Does Your Honour have a copy of the defendant's antecedents?

Two of our LLB students, Krystle Lewis and Yusupha Janko, entered the Essex Court Chambers Mooting Nationals this year. Thus far University of Bedfordshire has successfully completed two rounds when they defeated University of East Anglia and University of Cambridge.

It has taken months of work to have arrived at this stage but the journey is still far from complete. The team is currently awaiting word as to which team they must next face. If successful they will have to move through to another round with a new legal problem to argue.

Yusupha Janko and Krystle Lewis, 2nd year LLB students at University of Bedfordshire

For students or academics who may be unfamiliar with mooting, it is a strict discipline that simulates court cases. At the LLb level students usually moot Court of Appeal or Supreme Court scenarios. During a barrister’s vocational training, that is when they attend the Bar and Solicitor training, moots are different as they deal with trials mostly, so that a different set of skills are tested, such as leading evidence, cross examination and addresses.

At this LLb level, students are asked instead to moot on selected points of law in a detailed and precise manner. It requires s significant academic rigour as the points of law are controversial and require a detailed ability to analyse and apply case and statute law within the context of judicial policy.

It also requires strong personalities as mooting is one of the aspects of advocacy. Students are treated as advocates and must display perfect court etiquette and the ability to deal with a harsh and sometimes hostile bench so that their strength of character is tested on some occasions.  UK common law is an adversarial process, so students have to show the ability to not only know the law, but present it in stressful and challenging circumstances.

The competition consists of three preliminary rounds, a quarter final, semi final and then the final, each moot challenging the students and testing their knowledge of law. Our students have demonstrated that they are capable of meeting these challenges and have the academic ability to overcome their opponents in the first two rounds. We hope to cheer them on all the way to the finals.

The Essex Court Chambers Mooting Nationals is an annual event organised by Essex Court Chambers since 1972. Essex Court Chambers is a prestigious set of barristers’ chambers in the UK and is one of the ‘magic circles’ of barrister’s chambers. It employs outstanding individuals and has a varied legal practice involving several areas of law. Finalists to the Essex moot are awarded a mace which marks them as formidable junior advocate, a cash prize, but more so are given a mini pupillage in these chambers.

Author: Narissa Ramsundar, Lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire School of Law