A moot court competition simulates a court hearing (usually in the Court of Appeal or above) where students fulfil the role of a barrister or solicitor, and advance their research, problem solving, and advocacy skills.
Mooting requires students to prepare written submissions and present a reasoned oral argument. The scenarios usually concern a contentious, or unsettled area of law, or an area of recent change, or topical legal development.
Each year the U.K. Supreme Court staff invite in excess of 100 U.K. Law Schools to compete for the opportunity to stage their moot competition final at the Court, before one of the 12 Justices. The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Court hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population.
Stephen Clear, Law Subject Lead and Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law within the School of History, Law and Social Sciences, is the School’s Mooting Coordinator and spearheaded ϲʿ’s application to the Supreme Court for next year.
Commenting upon the success he said:
“It is a great honour to be awarded this opportunity. This will be the third occasion ϲʿ has been granted this privilege at a national level. We were the very first Welsh Law School to moot at the Supreme Court in 2013, when our students presented their arguments before Lord Kerr and Hefin Rees QC. In 2017 we were granted the opportunity again, and became the first Law School to moot a scenario pertaining to an area of Public Law concerning divergence between the laws in England and Wales.
"In 2017 our case was heard by the first Welsh Supreme Court Justice Lord Lloyd-Jones, and his Judicial Assistant. We are excited to now have the opportunity to return to the Court again next year, to moot a question concerning Public Law and Human Rights. Opportunities, like these, make all the difference to our students’ employability, with several of those who have previously participated in these programmes now being in legal practice as barristers and solicitors.”
Stephen Clear added: “Mooting at ϲʿ continues to go from strength to strength, and this latest achievement follows much national success in 2021. ϲʿ has already reached the final 32 Law Schools in the Inns of Court College of Advocacy and Oxford University Press National Moot Competition, following Law students Danial Barrett and Anne-Marie Radiguet-Correa’s success against Huddersfield University last month. They will now compete against Swansea University after Christmas.
“Law students Joe Brittan and Nour Kasir have also represented ϲʿ with distinction in the National Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot (organised by 5 Paper Buildings) and BPP’s Advocate of the Year Competition. It has been a very busy semester and there is more to come after Christmas, with students preparing to moot internationally over the vacation period.
“These achievements at national level are a team effort. They are testament to the dedication and commitment of our students. In particular their ability to robustly and thoroughly research the Law and latest developments; as well as eloquently present reasoned oral arguments whilst fielding an intense level of questioning under pressure. Thanks also goes to our Law academics who offered further coaching guidance this year, including Dr Ama Eyo, Mr Thomas Perry, and Ms Chaynee Hodgetts.”
Further details relating to ϲʿ’s Mooting Programmes can be found here.
Further details can be found here.
