Law students celebrate moot success <br />

Law students celebrate moot success
On the first weekend of February, UWA's Law Department took part in the Inner Temple's Annual National Inter-Varsity Moot in London, in which seventeen universities competed against each other on a knock-out basis. The department was successfully represented by to two of its students, Sarah Harriott (3rd year LLB) and Steven Jones (2nd year LLB), who reached the semi-finals.


Although they were a bit sad to have missed the final, they were rightly pleased with their performance. Moreover, both considered it a valuable experience in terms of social as well as legal skills. Sarah Harriott: “We had a brilliant time at the competition and we did really well to come within the top four of seventeen teams. Although the judicial questioning got more and more difficult with every round and the case was complex we coped well under pressure. Mooting is nerve racking but is a great way to build up confidence and public speaking skills especially for barristers and even for solicitors as they have increased advocacy rights.”


Steven Jones agrees that mooting is worth while and enjoyable and not just because of their recent success: “Firstly, it is fun due to the ‘buzz’ which I get through standing up and presenting my argument (this is especially true if I also win my argument), secondly, I believe that it provides invaluable advocacy experience which is often crucial to anyone who is seriously considering a career at the bar and thirdly, it is also a sociable and competitive activity. It provides you with a good ‘snap-shot’ of what life at the bar would be like. Based upon my experiences I would seriously recommend mooting to anyone if for no other reason that to participate in an enjoyable social event and to gain confidence which is always a useful attribute.”

They had also represented the Department in other national competitions: Sarah in the ESU-Essex Court’s National Moot and Steven in the Oxford University Press Mooting Competition. Both gained their first mooting experiences in the Law Department’s Internal Mooting Competition which is run on an annual basis. In last year’s internal competition, Sarah had been awarded a shield for her outstanding mooting performance. Steven is currently competing in this year’s internal moot.

For more information on the internal mooting competition, please contact the Mooting Society’s Captain, Claire Giles (clg3@aber.ac.uk).