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GAZETTE
JU
LY/AUGUST
1991
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
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
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
Book Review
(Continued from p. 206)
ledge but need to familiarise
themselves with it in order to
advise clients.
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
Raymonde Kelly
208