he was given, but was not given direct access to the Internet. Instead he was first directed to a page titled ‘Friends of Mamak Shy’. Here, there were instructions to first time users to register their names, identity card number or passport number, mobile number and home address. When Mr Toopie Aduslalu asked a waitress, Aini Lambat, as why Mamak Shy’s Bistro needed so many personal details, she answered that it was ‘company policy, so please do not complain. I am just the messenger, not the problem’. Mr Toopie Aduslalu then angrily replied ‘not only are you late with the coffee I ordered, you are rude as well. So where is my coffee?’

[6] Ten minutes later, Miss Aini Lambat served the coffee, and a complimentary cup of ‘Teh Alia’, Mamak Shy’s signature ‘spicy ginger tea’. Mr Toopie scowled at her and said: ‘You cannot even get my order right. I ordered coffee and you also have to bring along a cup of smelly tea’. Miss Aini Lambat lost her temper and emptied both cups onto his laptop. Mr Toopie Aduslalu then left the bistro in a huff and threw an RM100 note on the table.

[6] Later that night, Mr Toopie Aduslalu carefully dried the laptop with a hair-dryer at Hotel Immu. When was working on his laptop, he discovered that it kept shutting down and rebooting itself. He could not get access to important data stored inside which was needed to present a second paper to fellow physicists at the conference. He called the hotel’s concierge for help and was directed to a company, Decoder Sdn Bhd, that provided 24 hours services for those with laptops in distress. Miss Codee, a technician from the company dropped by the hotel to examine the laptop. After running diagnostics, with the ‘Para Amore’ programme, Miss Codee concluded: ‘Your laptop is sticky. There is a lot of dried up liquid all over the place. I have tried to remove all the relevant parts and clean it. I cannot guarantee that it is going to work properly again. By the way, you probably also picked up a Myhali-hali Trojan when you logged into the bistro’s wi-fi system. Your system is now compromised’. When the laptop was switched on, it would not reboot.

[7] Miss Codee then charged Mr Toopie Aduslalu RM5,000 for her services. He fainted when he saw the bill and knocked his head as he fell to the ground. The doctor on duty at Hotel Immu, Dr Honey Berry, treated Mr Toopie Aduslalu for concussion and stitched a gash on the back of his head. The medical bill was RM1,500.

[8] In order to get a copy of the data stored on the laptop, Mr Toopie Aduslalu had to use a special courier to send the laptop to its manufacturer so that the information stored on the hard disk could be read and copied after a forensic process was carried out on the data storage system. I understand that the bill was in US dollars but I believe that the equivalent cost here is RM7,000.


Mr Toopie Aduslalu’s claim for breach of contract

[9] Customers expect to be treated properly when they visit a bistro or restaurant, just like a visit to the hotel when one is on holiday. Miss Aini Lambat’s behaviour as an employee of the Mamak Shy’s Bistro was unforgivable. A person in the service industry is not allowed to insult a customer by telling him not to complaint. This country is a democracy, everybody has the right to make their displeasure known, especially when Mamak Shy’s Bistro is charging an exorbitant sum of RM50 for its famous ‘nasi briyani’ with venison curry and pickled vegetables. The higher the price payable for a meal, the greater is the expectation of the customer. Mr Toopie is entitled to a quantum of damages which reflects the failure of Mamak Shy’s Bistro to discharge its contractual duty of providing a pleasurable dining experience to its customer. This is the core contractual obligation of a restaurateur to its customers. The quantum of damages for this is to be assessed by the Senior Registrar, Mr Hadee Yahkop after this trial.

[10] A diner who uses the wi-fi services at a restaurant or bistro is also entitled to expect that the service is safe for use. Although this is not the primary business of the bistro or restaurant, it is under a contractual duty to provide a service that is free from viruses and trojans. A customer is attracted to a restaurant because of such services and had a contractual right to expect that the service is safe for use. For this breach, I am allowing Decoder Sdn Bhd’s bill for RM5,000 and any other losses that flow from the damage caused by the Myhali-hali Trojan to the laptop, such as the cost of purchasing an equivalent new laptop at RM7,000 as well as the technical forensics bill for that same amount.


