Oxford students finish as semi-finalists at the PAX Moot Competition 2021

We are proud to announce that a team representing Oxford reached the semi-finals of the PAX Moot 2021, a private international law mooting competition which took place on 21–23 April 2021. The competition, which was open to undergraduates and postgraduates, saw over 20 teams compete in the oral rounds judged by practitioners and academics from various jurisdictions.

The moot problem, which was based on a highly topical fictional scenario concerning claims for injuries arising from a vaccine testing programme and for relief in respect of an infringement of a vaccine patent, concerned a range of jurisdictional, choice of law, and recognition and enforcement issues. The 2021 Round was named after Arthur von Mehren, and in that spirit, involved questions relating to the recently-adopted 2019 Hague Judgements Convention which his work inspired. 

Representing the University of Oxford, William Wong (BCL, Keble College) and Kacper Kryk (2nd year Law, Corpus Christi College) appeared on behalf of the claimants and the defendant in the counterclaim, while Alvin Cheung (BCL, University College) and Ernest Leung (BCL, St Catharine’s College) argued for the defendant and claimant in the counterclaim.

Coming victorious from the elimination rounds, the Oxford team competed against the winners of the competition, Singapore Management University, in the semi-finals and after a closely-fought battle, SMU advanced to the final rounds. Alvin Cheung was commended as the Best Individual Pleader of the competition for his persuasive dissection of the jurisdiction and choice of law issues of the claim.