Faculty Achievement — UM Team Wins First-Ever Competition Law Moot Contest!
“…it is still surreal that despite not having a coach or any pre-existing basic knowledge in Competition Law, our team managed to pull through these odds and emerged as champions of the Competition!” – Sharon Jessy
The UM team posing with their awards after winning a grueling and highly contested finals.
The team from the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya (UM) emerged as Champions of the 1st Moot Court Competition on Competition Law organized by the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) held from the 17th to the 18th of October 2016.
Competition law is an area of law that seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. The ambit of Competition law includes the prohibition of agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between businesses, banning abusive behavior by a firm dominating a market or attempt to create such a dominant position through anti-competitive practices such as predatory pricing, tying, price gouging and etc, and last but not least, supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations to prevent the creation of monopolies.
The main objective of Competition Law is to protect the interests of consumers and ensuring that entrepreneurs have a reasonable opportunity to penetrate and compete in the market economy.
In the finals, the team from University of Malaya consisting of Hanan Khaleeda Binti Fadzil (2nd Year Law), Nadiah Aiman binti Nazri (3rd Year Law), Lisa Natasha Binti Fakhrul Hamdi (3rd Year Law), Vinodhan Kuppusamy (3rd Year Law) and Sharon Kaur Jessy (Final Year Law) faced the team from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and won a unanimous verdict. Sharon Kaur Jessy, lead counsel for the Respondents, was also awarded the Final's Best Oralist award.
"Teaming up with some of the best law students in UM helped me learn about competition law and have fun at the same time. Our competitors, IIUM put up a fantastic fight in the grand finals. Honestly, I was nervous, but my teammates were my backbone, they helped me believe in myself…" – Nadiah Aiman
The IIUM and UM mooters with the panel of judges (from left to right) Judge Tuan Ragunath Kesavan, MyCC member; Judge Tan Sri Dato' Seri Siti Norma Yaakob, Chairman of MyCC and former Federal Court Judge and Judge Iskandar Ismail, Director of Enforcement Division.
Each preliminary round was as intense as the previous one. The panel of judges was active and eager to pose tough questions of law to the mooters.
“As team captain, I'm proud of how this team maintained its composure and delivered with great confidence when the stakes were high..” – Vinodhan Kuppusamy
“..throughout the course of our participation in this competition, I learned a lot of things- research and memorial writing, court ethics and oral submission. I think this team effectively changed my perspective on moots and prepared me to embark further onto more mooting experiences in the future." – Hanan Khaleeda
What many may not be aware of was that this team was formed just a day before the registration and written submission deadline. The team spent sleepless nights constructing their written memorials and preparing their oral submissions.
The team told this Law Review that their achievement would not have been possible without continuous support from the faculty, especially from the Dean of the University of Malaya Law Faculty, Assoc Prof Dr. Johan Shamsuddin Bin Hj Sabaruddin, Deputy Dean, Dr. Nadhratul Wardah Hj Salman and the Moot Coordinator, Mr Steward Manley who have consistently encouraged students of the faculty to participate in Extra-Curricular activities such as Moots.
The University of Malaya team posing with their awards for a final group photo!
“When Vinod and Sharon approached me for this competition, my response was "Yeah! Let's do this!" although on the inside I was thinking "This is insane." But then I was proven incredibly wrong when the team not only made it through the prelims but the Respondents went on to win the whole competition. In essence, what I'm trying to get to is, in the wise words of Sir Richard Branson, "if someone asks you to do something you don't know, just say yes then figure out later.” All in all thank you to Dr. Johan, Dr. Wardah and the faculty for the endless support, Mr. Manley for believing in us and last but not least my teammates, Sharon, Vinod, Nadiah and Hanan, you guys made this possible..” – Lisa Natasha.
Mooting is not just another competition but a journey of strength, self-discovery, and teamwork. You have to be a team player, a recipient of critiques and an empty vessel to learn. There is no doubt that our five mooters have shown that University of Malaya Law Students are a force to be reckoned with not just academically, but on the field as well.
“Only the tough, the fearless and the patient will succeed but as the saying goes, pressure makes diamonds, and it is the best feeling knowing that I had the privilege of sharing the stage with these diamonds!” - Sharon Jessy