Mr Toopie Aduslalu’s claim for trespass to goods

[11] No person is allowed to violate goods that belong to another. When Miss Aini Lambat lost her temper and emptied both cups onto the laptop, this was a legal wrong commit towards goods belonging to Mr Toopie Aduslalu. There is no legal justification for this act, not even if a customer was rude to a waitress. Miss Aini Lambat should not act like a prima donna and learn to act more courteously towards people who are in fact ensuring that she still has a job at the restaurant. Even though she did not physically touch the laptop, the drinks that she poured were an extension of her arms that unlawfully trespassed on the laptop.

[12] I have awarded the cost of the laptop, the technical forensic’s bill and Decoder Sdn Bhd’s bill under the above head of contractual damages, so I will not allow the plaintiff to profit twice over from this. Even if the Mr Toopie Aduslalu’s contractual claim against Mamak Shy’s Bistro is in the unlikely event defeated, both those items of damages can also be claim as damages for this tort. However, I will award the medical bill of RM1,500 under this claim as this was a foreseeable loss that was inflicted on Mr Toopie Aduslalu. There is a clear chain of causation here. If the drinks were not poured over the laptop, then he would have had to engage Miss Codee’s services. Then if Miss Codee did not have a bill to show him, he would not have fainted and gashed his head, thus leading to the medical treatment.


Conclusion

[13] The Defendant is liable for all of the Plaintiff’s losses and injuries either in contract or in tort. I hereby dismiss the Defendant’s defence and award cost to the Plaintiff. If the Defendant is not satisfied with my decision, I suggest that it appeals directly to the geniuses who sit on the Moot Court of Appeal UiTM.

[14] For the record, the court also likes to takes judicial notice of the fact that Given Chee Shoes worn by Miss Aini Lambat are very nice and should nominated for an award.


Advocates appearing in court:
For the Plaintiff … Miss Khaleeda Kholid (Khaleeda, Shake, Lind and Partners)
For the Defendant … Mr Rus Alan (Van Neeson, Syabas and Associates)


______________________________________________________________________________


On 30 July 2010, Mamak Shy’s Bistro Sdn Bhd filed an appeal with the Moot Court of Appeal UiTM. The Moot Court of Appeal UiTM has jurisdiction to hear appeals from the High Court of Malaya under the Moot Court of Judicature Act 1964.


IN THE MOOT COURT OF APPEAL UITM

CIVIL APPEAL NO: 30-07-2010-10

BETWEEN

MAMAK SHY’S BISTRO SDN BHD … APPELLANT

AND

TOOPIE ADUSLALU … RESPONDENT


The following were the Appellant’s grounds of appeal:

1. There is no contractual duty on a bistro or restaurant to be courteous to its client. A dining contract is not like a holiday contract. The purpose of the dining contract is to get food. We have provided food which the customer has paid for.

2. A customer who uses wi-fi services at a bistro or restaurant should use his own anti-virus programmes for protection. There is no contractual duty to beef up the wi-fi system for a customer who has an anti-virus system that cannot even give proper protection against the common Myhali-hali Trojan.

3. There was no trespass to Mr Toopie Aduslalu’s goods. Miss Aini Lambat did not even touch the laptop. Drinks that were poured cannot be said to be an extension of her arms. Even if it were, she was entitled to protect her honour after being insulted by a nasty customer. Her actions were completely justifiable.

4. Even if there was trespass to goods, the medical bill could not be claimed as damages because it was too remote.


Further Instructions to the Participants:

1. Please send you written request for clarifications to:

Conventional mail:

Assoc Prof Dr. Irwin U.J. Ooi
Malaysia Institute of Transport (MITRANS),
Level 1, Old Engineering Building,
MARA University of Technology (UiTM),
40450 Shah Alam.

E-mail:

dr_irwinooi_uitm@yahoo.co.uk

2. Clarifications will be published within three days after the receipt for a request for clarifications on the UiTM Moot Club Blog and/or Facebook.

