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The first ever Animal law moot to take place in Australia and New Zealand will be held by animal protection organization Voiceless at Bond University on the Gold Coast this weekend.
Law Students from eleven universities throughout the country will compete in the knockout style competition called the Voiceless Australian-New Zealand Intervarsity Moot on Animal Law (ANIMAL), debating the important topic of live export.
Co-founder and managing director of Voiceless Ondine Sherman says the opportunity is a worthy evolution from a growing interest and participation in the teaching of animal law across the country.
“When Voiceless started ten years ago, one law school taught the subject,” says Sherman.
“Today animal law is being taught at fourteen universities with a number of law firms practising in this important area of law.
“[The animal law moot] is a unique and exciting opportunity for law students and for the progression of animal law in Australia.”
The Bond University entry team consists of Edward Sinclair and Kate Malouf, guided in preparation by Animal Law Specialist and Professor Jackson Walkden-Brown.
Professor Walkden-Brown says the Bond team is very well prepared, and the event itself is a significant landmark for the legal discipline in universities nationwide.
“The moot has become a really important element of further establishing the legitimacy of animal law and bringing it into the realm of mainstream curriculum,” says Professor Walkden-Brown.
Guests are able to register on the Voiceless web page to watch the competition taking place on October 18 and 19, with the preliminaries to be held on Saturday and the finals rounds on Sunday.
Adjudicating the grand final will be the Honourable Justice Fraser of the Queensland Court of Appeal, the Honourable Justice Boddice of the Queensland Supreme Court and Chris George, Barrister-at-Law.
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