Get Mooting: Rundown of Competitions
From Learnmore
Whether you want to be a solicitor or barrister, you should get involved in mooting while studying law. There are plenty of opportunities on offer, both at City and through the Inns of Court.
City-specific info
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 organised just for City students, and national competitions which can last throughout the year (depending on how far you go).
Chambers Competitions for City Law School students
Maitland Chambers run a one-off 'advocacy competition' specifically for City GDL 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 hold a competition just for City students across all academic programmes. Places are allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis. There are three rounds which run over three successive weeks.
National Competitions
City also enters the two big national external mooting competitions:
Teams are chosen on the basis of skeleton arguments on moot problems which are sent around in the first term. Teams of between two and four will generally be selected for each competition. Depending on who you draw, these competitions can involve travel to far off corners of the UK (City will cough up the train fare). The early rounds are generally judged by barristers or academics and the finals are judged by High Court or Crown Court judges.
Internal Competitions
Big events within the Law School are the three internal competitions; the GDL Competition, City Scholars Mooting Competition (for LLB, GELLB and LLM students) and the Senior Moot (for all law postgrads).
Both the GDL and City Scholars moots will kick off in late Oct/early November and are open to all. They are judged by our star mooters from previous years in the first two rounds, practitioners in the third and a senior lawyer or judge in the final. The Senior Moot is for all law postgraduates and the first round will take place nearer Christmas. There are a limited number of places in the Senior Moot, places are allocated via application. The finals of all three competitions take place at the Supreme Court (Covid permitting).
Competitions to enter independently
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 BPTC students – it’s always fun to beat people who supposedly have more experience that you. The competitions at the Inns also tend to be on more interesting areas of law than your standard postal rule of acceptance moot.
Inner Temple organise an Inter-Varsity Moot which is open to all - team selection usually happens around November. Teams of City students have won this competition on many occasions, including 2016-17 (James Gardner & Edward Gilmore), 2017-18 (Eno Elezi & Henrietta Boyle), 2019-20 (Thomas Beardsworth and Jacob Haddad) and 2020-21 (Honor Brocklebank-Fowler and Constantine Fraser) . Lincoln's Inn hold an inter-provider moot competition for their students via speed-mooting heats, usually around November. Middle Temple hold the Rosamond Smith Mooting Competition annually for its GDL and BPTC members.
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.
Times 2TG Moot
This moot is organised by The Times and 2 Temple Gardens and is open to all those registered as students. Top prize is £4000, runner-up gets £2000 and all four finalists have a mini pupillage organised with 2TG. Just find yourself a partner!
FTB Kingsland Cup
The Chambers of Francis Taylor Building run this fantastic moot, open to all undergraduates, GDL and BPTC students. Teams of two can enter, with no bar to the number entering from any one institution. First stage is a written one, with teams sending in two skeletons based on the original moot problem: one seeking permission to appeal, the other resisting.
The eight highest-scoring teams will be invited to the semi-final.
Usually on public, environmental and European law topics, it is a very challenging competition. However City students have had great success in this moot, winning on a number of occasions in the past few years (including 2021-22 - see Beth and Josh's story). Find out more via the competition website.
The UKELA Moot Competition
The UKELA moot problem is focused on a relevant contentious issue in environmental law and policy. It is judged by a panel of environmental law barristers and academics. The final round is generally judged by a Supreme Court justice. The event itself is sponsored by a leading environmental law barristers' chambers, No.5 Chambers and Lawtext Publishing, and the prizes include: cash prizes, mooting trophies and a year's subscription to the UKELA.
The moots are free to enter, open to UKELA student members and non-student members, and are divided into two classes: UKELA Student Prize Moot (Junior) for undergraduate/postgraduate and Lord Slynn of Hadley Senior Moot for Bar students/pupils.
No problem released as yet but normally skeleton submission for the initial stage of the competition would be in early November so watch this space...
National Speed Mooting Cup
The National Speed Mooting Competition has run for a number of years, and is open to students for a fee. They also run various events and an Advocacy Club. Find out more via their website. There are separate competitions for LLB/GDL and LPC and Bar students.
The Law of Artificial Intelligence Mooting Competition
This is quite a new competition from the Society for Computers & Law (SCL) and 4 Pump Court. It is designed to give participants insight into the use of technologies in legal practice and the issues surrounding the governance of emerging technologies. Open to all undergrads/postgrads including GDL and BVC. No sign of the 2022-23 problem as yet but take a look at the website for info from last year.
LSE-Featherstone Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot
This great competition runs over a weekend in February usually, though no news on dates for this coming year as yet. The oral rounds of the moot competition run alongside an associated networking event during which participants engage with a number of workshops, discussions, and panels focused on the gamut of SOGI/LGBT+ issues and their interface with the law. Keep an eye on their website for more info.
