2009 Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Mooting Competition

La Trobe's Fairytale Win

It was two weeks before the start of the third annual Castan Centre Charter of Rights Mooting Competition.  Things were progressing as normal when news came through that one university would only able to field a single team instead of two, leaving the competition one team short. 

Rather than leaving the competition with an odd number of teams,  the Castan Centre sent the call out to the three other Universities to see if they could possibly field a third team.  Little did we know the interest from students at those universities would be overwhelming and all three were more than happy to provide an additional team. Thus, the La Trobe 3 team was created a mere ten days before the start of the competition. The team did not know, however, that it would have to overcome one more challenge before it could start its run to the grand final.

Disaster struck on the morning of the first preliminary round.  At 9 am, La Trobe 3 informed the Castan Centre that two of its three team members were sick and would be unable to participate in the evening's competition.  Rather than concede and pull out, they requested permission to ask another student to join the team at the last minute and moot with the remaining healthy competitor in the evening's preliminary round.  Their request was approved, yet with only 8 hours for the newest member to prepare his arguments and learn the relevant material, things were looking dim for the team.

The preliminary rounds went off without a hitch, with students arguing the human rights of a group protesting the dredging of the Port Philip Bay. After two rounds of well reasoned debate and tough questioning from the seasoned bench of Clayton Utz (the competition's sponsors) solicitors, the four teams to progress to the Semi Final were Melbourne University 1, Melbourne University 2, La Trobe University 1 and La Trobe University 3, the team that only a few days earlier had entered the competition shorthanded. Thus the stage was set for a Melbourne University v La Trobe University faceoff in both Semi Final moots.

In the Semi Final round, both La Trobe teams were victorious in arguing the case of their client, a young Indigenous offender who wanted to be treated the same as other youth offenders.  At issue was whether the young offender had the right to choose whether or not his sentencing hearing would be heard before the recently created Children's Koori Court of Victoria, and whether the Magistrate failed to take his human rights into consideration when he ignored the youth's request on the issue. This raised a number of Charter issues, but specifically the question of whether Judges must take all human rights in the Charter into consideration when making decisions.  Barristers Chris Young, Brendan Loizou and Simon Moglia Joined Clayton Utz Partners to judge the Semi Final moots.

The 2010 Grand Final was the first Grand Final any La Trobe team had reached in the moot.  La Trobe 1 argued the case of the appellant, a young woman who was seeking admission to become a lawyer in Victoria, but who felt that having to disclose any mental illness she has had in the past, a disclosure required by the Board of Legal Examiners before it would support her nomination for admission, would breach her human rights.  This issue was highly topical given the students mooting would one day be required to disclose similar information should they decide to become admitted as lawyers.  

Justice Chris Maxwell , President of the Court of Appeal, Judge Anthony Howard of the County Court, both veteran judges of the moot competition, and Padma Raman, CEO of the Victorian Law Reform Commission, new to the moot, judged the exciting end of a great competition of mooting before a packed house in the Court of Appeal.  Having overcome some major hurdles, it was a fitting end to their fairytale run that La Trobe 3, made up of Mark Basile, Aimee Chadzynski and Daniel Diaz, proved victorious, taking home the $3000 grand prize.  They join Monash University and Melbourne University as winners of the competition.

The Castan Centre Charter of Rights Mooting Competition is sponsored by Clayton Utz.

Mooting Resources for Schools and Universities

These resources will remain on the website indefinitely for use as educational tools. 

2009 Handbook for Competitiors

2009 Preliminary Round Moot Problem

2009 Semi Final Moor Problem

2009 Grand Final Moot Problem

University Contacts

Previous Competitions

2008 Mooting Competition
2007 Mooting Competition