Participating in IMLAM was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my university life, as I am planning a career in maritime law. It was certainly a vision broadening experience to conduct research on the laws of England and Singapore which have great importance in maritime law, considering also that they have a quite different system from our legal system. It was also a great pleasure to try and find answers to a broad range of questions on maritime law which were difficult even for the experienced professionals to resolve. In the end, all our hard work was worthwhile as we met law students from all over the world interested in such a specific field of law and professionals which are renowned in Singapore, a hub for maritime sector.``

Seray Kaya

IMLAM was an outstanding experience for me to improve my advocacy and research skills. The seven months of hard work taught me how to work as a team and build a trust relationship with my teammates. We had the opportunity to meet and compete with students from all over the world. The highlight for me was learning the practice of law from reputable arbitrators and lawyers. Even though the process itself was a reward, we have also been awarded the “Spirit of the Moot” prize. Many thanks to Dr. Bugra, for coaching and encouraging us throughout the whole process!

Elif Ekiz

As a proud member of KOÇ IMLAM team, I have gained invaluable experience and knowledge with regard to maritime and arbitration law. First of all, maritime law is a very sophisticated area of law, and the moot being held under the Common Law system was highly challenging for us. Hence, we had to put extra effort to achieve a successful result. Additionally, we experienced a very different learning process in comparison to our undergraduate education. We improved our research, time management, reasoning and legal writing skills. The preparation for the oral rounds was another amazing experience. Throughout the competition we met very distinguished professors, judges, lawyers and competed with very successful students from all around the world.

Cemre Edip YALÇIN

Since the first day I started studying law, I have been really interested in maritime law. When I took the maritime law course given by Dr. Ayşegül Buğra, my curiosity in this area of law increased even more. When I heard that I could be a part of Koç University IMLAM team, I applied to be a team member and from the day I became a team member to the last day of IMLAM, we entered into a period in which the learning, studying and researching process never stopped. As a team, we both became more familiar with maritime law and also we had to study a different legal system. Although we attended this competition for the first time, we have experienced that we were quite capable of competing with other well-known foreign teams. As Koç University students, we have been able to keep our competitive position vis-à-vis other universities and we have increased our faith and confidence that we could have a career in maritime law.

Rüstem Kağan OKTAYKAAN

IMLAM was one of the experiences that made my undergraduate studies unforgettable. As a result of intensive work and research for IMLAM, I acquired extensive knowledge in maritime and arbitration law which were rather obscure areas for me before participating in this competition. Doing our research in Australian and English laws was a golden opportunity to develop our research skills. This competition, which is highly prestigious in the field of maritime law, provided us the opportunity to experience working in a very different legal system from our own legal system. We have learned a different legal system with the guidance of our esteemed coach Dr. Ayşegül Buğra who always supported us, by working very hard and constantly sharing knowledge with each other. During 7 months of intensive work, we have established very strong bonds as a team, which has become stronger in the oral rounds by spending all our time together while doing our final preparations for the competition. Additionally, in the oral rounds, to compete with successful teams from all around the world, to come together with the world’s most recognised professors, judges and lawyers in the field of maritime law and to benefit from their experiences contributed to us a lot. I believe this experience has been very important for our future career as well.

Zeynep Kiriş

IMLAM was one of the most outstanding experiences I have ever had as this was the first time I have participated an international competition. IMLAM has and probably will have a special place in my life. At the beginning I had very limited knowledge in Maritime Law. Within the memorandum submission period, I became more familiar with this area of law and I discovered that I have gradually developed a great interest in this area of law. Also, I had a chance to work with wonderful teammates for 6 months which also improved my teamwork skills. Within the preparation period for the oral rounds, I greatly improved my advocacy skills which is very useful for my future career as an attorney at law. Lastly, I think the best part of IMLAM was the people I met in this competition. I built amazing relationships with people all around the world. Overall, although I faced a lot of difficulties in the preparation period for IMLAM, it was worthwhile to be a part of this competition. I recommend IMLAM to all law students since one definitely develops multitasking skills through participating in this competition.

Ebubekir Bal

Being part of the Koç IMLAM Team of 2018 was definitely one of the best decisions I have made in my university life. I have been informed about this Moot Court, while I was attending the maritime lectures given by Dr. Ayşegül Buğra and since I was interested in maritime law, I thought this moot competition could improve my skills in this specific law area. In the end, I can truly say that studying and preparing for IMLAM did indeed improve my skills considerably and I have gained a lot of confidence, especially after standing before the arbitrators during the hearing sessions. Additionally, we had a great opportunity to meet with law students interested in this field of law and to make an acquaintance with distinguished arbitrators and professors. I strongly recommend every law student, who are interested in maritime law to be a part of this experience.

Ata Deniz

Being a member of Koç University IMLAM team was a great experience for me. Although the preparation process was very challenging, I enjoyed spending time together with the IMLAM team for writing memorandums and preparing for oral hearings in Australia. Mooting not only helped me to learn about Maritime Law but it has also improved my language and researching skills in another law system (common law). During the oral rounds I had chance to meet new and talented people who dedicated themselves to Maritime Law. I also had chance to moot before very renowned arbitrators and receive their invaluable feedback.

I would like to thank to Dr. Ayşegül Buğra for her support and to give me the chance to be a part of Koç University IMLAM team.

Pınar Demiralp