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Whether you want to be a solicitor or barrister, you should get involved in mooting while on the GDL. There are plenty of opportunities on offer, both at City and through the Inns of Court.

Contents 1 City 2 Inns of Court 3 International Moots 3.1 Goal of the moot 3.2 Venue 3.3 The Competition

[edit] City

During your first few weeks at City, you will receive information about various mooting competitions. These are a mixture of one off competitions run by barristers’ chambers and national competitions which can last throughout the year (depending on how far you go). Maitland Chambers run a one-off competition specifically for City students early in the academic year. Entrants must submit a brief skeleton argument on a problem set by Chambers. The four best entrants go through to the final and moot in front of a High Court Judge. Crown Office Chambers also hold a competition just for City students. Places are allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis and there are three rounds held on successive weeks.

City also enters three national external mooting competitions: The Weekly Law Reports, the OUP/BPP, and the ESU-Essex Court annual mooting competitions. Teams are chosen on the basis of written skeleton arguments on moot problems which are sent round in the first term of the course. Teams of four will generally be selected for each competition, with two members of the team mooting in each round. Depending on who you draw, these competitions can involve travel to far off corners of the UK City will cough up the train fair). The early rounds are generally judged by barristers or academics and the finals are judged by High Court or Crown Court judges.

A big event in the GDL calendar is the City internal mooting competition. It begins in October/November and runs until the spring. Anyone can enter, so it’s one of the best ways of getting in some mooting experience, even if you’re knocked out in the first round, though that’s obviously not ideal. Lord Hoffman (the Hoffmeister) judged the final in 2009 and another big hitter will no doubt be invited for 2010.

[edit] Inns of Court

Outside of City, the Inns of Court lay on several mooting competitions throughout the year. Check the mooting pages of your Inn to see when their mooting competitions are held and how to enter. You’ll generally be up against BVC students – it’s always fun to beat people who supposedly have more experience that you. The Inner Temple Lawson Moot was won by a City student in 2008, so it's always good to keep up the winning tradition. The competitions at the Inns also tend to be on more interesting areas of law that your standard ‘postal rule’ moot. For instance, last year there were moot problems on clinical negligence, public international law and even space law (ie who owns the moon).

Mooting can be hard work. But it’s a lot of fun and is great preparation for interviews later in the year where you’ll often have to do submissions and presentations.

Many thanks to Michael Edwards for this excellent piece. Michael was a GDL student at City from 2008-09 and a finalist in the OUP/BPP competition.

[edit] International Moots

The Willem Vis Moot (full name Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Mooting Competition...phew!)is organised by the Association for the Organisation and Promotion of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot that takes place in Vienna, Austria). The competition is an excellent opportunity to enhance your CV by improving debating skills in the international environment, networking with very high calibre students from the Universities all over the world and developing your expertise in aspects of arbitration and CISG.

[edit] Goal of the moot

The Moot is intended to stimulate the study of international commercial law, especially the legal texts prepared by the United Nations Commissions on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the use of international commercial arbitration to resolve international commercial disputes. The international nature of the Moot is intended to lead participants to interpret the text of international commercial law in the right of different legal systems and to develop an expertise in advocating a position before an arbitral panel composed of arbitrators from different legal systems. An active social program at the time of oral hearings in Vienna is organized by the Moot Alumni Association with the aim of promoting friendship that can last long after the Moot itself is over.

[edit] Venue

The oral hearings will be held in Vienna, Austria, at the Faculty of Law (Juridicum) of the University of Vienna and at the offices of the law firms Dorda, Brugger & Jordis and DLA Piper Weiss-Tessback Rechtsanwalte GmBH. Please note that you must be able to travel to Vienna (Austria) for the duration of the moot. The registration fee for the competition, travel and accommodation expenses will be paid for by City Law School. You will be allocated a small amount for subsistence while in Vienna but all other incidental expenses will have to be covered by individual students.

[edit] The Competition

This competition is a very interesting but intense and requires a significant amount of preparation and team work prior the actual event. If you wish to participate you must be prepared to attend regular preparatory meetings, undertake a significant amount of research on Arbitration and International Trade and of course you must be able to travel to Vienna for the oral submissions during the date specified above. City University will only enter one team and the members of the team will be selected on a competitive basis.

Applications for 2009/10 have passed but please contact Margaret Carren for further information on this moot or check out the Willem C Vis Moot website.