3. The last date for clarifications is Friday, 13 August 2010.

4. Memorials must be submitted by Friday, 20 August 2010.

Maritime Moots 2010, Sydney - Postscript

When yours truly was keeping in touch with the moot team in Sydney via Skype, those 'naughty' kids were hiding something. It was only when they returned and we met at the moot court that they unveiled the big surprise. The moot team won the 'Individual Achievement Award', sponsored by Roger Derrington. This is the first award / prize won by UiTM in an international moot competition. Congratulations to the team, I am very proud of you. Another big thank you to the competition organisers and sponsor of the prize for recognising the team's hard work and good performance at the competition. I hope that the Faculty of Law, UiTM, will frame that copy of the certificate and proudly exhibit it at the faculty's lounge in Cempaka One.

Maritime Moots 2010, Sydney - Days 2 and 3

My apologies for the late post, but yours truly has been busy.

On the morning of Day 2, UiTM's claimants consisting of Arina Lum and Zharif Shafiq defeated the respondent team from Universiti Pendjajaran Indonesia. Congratulations for having three straight wins.

On the morning of Day 3, UiTM's claimants, who were represented by Arina Lum and Danial Nizam unfortunately lost to Hong Kong University. Among the arbitrators on the tribunal was David Martin Clark, a renowned arbitrator who also has a very popular website. That means that UiTM completed the preliminary group stage with three wins and one loss.

Later that afternoon, when the quarterfinal places were announced, the team discovered that their efforts were not enough to make it to the knock out stages. In the past, UiTM has comfortably made it to the last eight, for e.g. in 2007 (4th place) and in 2008 (6th place). A ban due to HINI in effect grounded the team just before commencement of the oral rounds although the memorials had been prepared and submitted. This team later went on to register a historic first win for UiTM in the Jessup national rounds of 2010, so I cannot help but wonder what if they had taken part in 2009's Maritime Moots.

Anyway, congratulations to the moot squad under the leadership of Miss Shairil Farhana @ 'Mama Shai'. I am proud of your achievements as you have gained valuable experience from this moot. Better luck in the next moot.

Maritime Moots 2010, Sydney, Australia - Day 1

UiTM's Maritime Moot Team got off to a flying start when they defeated a team from the University of Melbourne (which are ranked in the top 100 universities in the world according to the THES university rankings. UiTM currently does not have a THES ranking yet due to a technicality ... but that's another story for another day). UiTM mooted as the respondents and were represented by lead counsel Shairil Farhana (team captain and also known to her team-mates as 'Mama Shai', no prizes for guessing why!) and co-counsel Khairil Khalid (a tiger masquerading as a chipmunk).

This very same team then met the University of Southampton's claimants and also emerged victorious in a second match later in the afternoon. Southampton is home to such famous Maritime Law academics as Prof John F Wilson (author of the favourite student text 'Carriage of Goods by Sea), Prof Emeritus Robert Grimes (who was the external examiner for my Ph.D viva), Prof Charles Debattista (author of Bills of Lading in Export Trade) and Prof Nick Gaskell (renowned expert on salvage law). This is a huge scalp for the UiTM team as Southampton's team are comprised of postgraduates, i.e. LL.M candidates whilst UiTM's team are made up of second year degree students from the Bachelor of Legal Studies (Honours) programme.

Congratulations to the team. Hope you do even better tomorrow, and do not forget to make lots of new friends and come back to Malaysia with loads of happy memories. I shall be looking forward to keeping in touch with you via 'Skype'. Thank God for the wonders of modern technology.

Student Volunteers needed for LawAsia Moot 2010

Dear Programme Directors / Heads of Law Schools,


Greetings from the LAWASIA International Moot Competition Committee. My name is Neptune Loh Xae Hoyy and I am delighted to inform you that the 5th LAWASIA International Moot Competition is again inviting law students to be a part of our LAWASIA International Moot Competition. This years' competition will be held on the 7th to 8th of August 2010.


