Another Fantastic Year of Skills Development and Competition Achievement
July marked the end of another superb year for the participants in the Swansea Law School Communications Programme- an all-year-round programme that focuses on developing skills of advocacy, negotiations, client interviewing, and mediation with students learning the skills and then testing their understanding in internal and inter-varsity competitions.
During the 2024/2025 academic year we entered students from all years of study in a total of twenty-six external competitions (with a further two not running for various reasons) and organised four internal competitions, including the inaugural RedKite LLP Medical Law Moot. In total opportunities were open to 188 students with 93 individual students gaining experience from the opportunities.
A key development for this year was the specific support for the Programme from solicitor firms and barrister chambers. We were delighted that the following organisations agreed to support the Programme over the course of the year and look forward to continuing with these partnerships next year:
• JCP Solicitors
• RedKite Law LLP
• Acuity Law
• Gomer Williams
• DW Harris
• Angel Chambers
• Iscoed Chambers
• Pendragon Chambers
The year saw many notable successes. In particular we won two domestic titles and two international titles, with four in total being a record for Swansea in a single academic year. Keara-Lynn Douglas and Amelia Triaca won the Inner-Temple Inter-Varsity Moot, succeeding Oxford University as Champions, while Samuel Berkeley and Maggie Jessop won the CEDR England and Wales Negotiation Competition. Internationally, Nour Road won the Mediate Guru Virtual Client Counselling Competition and the Mediate Guru Virtual Negotiation Competition was won by Lewis Green and Amelia Smith.
There were a host of other notable achievements, with Simbisai Zhou finishing second in the Mediate Guru Virtual Mediation Competition, while Lucy Palmer and Annabelle Shephard finished 2nd in the Wales Mooting Competition- Tegan Bennett and Taylor-May Price reached the semi-finals in the same event.
In the flagship mooting competition in the UK, Tegan Bennett and Maren Julian finished second in the English Speakers Union-Essex Court Chambers Mooting Competition, including a dramatic final in the Royal Courts of Justice. Colm Yethon and Naomi Headley rounded off the team and took part in earlier rounds.
Colm Yethon and Taylor-May Price set new records for the University, finishing as semi-finalists in the Southampton National Moot, while William Wilton and Maisie Bollom qualified for the quarter finals of the National First Year Mooting Competition: a superb result that bodes well for their future endeavours.
Internally, the Senior Mooting Competition was won by Amelia Triaca who had the honour of being presented with the award by Lord Lloyd-Jones as the Final was conducted in the UK Supreme Court. The other finalists were Maren Julian, Tegan Bennett, and Cara Di Teodoro. The First Year Moot was won by Jessica Davies, narrowly beating Eesha Boby, Maisie Bollom and Shauna Prosser in the Final, while we also had a new moot run by RedKite Law. Focusing on medical law, this was won by Abigail Edwards, narrowly beating Finn Meikle in the Final.
It has been a superb year and we can’t wait to kick off the 2025/2026 skills season which starts with the APIT Law School Negotiations Competition in late August.
For anyone interested in learning more about the Swansea Law School Communication Skills Programme, contact Matthew Parry (m.j.parry@swansea.ac.uk)