Flinders Law Students Association

Below is an example as to how the 'WITHDRAWING FROM COMPETITION' section applies. Whilst the example given is for the Open Moot, it applies uniformly amongst all relevant competitions.

Joe signs up to compete in the Open Moot and is told in due course that he will be mooting at 4pm Wednesday afternoon in week 2. The Competitions Team also informs him via email that the cut off point for withdrawing-without-penalty from future rounds is on that Friday at 4pm.

Come Tuesday week 2, he begins to realise that the workload for moot preparation was greater than he expected, and he’s not confident he can continue to find the time he feels is necessary to compete. Joe’s situation is therefore as follows:

a. If he withdraws immediately from competition, including from his Wednesday moot, he will be penalised and banned from entering the Open Moot in 2010

b. If he sees out the Wednesday moot, as per his obligation, and then emails the relevant Competitions Coordinator on Thursday morning that he would like to withdraw from subsequent rounds of the competition, he will face no penalty and be free to try again the following year.

c. If he sees out the moot and then decides to give the next round a shot and subsequently progresses… only to email the relevant coordinator the following Monday morning, he will still face the penalty of being banned from the following years competition

Alternatively, Joe’s uncle is seriously injured in a car accident on Tuesday morning, and Joe rushes to his bedside. He has no time to prepare for his Wednesday moot, and emails the relevant Coordinator saying he can’t fulfil his Wednesday moot obligation and would like to withdraw.

a. As this is an unforeseeable event, the Competition Team will exercise its discretion and not penalise Joe. Other mooters competing in that particular moot will compete without opposition for their score in that round, and Joe will remain free to compete the following year.

Why are there now penalties?

Because, simply put, whenever we allot you to a competition time slot we also find a judge (usually a busy staff member) and a timekeeper (usually a student volunteering their time) to help run your competition. It is not fair to ask people to give up their time if you are not going to show up, unless something genuinely unforeseeable arises. If you feel you won’t have the time to see out your obligations, please don’t ask others to give up their time