We are again extending our invitation to law students from different universities to form part of the LAWASIA International Moot Competition Sub Student Volunteers Committee after the success of the 4th LAWASIA International Moot Competition. From our last Moot competition, we have gathered about 40 student volunteers from various law schools and has generated very positive feedbacks from both the students and also counsels, senior members of the bar and judges.


One of the main differences of the LAWASIA International Moot Competition is that it does not only involve the students who will be the mooters in the competition but also to involve student volunteers. It was also the vision of the LAWASIA International Moot Competition Committee to give Student Volunteers the opportunity to assist in the general administration of the National and International competitions.


For a competition to be successful, it is essential that each moot court is equipped with several officials namely, bailiffs who serve as court officers, timekeepers to keep the official time, court ushers, judges' assistants, team ambassadors, photographers and bloggers. Everyone's role in the competition is paramount in ensuring that the competition runs smoothly. I quote:

"The role of timekeeper in your average moot might seem, at a glance, to be a small, boring one; but i can safely say that my experience as a timekeeper in the LAWASIA international moots was an eye-opening experience. For one, I had to stay wide awake for the entire duration of 2 hours- give or take; and two, I had to keep the time to its precise minutes and seconds. Arduous, you may think, but what I witnessed from behind the desk across from the participants' was nothing short of extraordinary." Shariza Abdul, Year 2 LLB Law Student, 3rd LAWASIA International Moot Competition

"LawAsia was fun. Especially with the conference, u get to hear influential ppl talk about important issues and stuff. The moots were awesome in the sense that we could experience first-hand the nastiness of the judges and made us realise just how tenacious u must be to make it." Ikram, Year 2 LLB Law Student, 4th LAWASIA International Moot Competition

Student Volunteers have the unique opportunity to observe court advocacy, spirited legal argument and succinct legal points being put forward on complex legal issues. It is also an opportunity to network with other law students from various law schools and from different social and cultural backgrounds. Often this includes the chance to meet sitting judges, senior members of the bar, members of the Attorney General’s Chambers, academics and General Counsels of large corporations. Student volunteers are presented with certificates at the end of the competition. Based on past events, a few students have also received personalised commendation letters from the Chairman of the LAWASIA International Moot Competition praising their hardwork and dedication which will eventually look well on their CVs.


The closing date of the application will be on the 5th of July 2010. We had about 130 applicants last year and was only able to take in 42 of them so the selection will be on a first come, first served basis. For those interested, please do send in their details as follows:-

Name:
University/University College and Year:
Contact Number:
Email Address:
House Address:


Please note that Student Volunteers will have to bear their own cost of travel. However, meals and light refreshments during the course of the moot competition will be provided.


If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at neptune.loh@tktlawyers.com


P/S: I won't be able to accept any phone calls until the 8th of July as I am currently based in the UK and will not be back in Malaysia till then. However, you can still contact my colleague, Ms Chye Yoke Wah at +603-215567050.



Thank you.


Regards,
Neptune Loh,
Tay Kuan Teck & Son
Advocates and Solicitors
B-7-9 Megan Avenue II
12 Jln Yap Kwan Seng
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
E-mail : neptune.loh@tktlawyers.com
Tel : 603-2166 7050
Fax : 603-2166 7052

Joining UiTM's Law Asia 2010 Moot Squad

The Law Asia Moot question for 2010 is out. BLS students in Part 1 and Part 2 (for the January 2010 - April 2010 semester) who are interested in representing the university at this competition please get in touch with me as soon as possible at dr_irwinooi_uitm@yahoo.co.uk

Last year UiTM sent four teams and three teams made the final round. You have the chance to help us repeat that feat again this year.

Recruitment of new mooters!

