What is a moot?

For those of you not familiar with the term, a moot competition is a vital component of any legal education, where students must demonstrate their legal knowledge, analytical and argumentation skills, as well as team-work ability, in the setting of a real-court simulation.

Moot competitions are a prime vehicle for law students to gain practical experience prior to entering the legal profession, and are a common source of skills-learning, enjoyment, and competitive satisfaction.

There are usually four participants in a moot team. The team will represent both sides of the party in a hypothetical case.

Why do people moot?

An essentials part of being a lawyer is the ability to justify and explain any course of action that you propose to take on behalf of your client.  The skilled lawyer is required both to present and support their arguments as well as counter contrary arguments, always keeping in mind his or her final aim to persuade the listeners of the correctness of the conclusion that is being proposing.

Persuasion is therefore both a skill and an art … which operates in all areas of business … but never more so than in a court of law.

As a result, in common law jurisdictions, mooting is often found to be an integral component of the traditional university law degree, and of course will always be a vital element in a lawyer’s later professional training.

Teamwork

Teamwork is also an essential skill of the lawyer. Mooting can give you skills of interpretation and presentation, along with the ability to counter interruption and to work in teams. Skills of research and presentation are absolutely interdependent.

The BLC promotes the practical experience of mooting as part of its class activities and encourages its students to take part in mock trials/moots as optional activities, not to mention organising the Central and Eastern European Moot Competition.

CEEMC Competition

Click here to go to the CEEMC web site.

where you can download the CEEMC 2010 question and bundle of legal materials.

As well as meeting many other young lawyers from the region mooting provides a great opportunity to find out more about other legal systems, other opportunities and to experience personally the living fabric of the law.

Of course, it should also never be forgotten that the attraction of mooting for most students is simply the joy of taking part!