Oxford Hong Kong Moot 2017

The Oxford Hong Kong Mooting Competition 2017 was held on 26th August 2017. With the generous support of Des Voeux Chambers, Fangda Partners, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringers and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the annual Competition is in its seventh year and attracted Oxford students and alumni from around the world, including our special guests Sandy Steel (Associate Professor of Law, Wadham College, Oxford) and Nicholas McBride (Director of Studies in Law, Cambridge). In accordance with the tradition of Oxford ‘lightning moots’ it took place over a single day and teams were expected to prepare for both appellants and respondents, with a coin toss being used to determine which team would represent which party.

This year’s moot problem raised the issues of inducement in the law of misrepresentation and the breach rule as it applies to the penalty doctrine. It explored the questions of whether the representee’s knowledge of the falsity of a representation should negate inducement in all cases; and what degree of knowledge is necessary for this purpose. The moot problem also examined the question of whether the UK Supreme Court should revisit the distinction between conditional primary and secondary obligations as it applies to the penalty doctrine. All these issues were vigorously argued in the competition.

To foster better relationships among students and alumni, alumni currently practising as barristers in leading sets of chambers in Hong Kong were invited to become mentors to the participating teams. The organising committee would like to thank the four practitioners who offered their kind assistance this year: Christopher Chain (St. Catherine’s), Keith Lam, Jeffrey Tam (St. Anne’s) and Jacqueline Law (Brasenose).

This year's moot featured four high quality preliminary round matches, judged by barristers William Wong SC (Wadham), Abraham Chan SC (St. Catherine’s College), Teresa Wu (Hertford College) and Yang-Wahn Hew (Mansfield). The competition culminated in the Grand Final, which was presided over by the Honourable Mr. Justice Lok, a judge of the High Court of Hong Kong. After a heated round of submissions, Winky So (DPhil, 2018) and Yoonji Lee (BA, 2019) for the respondents beat Cedric Yeung (visiting student) for the appellants. The Grand Final was then followed by a brief prize and souvenir presentation ceremony and a 10-course Chinese style dinner.

Howard Wong

Adrian Lee