We are recruiting Part 1 and Part 2 BLS(Hons) students (from the January - April 2010 semester) for UiTM's Moot Team. If you are interested, please leave your e-mail address here or e-mail me at dr_irwinooi_uitm@yahoo.co.uk so that I can contact you for the Law Asia audition, as Law Asia will be your first competitive moot probably around August 2010. Please do not be shy. Step forward and be counted. This will be the icing on the cake for your legal studies at UiTM. Ultimately, this team will be preparing for Jessup 2012. There are lots of perks in addition to the usual 'aktiviti makan'. For example, the team that is preparing for Jessup 2011, will be travelling down to Sydney for the Maritime Moots 2010 later this July. In the past, teams have travelled to Washington, New York, Melbourne, Perth and India for moots. The training will also stand you in good stead for BLS mooting in part 4. If you can moot competitively, part 4 moots should be a breeze for you. Join us and have a head start in your career. Some of your seniors have secured places in big law firms such as Skrine, Shooklin, Shearn and Lee Hishamuddin as a result of their good mooting record.

Jessup Moot - White and Case International Rounds - Day 4

There were two ties today. The first was against the University of Namibia. They came thought national qualifying round which consisted of 7 teams. They mooted as applicants, therefore Hazralika Hamzah and Faez Razak mooted as the respondents. The judging panel was very active as most of the panel could be classified as 'interventionist judges'.

The second tie of the day was against Heidberg University of Germany. The mooters speak impeccable English and they only time that their speech gave away any hint of their German origin was when they pronounced their names. For this tie, UiTM mooted as Applicants with Hazralika Hamzah and Afif Ahmayuddin. Once again, the judging panel was very active and the mooters did not have the chance to follow their scripts.

The top 24 teams were announced at a ceremony at the Lux Club (i.e. it is a bar) at half past ten at night. Unfortunately, UiTM did not make the top 24. This has been a great experience and we have learnt a lot. We hope to do a lot better next year.

Jessup Moot - White and Case International Rounds - Day 3

The tie against UAE commenced at 11 a.m. Hazralika Hamzah and Afif Ahmayuddin mooted as applicants. The UAE's line up is very cosmopolitan and they were coached by an American who has taught at Universiti Malaya in the past. Both Ika and Afif mooted very well and we are confident of a positive result.

After the tie, we had lunch with Ika's adopted mum (she's American by the way) at a nearby restaurant. The food is very good and I could not resist having the 14 oz NY strip steak.

The journey back to the embassy residences was a little bit adventurous. We had to take the metro (subway) and spent a long time looking for it ... in the freezing cold. Faez does not have any toes left as he has lost all of it through frostbite ;-)

Dinner was an interesting affair as the MSD director, Dr Posiah cooked fantastic 'sambal udang' with the biggest fresh prawns this side of the Atlantic. It was a great match with the fried rice which Pn Yati (who lives a few doors away) sent to the house in the morning.

We have two ties tomorrow, the first against Namibia in the morning, and against Germany in the late evening.

Jessup Moot - White and Case International Rounds - Day 2

At 2 pm, the UiTM team faced UCL. They are champions of UK, beating Oxford in the UK national finals. The first applicant from UCL was from Brazil whilst the second applicant was from Canada. Both Hazralika Hamzah and Faez Razak mooted for UiTM in the role of respondents. Hilwa Bustam was the bench counsel.

From the very start, it was apparent that the mooters were not going to be allowed to stick to their script. One of the judges was an 'interventionist' judge and took all the mooters away from their rehearsed scripts. At one stage, Miss Ummi wrote on her note pad that the woman judge here was a 'Mrs Irwin', i.e. judge as 'cruel' as yours truly when it comes to questioning. I have to politely disagree with Miss Ummi on this because the judge concerned made me look like a nice guy as she was 'brutal' in her questioning. It was a great experience for the mooters. I suppose in Malaysia, what she was doing could be described as doing a 'Sri Ram'. Mooters who have appeared before the great Malaysian Court of Appeal judge Gopal Sri Ram will know what I mean. It was a good moot as all the mooters could handle the probing questions put forward by the bench. Hazralika in particular, was very impressive as she has learnt some of the best mooting techniques from Azinuddin and implemented it in the moot against UCL. Just like Zin, she is so much better 'scriptless'.

As soon as the moot was done at around half past four, we rushed back to the MSD residences as the evening rush hour starts at around five. Next up for us tomorrow is a university from the UAE.

