Well done to our Mock Trial teams on their double win in the Round 3 trial at the Supreme Court on Tuesday night. It was an unusual case, set in a tribunal instead of a court, about a claimed unfair termination of a worker. The employer said she was made redundant legally, she said it happened only a few weeks after she was injured at work and had also been talking about a union wage rights campaign. As usual all the witnesses had slightly different evidence, which kept our barristers on their toes. Well done to Emily Travis who had to endure a gruelling 17 minutes cross-examination (the time limit is 10 minutes). First time witnesses Sabelle Chami and Sophie Ruehland were strong on the stand. Also, well done to Ryder Pham and Ilenia Paul who had to swap roles at the last minute, and did their new role correctly and with composure, keeping their team in the contest. Lastly well done to Jayden Pham in his first time as Barrister 2, and to Madeleine Adams and Eleni Chapman who answered many questions from the judge and didn’t let it affect their ability to stay on track when giving their Opening and Closing.

In Courtroom 1, “Suits” took on Newman College in a tight contest, winning in the end by 2 points. In Courtroom 2, “Law & Disorder” were against Sacred Heart College. Their trial finished almost an hour after the other one, but in the end they also scored a narrow win, this time by 0.5 points! This means that both teams are unbeaten this year and now we wait to hear if they are in the finals (which will likely come down to a countback, as only the top 16 teams go through).

I would like to commend this year’s teams for their dedication, teamwork, analysis, individual effort and ability to mount a team approach to their ‘case theory’. I know our Coach, Honourable John McKechnie, is impressed with their efforts too. It was nice to see him there at the trial on day one of his official retirement and we wish him all the best for his retirement and his new book ‘My Life in Crime: A Tapestry of Cases’ which should be very interesting reading!

Thank you also to all our spectators and supporters, including Mr Dhue and Mrs Wainwright, for coming to cheer the team along.

Ms Natasha Clark and Mr Jamie Gotti
Politics and Law Teachers