Durham University Mooting Society: legal discourse, mock trials, competetive debating.
Mooting is done with two teams of two people competing, one person from each team taking a leading/senior role and the other being the junior. There will also be a judge and someone timing you.
Usually a mooting competition would require you to research the area of law in question and bring a prepared case to the competition. For the purposes of the work-shops you may be given a generic topic such as "Castle/Hatfield/Cuths is the best/worst college/Society" or a pre-prepared moot, usually from a previous competition. These are 'speed moots' and focus on your style and presentation rather than content.
Usually a moot would follow the structure below:
This is only a rough guide and will vary between most competitions.
Submission – your arguments (each counsel usually makes two)
Ground of appeal – basic legal point you are arguing (you usually have two of these per side)
My learned junior/senior – how you refer to your team mate
My learned friend – how you refer to you opponent
Mooting isn’t like debating. You must always be polite and respectful to both the judge and the other participants, much like an actual trial in court.
When the judge walks in at the beginning of the moot, participants all stand and bow as he/she comes in, sitting only after him/her. The same is done in reverse as the judge leaves.
You must always refer to the judge as My Lord/Lady (instead of their name) and Your Lord/Ladyship (instead of ‘you’).
Avoid the first person with phrases likes 'we submit...' or 'it is submitted that...'
Ensure you cite cases fully. "The case of X and Y, reported from page 123 of the Relevant Law Reporter for the year 1066" is an example of 'X v Y [1066] RLR 123'
If you disagree at any time, you should say something like ‘We take your Lordship's point but we respectfully submit…’.
Some arguments are known as 'Policy arguments'. These are based not on strict legal principals but practicalities such as 'Flood gates' arguments. You can be more expressive in these such as 'It is submitted that the imposition of liability in these circumstances would be hugely unjust and wholly wrong'
Leading Appellant:
May it please Your Lordship, my name is Mr/Miss… and I appear as senior counsel for the appellant. My learned friend Mr/Miss… appears as junior council for the appellant. My learned friends Mr/Miss … will appear as senior counsel for the respondent and Mr/Miss … will represent the respondent as junior counsel.
My Lord, there are two grounds of appeal in the instant case. I will deal with the first and … will deal with the second. They are ….
Would Your Lordship find a brief summary of the facts of the instant case helpful?
If Your Lordship has no further questions, I shall proceed to my submissions.
My Lord, I have two submissions to make: 1… 2…
If it pleases Your Lordship I will begin with my first submission…
If Your Lordship has no further questions I will now move to my second submission…
My Lord, it is for these reasons and also those given by my junior counsel that I urge you to allow the appeal. If Your Lordship has no further questions, that concludes my submissions.
Junior Appellant:
My Lord, as has already been stated, my name is…. And I appear as junior counsel for the appellant.
My Lord, I have two submissions to make: 1… 2…
If it pleases Your Lordship I will begin with my first submission…
If Your Lordship has no further questions I will now move to my second submission…
My Lord, it is for these reasons and also those given by my senior counsel that I would urge you to allow the appeal. If Your Lordship has no further questions, that concludes the case for the appellant.
Leading Respondent:
My Lord, as has already been stated, my name is…. And I appear as senior counsel for the respondent. My learned friend Mr/Miss… will be junior council for the respondent.
My Lord, we argue two grounds in response to the appellant in the instant case. I will deal with the first and … will deal with the second. They are ….
My Lord, I have two submissions to make: 1… 2…
If it pleases Your Lordship I will begin with my first submission…
If Your Lordship has no further questions I will now move to my second submission…
My Lord, it is for these reasons and also those given by my junior counsel that I urge you to disallow the appeal. If Your Lordship has no further questions, that concludes my submissions.
Junior Respondent:
My Lord, as has already been stated, my name is…. And I appear as junior counsel for the respondent.
My Lord, I have two submissions to make: 1… 2…
If it pleases Your Lordship I will begin with my first submission…
If Your Lordship has no further questions I will now move to my second submission…
My Lord, it is for these reasons and also those given by my senior counsel that I would urge you not to allow the appeal. If Your Lordship has no further questions, that concludes the case for the respondent.
Once you get used to mooting, we will be introducing interruptions to your speeches, as this is what a judge would do in an inter-varsity competition. DON'T get flustered by questions. DON'T interrupt the judge while they are asking the question. DO take a moment. DO answer the question carefully.
Judicial interventions can decide the moot. You must be firm in your submission but know when to concede the point and move on. A good answer is well worth having to cut your primary submissions short.
Examples of good things to say:
If you really have no idea how to answer a question just apologise and admit it. Don’t let this throw you though. Take a breath and continue as before. The judge will usually only keep pushing the issue if he/she thinks they can talk you round to the answer.
You can find much more information at mooting.net where there are further book lists and handy links to other sites as well as tips and advice on mooting.
You will find a helpful chapter on mooting in your Legal Skills book too: Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski Legal Skills (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Finally, please don’t hesitate to ask questions to any of the exec, either at workshops or via email: mooting.society@durham.ac.uk.
Happy Mooting!