Jessup Moot - White and Case International Rounds - Day 1

The team arrived at Washington DC for registration at 10 am. There were lots of merchandise for sale at the registration table and it was difficult trying to restrain the 'Malaysian shopper' in all of us. Team members purchased T-Shirts and mugs. All of this happened relatively quickly, so there was time to spare before the full briefing at 2 pm. The team took a walk down the road to the park close to the White House. As usual, most of us acted like 'tourist' and clicked happily away. In particular, Pn Mazlina was giving her new Sony 'Cybershot' 14 mega-pixel a through workout. Just when I thought it was safe, we stumbled across stalls selling souvenirs and the 'shopoholic' in all of us made an appearance again. By the way, the 'Subway' here is sells 'halal' food, so there was no problem getting lunch.

At the 2 pm briefing, in addition to reminding the teams about the rules, the organisers also took the opportunity to introduce the teams. As they flags of individual nations were placed in the front, the respective teams collected their 'goodie' bags from sponsors of the international rounds. I suppose you will see team members proudly carrying 'White and Case' knapsacks and water bottles around the faculty when we get back.

The exchange of memorial took place at 6 pm. Our first opponents on Day 2 will be UCL, champions of the UK. They have made the finals for the last two years. I am confident that our team is as good as them, if not better, so it will be a good fight.

More from tomorrow after the match! Keep checking in to read this blog.

More Jessup 2010 (Malaysian National Rounds) News

Congratulations to the UiTM Jessup Moot Team. Not only are you champions of Malaysia, you have done it in style. You have made all of us proud by winning not only the 'Best Memorial' prize but also 'Best Oralist' prize (Hazralika Hamzah). This is a clean sweep of all the prizes on offer. I am so proud of all of you. I would also like to add that the all top three oralists were also from UiTM. First runner-up: Azinuddin Karim; Second runner-up: Afif Ahmayuddin. Special mention must also be made of our Respondent team who were undefeated through out the tournament. Faez Razak and Hazralika Hamzah ... you guys are the 'bomb'.

During the preparation for the competition, the leadership provided by team captain, Azinuddin Karim not only kept the team together, but also inspired the others to fulfill their potential. He is the heart and soul of the team.

In the excitement of victory, let us also not forget Miss Ummi Hani who provided the team with expert advice on international law. Those of us who have the pleasure of working with her know that we are probably seeing a future professor emeritus of international law in the making here. Ummi, you are a genuine international law expert. You truly have no equal in UiTM as you can now legitimately law claim to being an intellectual giant. That probably explains why you are such a geek who lives and breathes public international law. :-)

Pn Mazlina Mahali is now officially a master logistician. Without you, the team would not be able to function properly, i.e. no place to stay, no food to eat, no snacks to nibble on. Thank you for taking on the burden of preparing all the paperwork. You efforts are greatly appreciated.

This year's victory did not happen overnight. Mooting is like a ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier). Whatever measures we have put into effect in the last five years are now finally paying off. It is indeed true that 'Rome was not built in a day'. Many thanks to the knowledge learnt from previous UiTM Jessup teams, in particular I have to single out Tuan Hurman for providing inspirational advice. The foundation of the 2010 victory is primarily built on UiTM's Moot Club. Prior to the setting up of the club, mooting activities were in disarray in the faculty. There were too many people who wanted the glory but did not want to put in the effort. Thanks to the club's founder, Pn Sharifah Saeedah (soon to be 'Dr Sherry'), mooting is now a structured activity in the faculty, with the current advisers Miss Ummi Hani and Pn Mazlina Mahali giving dedicated service to the club. The club greatly appreciates Assoc Prof Dr Musrifah who was very supportive in the setting up of the club, and also Rijalul Fauzi (Founding President) and Adzim Amir Hamzah (Founding Vice-President) who steadied the ship in the early days of the club.

As the 2010 victory has not been widely reported in the mainstream media, for the record, this is the victorious team:

Azinuddin Karim

Afif Ahmayuddin

Hazralika Hamzah

Faez Razak

Hilwa Bustam