Balliol students Mr Thomas Lowenthal and Ms Melody Ihuoma triumph in the University of Oxford Shearman & Sterling Moot Competition 2017

The University of Oxford Shearman & Sterling Moot Competition 2017 took place in Keble College on Saturday 11 February 2017. The problem raised issues regarding the duty of care element of the action in negligence. More specially, it concerned the circumstances in which a company within a supply chain owes a duty of care to persons injured by the tort of another entity within the chain. The standard of mooting was very high, yielding some of the closest scores in the history of the competition.

The Grand Final was judged by the Rt Hon Sir David Keene PC, a former Lord Justice in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. All the four finalists (all of Balliol College), Mr Robert Bellin and Mr Daniel Freud (appellants) and Mr Thomas Lowenthal and Ms Melody Ihuoma (respondent) for the respondent received praise from the bench but, ultimately, Mr Lowenthal and Ms Ihuoma triumphed.