Advising the Vice-Chancellor: Research & Writing Skills Competition Winner 2015

First year student Daniel Bull this year’s winner of the Research & Writing Skills (RWS) oral competition. Students on the RWS module are presented with a problem scenario revolving around the construction of a new hall of residence on campus and are asked to advise the client (the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell) on Contract or Tort law implications. Daniel, alongside runner-up Elizabeth Smith and finalist Rayana El Baba, made an oral presentation to Sir David of the advice contained in their Part A legal letters and responded to questions posed by the client.

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Competition winner Daniel Bull (far left) with runner-up Elizabeth Smith (far right), finalist Rayana El Baba (left) and Sir David Bell (Centre)

Both Sir David Bell and RWS Module Convenor Dr Amy Codling were extremely impressed with the professional attitude of both the competition finalists at this early stage in their legal career. Due to the success of this (and the previous) year’s competition it is hoped that future students will continue participate in this exciting opportunity.

Dr. Ruvi Ziegler at the Oxford Union Society

Oxford Union Free Speech Debate 5 March 2015Dr. Ruvi Ziegler gave a paper speech at a Public Debate hosted by the Oxford Union Society Oxford on 5th March 2015 on the motion ‘This House Believes that the Right to Free Speech Always Includes the Right to Offend‘.

Other speakers included Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday journalist, and Brendan O’ Neill, Editor of Spiked Online.

Telders International Law Mooting Competition

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On Saturday 7 March 2015, the UK National Round of the prestigious Telders International Law Moot Competition was hosted at the University of Reading. The UK round involves teams from across the country competing for a chance to take part in the International Finals in The Hague in April. Telders is an external mooting competition specific to International Law, which is now in its 38th year. This is the second time that Reading has hosted the event, having previously done so in 2008. Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the event a success. The Reading team (pictured above: Mohammed (Azed) Butt, Kei Kei (Kay) Ng, Sher Maine Lee and Chandni (CJ) Patel) performed to an extremely high level and ultimately came fourth in the competition.  The winners were the University of Sheffield team – huge congratulations to them!

Reading Reach the Semi-Finals of the 14th International Law School Mediation Tournament

by final year student Venus Masiha (team included Ali Alahmad and Domas Kudzma)

The first two days of the competition were training sessions. We were given very informative and well executed training during these days that helped us to understand the process of mediation further. The competition officially started on the third day. The first stage of the competition was made up of three rounds. The first two rounds took part on the third day and the last round on the fourth day, before the semi-finalists were announced. We were very successful and were announced as one of the top 16 teams allowing us to proceed to semi-finals. As we only had one team competing from Reading we were only able to go through as mediators while universities who had two teams competing gave them an opportunity to compete as all roles (client, advocate and mediator).

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Venus’ Award for 8th Best Speaker and the team’s Semi Final Trophy

The semi finals consisted of one “knock-out-round”, so only one of us could actually mediate. We decided that Ali Alahmad would take on the semi-final as he had done well previously in our internal competition. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the Final. The competition was very tough as there were many skilled teams, many of which were American teams who have Commercial Mediation as an obligatory module. Considering these circumstances we were very pleased with our performance and the outcome of it. The competition ended with an Award Dinner in the evening of the fourth day where we were awarded for “Outstanding New Mediation Program”. It was four very intense and long days but we all found it to be a very giving and fun experience. We met people from all around the world, made many new acquaintances, acquired new skills and had a lot of fun in the process.