Mooting Competition 2026.
Jointly sponsored by Wynn Williams and Bell Gully.
Off the back of last year’s highly successful moot, the RMLA is calling for resource management lawyers in their first five years of practice to compete in our annual Young RMLA mooting competition. This is an opportunity for young lawyers to get “real world” experience arguing in a court setting about matters that they may come across in practice as resource management lawyers.
The competition will be open to eight teams of two from across the motu and will involve three rounds of competition. Teams can be made up of lawyers from different firms. The first and second rounds will be hosted in person or online (subject to competitors’ locations). The final will be in Paihia as part of the RMLA True North conference.
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Each Moot will involve the following:
1. After formal introduction to the bench each team will have 40 minutes to present their case. The time may be divided between senior and junior counsel 20/20, or 25/15, or 15/25. The division of time must be specified before you begin your oral submissions.
2. A warning will be issued with 2 minutes to go and when the allocated time for each team member is up. There will be no extensions of time.
3. There will be a 5-minute right of reply.
4. Each team must submit a two page written outline of their submissions. These will briefly contain (a) an outline of the team’s submissions; (b) major argument(s) to be raised; (c) cases to be referred to; and (d) allocations of speaking time.
5. Teams must file, and serve on the opposing team, the two-page written outline two days in advance. A copy must also be provided to the Court.
6. If parties wish to present full written submissions they must, prior to the commencement of the moot, provide one copy for the opposing team and three copies to the Court. Where moots are occurring online, these should be provided by 5:00pm on the day before the moot.
7. Counsel are not required to provide copies of cases cited in their submissions to either judges or the opposing team.
8. Each team may only make reference to a maximum of five cases.
9. Counsel are expected to wear formal attire (i.e. suits and dress jackets).Description text goes here
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The winning team will be awarded the Judge Bollard Memorial Trophy, a copy of the recent publication “The Salmon Lectures: Law, Policy and the Environment” and free entry to the RMLA conference in 2027.
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Note these dates are subject to change:
Round 1: Wednesday 1 July 2026
Semifinal: Wednesday 5 August 2026
Final: Friday 11 September 2026
Problems will be released at least four weeks prior to each moot
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Participants must have less than 5 years post-admission experience.
Participants must be fully paid up financial Young RMLA members at the time of application, and throughout the duration of the competition.
Teams can be made up of lawyers from different firms.
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There will be a registration fee of $100 per team member payable. Finalists should also note that they will be expected to travel to Paihia for the final.
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3 hours of CPD is available.
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Events like this would not be possible without the support of our community. If you know anyone who might be available to judge the moots at 5.00 pm on Wednesday 1 July 2026 and/or Wednesday 5 August 2026, please do get in touch.
Next Steps
Please register your interest below before midday Friday 22 May 2026. Information required includes:
Name and contact details
Date of admission
Employer’s name
Work location
We will be reviewing all expressions of interest the week commencing 25 May and will be in touch with you shortly thereafter.
