Hillcrest High Beats Old Rivals In Mooting Final

Hillcrest High Beats Old Rivals In Mooting Final

Hamilton's Hillcrest High School has beaten arch rivals Tauranga Girls' College in the final of the increasingly popular Waikato University School of Law secondary schools mooting competition.

The event was held last night in the High Court, Bridge St, Hamilton.

Mooting pits teams against each other in debates on points of law, similar to those argued in appeal cases in the courts.

Tauranga Girls' won the final last year but this year Hillcrest came out the victor in debate over a teacher being deregistered after being seen viewing material on the Internet. Laura Hablous from Hillcrest won the best individual mooter award.

Twenty-seven teams contested this year's competition.

"Mooting provides an interesting introduction to the law and gives students an insight into some of the skills required by lawyers. Our competition also gives secondary teachers a way of introducing students to legal issues," says the School of Law's coordinator of competitions Christina ter Haar. "The standard of mooting competence was particularly high this year, perhaps because as the competition matures more schools are taking advantage of the opportunity to moot and gaining in experience."

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