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The courtroom, at The University of New England, is specially designed to allow UNE law students to "moot" (i.e., engage in hearings of hypothetical court cases).
Justice Mason (pictured here during the opening ceremony) said the new Moot Court was as good as anything of its kind he had seen. "It's a tribute to the people who planned it," he said.
The Moot Court is designed along traditional lines, with up to three judges able to preside over cases presented by opposing teams of student lawyers. The courtroom has all the usual features, including an impressive elevated bench for the judges, and accommodation for legal representatives, court reporters, jury, and witnesses. The courtroom can be used, whenever required, for actual court proceedings and arbitration cases.
"Mooting is a wonderful way of learning the law because it brings it alive," Justice Mason said. "The law has been forged in the heat of individual cases; through mooting, students get to see how the law evolves."
Watched by the guests at the opening ceremony (including Armidale magistrate His Honour Michael Holmes, and Armidale Dumaresq Mayor Councillor Peter Ducat) Justice Mason unveiled a plaque, naming the courtroom the "Sir Frank Kitto Moot Court". Sir Frank Kitto, who died in Armidale in 1994, was a Justice of the High Court of Australia (1950-1970), Chancellor of The University of New England (1970-1981), and the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Press Council (1976-1982). Justice Mason reviewed some of Sir Frank Kitto's outstanding qualities as a judge, including his distinguished prose style, his "rigorous application of logic from established principles", and his "capacity to detect a fallacy at a hundred paces".
Professor Stephen Colbran, Head of the School of Law at UNE, outlined what he called the "illustrious history" of mooting, tracing it back to the practice of rhetoric in classical Greece, through the "after-dinner entertainment" in London's medieval Inns of Court, to its modern role in the Anglo-American tradition of legal education. Justice Mason urged students using the Moot Court to be aware of "what a long tradition you are participating in".
Professor Colbran pointed out that the Sir Frank Kitto Moot Court was equipped with the latest audio-visual and communications technology (including wireless access to the Internet for laptop computers). "Mooters' performances can be recorded and replayed for learning purposes," he said. "And during court proceedings, the technology allows documents to be displayed and manipulated for the examination of evidence."
"The Moot Court will familiarise our students with technological advances in courtrooms," Professor Colbran said, "and will allow them to improve their advocacy skills in a modern court setting."
The Executive Dean of UNE's Faculty of Economics, Business and Law, Professor Roley Piggott, thanked all those involved in the project, including Mr Michael Quinlan, Director of Facilities Management Services (FMS) at UNE and his FMS colleagues, the builders (Alec Finlayson Pty Ltd) who converted a former lecture theatre into an attractive, comfortable and technologically advanced facility, and Mr Bryan Pape, Senior Lecturer in Law at UNE, for his "advice and unswerving enthusiasm".
Media contact: Professor Stephen Colbran, School of Law, UNE (02) 6773 2910 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
The photograph displayed here is available at:
http://photodatabase.une.edu.au/alb.../Moot Court Opening/Moot Court Opening 53.JPG
Posted by Jim Scanlan at September 26, 2005 03:15 PM Information from http://www.une.edu.au/news/archives/000352.html