University of Otago student Tawhiwhi Watson won the Gina Rudland Cup for best mooter at the National Māori Moot Competition earlier this month.
The competition took place in Waikato and involved Māori law students from different law schools in New Zealand.
A moot is a mock trial where two sides debate a hypothetical case.
Justice Joe Williams, Judge Rachel Mullins, Court of Appeal Justice Mark Cooper and Māori Land Court Chief Judge Caren Fox judged the competition.
"I think pretty early on I started getting massive butterflies," Mr Watson said.
"And you can’t really eat during the day because you get really nervous.
"But I had spent the whole day being nervous, [so] once I got in there, I was just glad to be in there."
The topic of the moot was based on a recent Supreme Court case called the Transtasman.
Mr Watson was on the side of the respondent, arguing on behalf of the oil drilling company which sought rights to mine and drill oil against the wishes of hapu.
"It made it quite difficult because — obviously — we’re at a Māori law conference doing the Māori moot."
He only had two weeks to compile his thoughts and prepare his argument, which he then had to present to the judges and hundreds of attendees.
Although his team lost the moot’s final decision, he was still awarded best speaker.
"I wouldn’t say I came in ever expecting to win.
"There are times when you’re standing up and you’re presenting and, because the judges can just intersect at anytime with a question ... you just have a blank.
"Five seconds feels like the longest amount of time when you’re saying nothing."
He hoped to become a lawyer and received an offer to do a summer clerkship at Simpson Grierson in Auckland.
