The Gazette 1991

GAZETTE

JU LY/AUGUST

1991

team was required to submit detailed writted pleadings for both the applicant and respondent states. The national teams then had to present their oral arguments in Washington, arguing twice on behalf of the applicant and twice on behalf of the respondent, before a "Cou r t" of three judges. The judges were lawyers drawn from the Federal Trade Commission, the GATT Legal Directorate and firms practising international trade law as well as international legal academics. Marks were awarded for both the oral and written arguments and the eight highest ranked teams advanced to the final. The final is run on a knockout basis (not unlike the World Cup - but much more exciting!). Our performance in the semi- finals broke all records for Irish teams. We won decisive victories against Bulgaria (University of Sofia) and Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico). The margin of victory against the American team (Boston College) was a little narrower but we won decisively. We were unlucky to lose narrowly to the other U.S. team (University of Georgia), the holders of the title. At the end of the semi-final round we finished with the third highest points total of the forty six teams. We therefore advanced to the finals (the first Irish team ever to do so). Unfortunately we were beaten in a very close round by Canada (University of Saskatchewan), the team which won the competition. We were delighted with our success and to be returning with a trophy for reaching the finals. The Irish reputation for eloquence was triumphantly upheld when Yvonne McNamara received a trophy for being ranked second out of approximately 200 speakers. The Irish team was the only team to have two speakers in the top ten oralists, with T.P. Kennedy being ranked ninth. In conclusion we would like to thank the many people who enabled us to achieve this level of success. Our very special thanks go to Liz Heffernan who did an outstanding job as our academic coach. Her patience and extensive knowledge of international law steered us through the deeps and

wild side and no one (or at the very most only one or two) took the plunge to the roaring sea far below. There was just enough time left to return to base and "freshen up" before re-grouping for dinner at Restaurant 44, one of Belfast's chicest venues which was booked out by the conference. This was the location not only for a very fine meal but for the second of the conferences choral evenings, wh i ch w i th many encores, continued well into the wee small hours and provided a fitting finale to the weekend's activities. So did we enjoy ourselves? Well, lets just say that the NIYSG is hosting a conference in Newcastle, Co. Down next May for all the home countries and details are already being diaried. (In addition to which, those Euro Tour '91 veterans among us had the bonus of a very welcome re-union - but all of that is a story for another day...) John Campbell Y.M.C. "SADSI Flys the Flag" A SADSI team has recently returned from Washington D.C., where it took part in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, reaching the World Finals. This is the largest moot competition in the world, this year attracting forty six teams from countries as diverse as Botswana and Belgium. The SADSI team were the Irish national champions, having beaten a Kings Inns team in the Irish final. The team was composed as follows: Yvonne McNamara (of Matheson Ormsby Prentice), Tom Hallinan, T.P. Kennedy, Judith Lawless and Donagh McGowan (all of McCann FitzGerald). The format of the competition was that teams were asked to consider a hypothetical case in which products of one country were dumped in another in contravention of the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The second country responds by applying its com- petition legislation to agreements reached in the first country. Each

shallows. A good deal of the credit for our performance is due to her guidance, enthusiasm and unfailing encouragment. We would also like to thank the following for their assistance in the run-up to the competition: Eoin O'Dell; Eanna Mulloy, B.L.; Monika Leech; John Bourke; Karen Kenny, B.L.; Joe Kelly; Rosemary O'Farrell; Alex Schuster, B.L.; Paul Kearney; Eileen Roberts; Damian Collins; David Clarke; William Earley; Prof. Richard Woulfe; David Smith; Catherine Moylan and the word processing staff of McCann FitzGerald and the staff of the European Commission library in Brussels. We would also like to thank, our respective employers, who were all most generous in their personal encouragement as well as their practical assistance. Finally we would like to express our gratitude to our sponsors without whose contributions our participation would not have been possible: The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland; The Bar Council; McCann FitzGerald, Solicitors; Matheson Ormsby Prentice, Solicitors; Telecom Eireann; Round Hall Press and the students of the 22nd Advanced Course. T.P. Kennedy There are of course more special- ised pension books published covering specific areas, such as Pension Fund Litigation and the law of Pension Fund Investment, but I would regard this as a basic text book for anyone wishing to educate themselves in pensions law or re- quiring a more indepth knowledge of a particular aspect of it. I also found it clearly written and easy to read. One drawback in the book is that the author does not deal with Personal Pensions and Contracting- out arrangements in the UK so that a lawyer dealing with UK schemes might find this a disadvantage. However, the Update Service which is to be published biannually should rectify this situation in tima Book Review (Continued from p. 206) ledge but need to familiarise themselves with it in order to advise clients.

Raymonde Kelly

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