(Pictured above: 2024 Charrett Moot Winners (left to right) Felicia Mitropoulos, Dr Donald Charrett, Gabriella Klonis, Juliette Merckens Auee)
The annual Charrett Moot is a national competition that involves 8 teams competing in a three–round elimination competition format, including the Grand Final at the annual SoCLA National Conference.
Every effort is made to ensure that preliminary rounds are contested between teams in the same city, and are determined by local adjudicators. However, videoconference moots have become relatively common.
The competition is not restricted to lawyers, and anyone interested is encouraged to register a team of 3 to 4 members. All team members must have no more than 4 years of post-qualification experience.
2025 Charrett Moot
The 2025 Charrett Moot is proudly sponsored by
Expressions of Interest for participation in the 2025 Charrett Moot are now being accepted. More information is available here.
The provisional dates for the 2024 Charrett Moot are:
- Problem Released: end February 2025
- Round 1: Early April 2025
- Round 2: Late April/early May 2025
- Grand Final: National Conference (21-23 May 2025)
Background and Purpose of the Moot
The Society of Construction Law Australia is pleased to run the annual Charrett Moot competition, a mooting competition for young professionals in the infrastructure and construction industries. Participants include lawyers, engineers, quantity surveyors and other professionals (up to 4 years post-qualification experience).
The Charrett Moot is named in honour of Donald Charrett, Australia's leading figure in construction law. Dr Charrett is currently a Barrister, Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Board Member practising in building and engineering disputes, and prior to signing the Victorian bar roll in 2004, Dr Charrett was a leading engineer and solicitor. Dr Charrett oversees the competition and moderates the annual Grand Final.
A key objective of the moot is to encourage young practitioners to be involved in advocacy and public speaking, and to increase their exposure in the infrastructure and construction industries. To achieve this aim, the Grand Final is conducted as part of the Society's annual National Conference in front of conference delegates and other leading industry figures.
The moot is designed to be a learning opportunity, whilst also giving participants the chance to step out of their comfort zones in a supportive environment. Past moot judges have included leading solicitors and barristers, academics and Supreme Court judges.
History and Past Grand Finalists
The first Charrett Moot was contested in 2015.
The reigning winners are Gabriella Klonis, Juliette Merckens, Felicia Mitropoulos (Monash University and University of Melbourne), winners of the 2024 Grand Final moot at the National Conference at Melbourne, Victoria in June 2024.
Previous Winners include:
- 2023: Mason Rogers, Zoe Lineham, Peter Karamountzos and Nick McConville of Clayton Utz (Melbourne)
- 2021/22: Joseph Xuereb, Cameron Inglis and Harrison Frith
- 2020: No moot due to COVID impacts
- 2019: George Pasas, Sebastien Hanscomb and James Ahn
- 2018: Allison van Beers, Paul Tamburro, Noelle Alphonso-Loong and Lucy Groenewege (Clayton Utz (Melbourne))
- 2017: Sarah Cahill, Alexandria Hammerton, Ben Garvey and Hazal Gacka (Minter Ellison (Brisbane))
- 2016: Rebecca Lew, Sophie Westland, Stephen Moore and Timothy Rankin (Ashurst (Melbourne))
- 2015: Raeesa Rawal, Josh Singer and Sean Kelly
Contacts
The competition is organised by the Society's Young Constructors Committee and the 2025 Charrett Moot will be managed by Joseph Xuereb and Cormac Mercer.