The preliminary round was held on Monday, 15 July, 2019 as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Annual Mooting Competition.
The aim was to expose law students to the merits review jurisdiction of the Tribunal, highlighting the differences between Tribunal practice and procedure and that of the courts.
A fantastic team of students represented UOW for 2019:
- Zane Wilde
- Jackson Cocks
- Eden Rietveld
- Joanne David
- Rachael Hamilton
- Joshua Nancarrow
The AAT preliminary round
Fresh from completing Administrative Law, six second-year students took part in the annual Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) moot in July. Rachael Hamilton, Joshua Nancarrow, Joanne David, Eden Rietveld, Jackson Cocks and Zane Wilde competed over two nights in the preliminary rounds of the comp, tackling copious facts and unfamiliar law in two very different merits review hypotheticals about workers compensation and social security.
This was the first major mooting competition for all of our students and they did a fantastic job juggling very short deadlines, the train trip to Sydney and work, family and study commitments.
Jackson said about his team’s experience:
"We enjoyed the experience as a whole. It gave us a better understanding of the operation of the AAT and the opportunities it may hold for us in the future such as clerking as well as appearing before it. The moot had us engage with a complex question based off a real life situation where errors had originally been made in numerous forms. As we combed through the questions and facts to find errors, we deepened our understanding for administrative law, social security law and advocacy in general. We faced the pressure of a short deadline followed by the pressure of finding holes in our opponents’ submissions. We then made our way up to Sydney where we got to fight our case and showcase the advocacy skills we have learnt throughout our years at the University of Wollongong. The moot was a close one, coming up against UNSW, we both presented our cases, poked at each others cases and faced the Senior Members questions well. Unfortunately this well matched moot was decided on a few errors, which led to our opponents winning on the day, however, this was still a great experience and I recommend anyone interested try to get involved, make use of the coaching available at UOW and put their advocacy skills to the test. Overall it was an enjoyable experience and we look forward to trying out more moots hopefully next year."
Rachael also recounted the experience of her team:
"I was very happy with the way I spoke and I received feedback that I answered the questions from the bench very well. Joshua was thrown some extremely curly questions, which he handled extremely well. The Senior Member asked me a question and I couldn’t exactly pinpoint where it was in the T docs so I continued. Then Joanne was right on the money and found it for me and I was able to address the question a few seconds later. I felt confident in my answers and they were well received it seems. Unfortunately we lost. However, it was such a great learning experience."
The teams helpfully shared some of the mooting tips they learned:
- If we don't understand a question we should ask the member to repeat it.
- Try not to be too scripted and engage with the member.
- Assume the tribunal has read up on the key law and cases.
- Practice steady eye contact.
- When asked questions answer them succinctly and then move on with our argument.
- Don’t be intimidated by the member.
- Don't start with correcting your own submissions as it draws attention to your errors.
- Ask to dispense with formal citations.
Well done everybody, you did UOW proud!
