Rules

Application of the Rules

1. These rules of participation apply to The University of Melbourne Law Students’ Society (LSS) competitions.

2. Participation in any competition signifies agreement by the competitor to abide by the rules set forth in this Guidebook.

General Rules

3. LSS competitions are open only to students undertaking a Juris Doctor at the University of Melbourne.

4. Application forms are only valid and effective if they are submitted and received by the relevant co-opts by the time and date specified on the application form. The LSS and its members do not take any responsibility for any failure of application forms to be submitted and received by the due date and time.

a. No exceptions apply. Where applicable, competitors must nominate preferred days to compete.

b. Co-opts will endeavour to allocate competitors their preferred days, however first preferences are not guaranteed.

c. Co-opts will try to ensure that every team that has submitted an application form by the specified time and date is granted entry into the relevant competition, but in the event that the relevant co-opts believe that there are too many teams for a workable competition (e.g. odd number of teams), she or he has total discretion in prohibiting any team from entering a competition. If the co-opts choose to exercise such discretion, she or he must do so on a fair and reasonable basis.

d. Rule 3(c) is also applicable to practice round opportunities.

5. Once the competition has commenced, teams cannot be changed. A change of any team member will result in immediate disqualification. Disqualifications become effective at the time of disqualification and do not operate retrospectively.

6. There is no limit on the number of competitions a person may enter. However, no person can participate in two or more teams for the same competition.

Scheduling and Withdrawals

7. Competition co-otps will endeavour to release the competition schedule and matchups for every round as early as possible, but no later than 48 hours prior to the scheduled commencement of that round.

8. It is the responsibility of each team to notify the co-opts of the competition of the teams unavailability to participate on the scheduled time, as soon as possible but not later than 72 hours before their scheduled competing times.

a. Competition co-opts may elect to reschedule the team if it is viable to do so. The co-opts may reschedule the competition at their discretion, but they are under no obligation to do so. The co-opts have complete discretion in disqualifying any team for being unable to participate at the allocated time, but before doing so must consider the amount of notice the team gave to the co-opts, the amount of notice the co-opts gave the team for having to compete and the explanation for being unable to participate.

b. If it is not viable to reschedule the team, the team will be deemed as having forfeited.

c. The co-opts’ decision to disqualify a team is final.

9. Failure to give 48 hours notice for withdrawal from any competition, without a reasonable excuse, may result in automatic and immediate disqualification from all competitions for that given year.

Running of Competitions

10. Competition formats:

a. Please see the relevant Competition pages for the format of each Competition.

b. For any competition, the competition co-opts may nominate rounds as a non-elimination round if it is reasonable to do so for reasons such as, but not limited to, low number of participating teams.

c. The Paper & Oral Presentation and Letter of Advice Competitions will be run as single round competitions.

11. Each competition is run by the relevant co-opts of each competition. Details of all co-opts can be found on the Competition pages of this website. Any queries, concerns or the like must be first directed to these co-opts.

12. In the event of a procedural dispute, the decision of the Competitions Directors is final.

13. No ties will be allowed in any competition.

a. Where there is a tie of scores, the winners will be determined by the combined process of deliberation of the Judges and respective competition co-opts.

b. This decision is final.

14. If an uneven number of teams win in a particular round, a ‘lucky loser’ team may be permitted to compete in the next round. The lucky loser will be the team which has lost by the least percentage in that round, on the basis of the formula (Winning Score – Losing Score) / Winning Score for all competitions.

a. Co-opts reserve the discretion to award multiple lucky losers or no lucky losers at all for any particular round.

Breach of Rules and Disciplinary Procedures

15. The Competitions Directors reserve the right to disqualify any team for breach of any rule set forth in these rules, breach of any statute of the University and/or the Law School, contravention of the Internal Competitions Code of Conduct, or any unacceptable conduct.

a. Unacceptable conduct includes, but is not limited to:

i. failing to turn up to a competition;

ii. delaying the progress of the competition;

iii. failing to respect the authority of a judge;  

iv. breaching the rules of the Legal Resource Centre (Law Library) whilst engaged in preparation (e.g. hiding or defacing library materials); or
v. contravening the Internal Competitions Code of Conduct.

b. The Internal Competitions Code of Conduct can be found in the ‘Competitions’ drop-down menu of this website. Competitions Directors will hear complaints with regards to the above via the Code of Conduct and Associated Procedures protocol. A decision to act on a complaint is subject to the provisions stipulated in the Code of Conduct and Associated Procedures protocol.

16. The judge’s decision is final and cannot be overruled. Any complaints regarding the behaviour, bias or decision of a judge must be brought to the attention of the Competitions Directors. Such complaints must then be filed according to the Code of Conduct and Associated Procedures protocol. In the event that the Competitions Directors agree with the substance of the complaint, they may at their total discretion reschedule another round. The Competitions Directors will only do so if they both believe that the judge’s behaviour had a substantial impact on the outcome and will only exercise this discretion in extreme circumstances.

17. All decisions made in relation to the running of the competition by the competition’s co-opts are final.

a. Competitions Directors reserve the right to review any decision made by the competition co-opts and alter the decision.

18. Where a complaint about a co-opt or fellow competitor arises, it must be brought to the attention of the Competitions Directors. Such complaints must then be filed according to the Code of Conduct and Associated Procedures protocol. The Competitions Directors and, where appropriate, the LSS Leadership Team and relevant Competition Co-opts, will follow up on any complaints via the process outlined by the Code of Conduct and Associated Procedures protocol.

If you have any questions concerning the MULSS Competition Rules, please email the competitions directors at competitions@mulss.com.