Sixth Annual Herbert Smith Freehills moot at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata

The Sixth Annual Herbert Smith Freehills moot at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) was held in Kolkata on 21-23 March, 2014.   As it has done in previous years, the Oxford Law Faculty supported this event by sending one judge for the moot final – this year, Dr Kristin van Zwieten.

 Kristin reports:

“The NUJS Herbert Smith Freehills moot was a highly successful event, and I congratulate the Mooting Committee at NUJS on delivering a very well-organised competition. Mooters came from universities from across the country, and the standard of competition was extremely high.  I felt privileged to join the panel to judge the final, alongside Justice Aniruddha Bose (Calcutta High Court), Mr K S Suresh (General Counsel, ITC) and Mr Nicholas Peacock (Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills).   

The moot final between NLSIU Bangalore and ILS Pune was very close – among the closest I have seen. Both teams grappled admirably with the nuances of the finely drafted problem question (again generously contributed by Professor Umakanth Varottil of the National University of Singapore), and capably withstood some two hours of probing questioning from the bench.  In the end, NLSIU Bangalore wrested victory from ILS Pune, with one of the members of the winning team also scooping the joint prize for best speaker in the overall competition. The judges congratulated both teams in the final on their preparedness and professionalism.  Overall, the NUJS Herbert Smith Freehills moot was an excellent event that I hope to able to attend again in the future.”