Fourth H.V. Perera QC Memorial Moot Competition a success

The fourth H.V. Perera QC Memorial Moot Competition organised by the Moot Society of Sri Lanka Law College, was held on 8 and 9 May on a virtual platform, with robust participation, including over 10 international teams.

Mooting is an extracurricular activity at law schools around the world which involves simulated court or arbitration proceedings, testing the oral advocacy and written memorandum drafting skills of students of law.

The Moot Competition is based on commercial arbitration, which is an increasingly preferred choice of dispute resolution within the sphere of international commercial transactions due to its speedy dispensation of justice and cost effectiveness.

The competition was launched with the vision to establish a platform to engage law students of Sri Lanka with their international counterparts on timely developments in international commercial arbitration and make way for achieving uniform global standards in this sphere.

Held in memory of the late Herbert Victor Perera, Queen’s Counsel, the competition has been a platform that hosted international participants here in Sri Lanka since its inception in 2018. This year, the competition was conducted with participants, organisers and the judges joining in virtually from different locations in Sri Lanka and beyond.

The teams representing SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore and the West Bengal University of Juridical Sciences, India reached the finals after 14 rounds, culminating in West Bengal emerging as champions.

In addition to the awards for the champions and runners up, the best team in the SAARC region, and the competitors who displayed exceptional oral advocacy skills and written memorandum drafting skills were also awarded.

The panel of arbitrators for the finals comprised Justice Shiranee Tilakawardane, Viraj Dayaratne PC, Chandaka Jayasundere PC and Avindra Rodrigo PC whose invaluable contribution along with that of all the panels of arbitrators in the previous rounds, led to a highly successful competition despite many challenges in hosting the competition in a virtual environment this year.

Since its maiden edition in 2018, the moot competition has come to be a key event in the Sri Lanka Law College annual calendar. 

This year’s Victor’s Moot was supported by the SAARC Arbitration Council, the ICLP Arbitration Center of Colombo, Tokyo Cement, the Automobile Association, MyCola, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror.