As you will have seen, Oriel Chambers is running its annual Mooting Competition this academic year open to law students at the four Universities around Liverpool: the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Edge Hill University, and Liverpool Hope University.
I’m delighted to be running the Mooting Competition this year – scroll down to the end of this post for some details.
But first, you may ask: What is mooting?
For those who may not know, or may be afraid to ask, ‘mooting’ is the carrying-out of a mock trial for the purposes of arguing or debating a point of law before an acting ‘Judge’. The mock trial is generally framed as an appeal somewhere like the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court; and takes the form of a debate, between two teams of two participants, on a point of law that arises out of the facts of a narrative problem question provided to the teams beforehand.
The ‘winning’ team of a moot is usually decided by the Judge on the basis of which team has presented or conveyed their arguments more effectively, rather than which legal position is actually vindicated in law. This makes it less an academic debate, and more a real chance to develop of your advocacy and public speaking, case preparation, and articulate presentation.
And you also may ask: Why should I do it?
That’s a good question – whether you want to be a solicitor or barrister, or you’re undecided, it’s a great way to get some good legal experience; you’ll become a better student by getting stuck in to some legal topics in real depth by debating them; and you’ll get a real sense of achievement in picking up a new skill and surprising yourself with how far you can excel with it. And it’s also just good fun!
But what of Oriel Chambers’ own competition this year?
We’ll be running an ‘Online Training’ session later this month, on 27th September, via Teams. It’ll be a great chance for you to come along, pop in virtually for a bit, find out more about the competition and pick up some great tips.
You are able to enter the competition right now! The deadline for entries is 4pm 6th October 2023. You can enter my emailing mooting@orielchambers.co.uk with your name, your teammate’s name, and your university.
For those who sign up, and who have signed up already, you will be given a welcome email soon from me with a problem question and the competition rules.
In the meantime, there will be another update later on this month as we get closer to the training session with more details on what the session will involve as well as more details on the competition. Watch this space!
