The 6^th Price Media Law Moot Court Competition (Price Competition) Asia-Pacific Finals hosted by the University of Oxford and Renmin University of China was held successfully from December 4-7, 2018. Eleven teams from universities in China, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries gathered in Beijing and participated in the competition. As a result, UIBE Law School Team (“Team UIBE”) became the only team from mainland China that achieved “Top Four” in the Asia-Pacific Finals and advanced to the Global Finals to be held in Oxford, UK in April of next year.

Founded in 2008 by the University of Oxford and the International Media Lawyers Association, the Price Competition is the most authoritative international moot court competition in the field of media law. The competition aims to foster and cultivate interest in freedom of expression issues and the role of the media and information technologies in societies around the world and is currently comprised of six Regional Rounds (South Asia, Asia-Pacific, South East Europe, North East Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas) with the selective International Rounds held in Oxford.

UIBE Law School has participated in this international competition since 2013. In 2014, Team UIBE won the runner-up in the Asia-Pacific Finals. In 2016, Team UIBE successfully advanced to the Oxford finals and achieved the global “Top 16”. This year’s competition covers a wide range of hot issues, including the privacy protection in the context of big data, the legal responsibility of the internet social media and its role in freedom of speech, refugee issues, international treaty reservations, etc..., which are highly professional, challenging, and relevant to the development of media law.

(Photo: members of Team UIBE at the Awards Ceremony. From left: Lu Chunxian, Yan Beichen, Su Guannan, Zhu Yajie, Ren Xiaohan, Xu Mengyao, Mou Wei)

This year, Team UIBE features student-management, with old and new members working together to prepare for the competition. The team consists of seven undergraduates: Zhu Yajie (student coach), Xu Mengyao (major oralist), Mou Wei (captain and researcher), Ren Xiaohan (major oralist), Lu Chunxian (researcher), Yan Beichen (researcher), and Su Guannan (researcher), and most of them are from the Experimental Class for Prospective International Business and Economic Legal Talents.

Since its establishment in September 2018, Team UIBE has learned from previous experiences and made full preparation for the competition: the members conducted extensive research, analyzed legal disputes of the given case, and successfully submitted the case memo of more than 10,000 English words. During the round robin, Team UIBE competed with Nanjing University-Johns Hopkins Sino-US Culture Center Team, University of Malaya Team (runner-up and best memo award winner of 2019) and Peking University. With a solid foundation of professional knowledge and high level of English competence, The Team achieved a result of two wins and one loss, leading to the Asia-Pacific Semi-Finals.

(Photo: Team UIBE with the University of Malaya Team and the judges)

In the semi-finals, Team UIBE was defeated by the University of Malaya Team, whose performance was highly recognized by the judges. As one of the top four teams in the Asia-Pacific Finals, Team UIBE advanced to the Global Finals. The progression made by the team owed much to the relentless support of staff and professors in UIBE Law School. The Moot Court Club also contributed a lot to the preparation of the competition. The achievement of the team fully reflected the efforts made by UIBE Law School in fostering excellent international legal students. There will be more proud results to be achieved by UIBE Law School students in the future.