Mooting Competition

Representatives from Aberystwyth University Mooting Society: (Left – Right)Sofiya Kartalova (Vice President, Admin); Liam Hunter (Vice President, Education); with competitors Robert Donaldson (President) and Charlotte Garbett (Vice President, Internal Affairs)

Students at the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University will today, Wednesday 30^th November 2011, be going head to head with students from Dundee University in the first round of the Oxford University Press Mooting Competition.

This annual national competition brings together students from all over the UK and aims to prepare Law students for their future career and advocacy.  

The competition held at 2pm in the Old Hall of the Old College, will see two teams of students’ present the various points of law in a legal argument as if they were at the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court. 

The teams were presented with a fictitious legal case in October and today’s competition will see the students argue their case following months of research and deliberation.

Representing Aberystwyth will be Charlotte Garbett and Robert Donaldson, both second year students at the University.

 “This competition provides our students with valuable skills and an excellent opportunity to argue their case in front of an experienced Judge.” comments Professor Noel Cox, Head of the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University. 

“Mooting dates back over 500 years and is an important element of today’s law degree. In the 15th Century the Inns of Court would use mooting as a means of teaching young barristers the rigours of advocacy.”

“Competitive mooting provides students with the opportunity work together and to think clearly, quickly and on their feet – it is an excellent step in preparing individuals for the reality of the courtroom.  

“Success, however, does not necessarily result from winning the legal case, but rather from the quality of the presentation of the legal arguments,” he added.

Presiding over the competition is HH Judge Elisabeth Fisher, a Circuit Judge from Birmingham and member of the Inner Temple of the Inns of Court, with over 21 years’ experience on the Bench.

Commenting on the event, Shaun Bailey, Vice President of Aberystwyth University’s Mooting Society said: “The legal problem presented to them is realistic and the winning team will need to ensure that they have researched their case thoroughly before providing convincing, logical and evidence based arguments.  I’m looking forward to an interesting afternoon of debate and wish our home team all the best.”

The winners of the first round of the Oxford University Press Mooting Competition will then progress to the second round which takes place early in the New Year with the legal problem for the final round being presented in June 2011. 

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