Human Rights Lawyers Association Judicial Review Moot
Organised by the HRLA Young Lawyers Division, this competition is open to all, undergrads and postgrads as well as those on pupillage or seeking a TC. At this stage you just need to email the organisers with basic information. If you have a partner already that's great, but you can also enter and be paired up. Deadline for registering is 6pm on 3rd October 2022. Written preliminary round will take place mid Oct, semi-final in mid Nov and final is likely to be in early December at the Royal Courts of Justice (probably!). Just fill out the form on the Young Lawyers section of the website. Like other competitions, City students have seen some success in this competition in previous years!
Cecilia Moot
The UK's first dedicated animal law moot! Registration is expected to open in mid-October 2022, so keep an eye on their website. It has run since 2019, you can read a write up of that year's final on Lawbore written by founder (and former City GDL/Bar student Sam Groom), or see a short video on the 2020 final.
ALBA Moot
The Constitutional and Administrative Bar Association ran its inaugural moot in 2019, a team from City won in 2020 [see Lawbore interview with Antonia Fraser and Raphael Hogarth, there was a brief hiatus for Covid but it was back on track last year. Lord Justice Singh, Mrs Justice Lieven and Christopher Vajda QC (former UK judge at the CJEU) judged the final in court room 1 of the Supreme Court.
The competition is open to current law students, including LLB, GDL, LPC and BPTC students. Applications are also welcome from those who have completed their BPTC but not yet secured pupillage. You need to enter in teams of 2. Information on this is not likely until we get into 2023.
Specialist Moots
City usually enters a number of specialist moot competitions a year, some of which take place outside of the UK. These change year on year. We will release selection information on each of these and then choose our teams!
Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot
LLB3, GELLB2, GDL, LLM, BVC only (not open to those who have secured pupillage). Run by the chambers of 5PB. First round usually in November, 2nd round late Jan and the Final in early March.
Landmark Property Moot
This annual competition is open to LLB students only. Landmark target this moot and those who are 'particularly interested in property law' in order to give them 'an opportunity to develop their understanding of the subject and to gain some insight into the realities of practice through meeting members of Landmark’s Property Team'.
The first round of the competition will be virtual and will take place on the 6th November. City have registered to participate and we'll let you know about selection shortly.
Landmark Judicial Review Moot
Open to all programmes. This annual competition has been running since 2018 and Landmark say it 'provides students with an excellent opportunity to apply planning and environmental law in a public law context and gain insight into some of Chambers’ key practice areas prior to applying for pupillage'. This was won by a team from City in 2018 and again last year! Read the post on Lawbore from Chatura Saravanan...
The first round will be virtual and will take place on 20th November. City are registered to enter a team and you will hear more about the selection process shortly.
The Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition
The Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competitionis organised by the Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, in collaboration with the International Media Lawyers Association (IMLA). The moot's aim is 'to expand and stimulate an interest in Media Law and Policy among students from law and other disciplines, who will develop expertise in arguing a case before an international bench of judges from different legal systems and backgrounds'.
We have entered teams for a few years now, last year the team did amazingly despite the challenges of the pandemic and reached the final. We were beaten by the National Law University of India but Rafe Jennings gained the prize for best oralist in the final. Have a read of the rollercoaster journey via Lawbore.
The European Law Moot Court Competition
Information on the EHRMCC can be a little sketchy, however they will release the problem before requesting written pleadings for both the applicant and defendant from universities all over Europe before a set number of teams go forward to the regional (oral) finals. A City team (Ben Lewy, Miguel Rodriguez, Douglas Grant and Margherita Cornaglia) won this competition in the 2016/17 academic year, read all about it via Future Lawyer.
The European Human Rights Moot
Open to all programmes. This moot is organised by ELSA (The European Law Student Association) in cooperation with the Council of Europe. The final is held in Strasbourg. The City team came third last year - read the story on City News and we won it in 2014.
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
Open to all programmes. City only entered this one for the first time last year and it was wholly virtual. We're looking forward to seeing how it differs this year. This is the world's largest moot with around 700 law schools from across the globe competing. The Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice. Katherine Reece-Thomas will be selecting the City team this year.
Oxford Intellectual Property Moot
Open to all programmes. Last year the City Team were given the prize for Best Written Submissions. The year before we won - read the story on Lawbore. Those interested will need to complete an task in front of the City IP team (Enrico Bonadio and Patrick Goold) - more on this in October.
The Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
Now in its 29th year, the Vis Moot is prestigious and usually attracts participants from over 60 countries. It aims to 'foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes through its application to a concrete problem of a client and to train law leaders of tomorrow in methods of alternative dispute resolution'. The final is held in Vienna.
You can view problems from past years via the Vis website to give some idea of what is involved. Just click on the Previous Moots tab to see back to the 25th Vis Moot. Here's a report from the City team in 2019 and one from the team in 2016.
International Criminal Court Moot
Open to all programmes. This competition takes the form of a large scale moot court simulating the proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The final will be judged by ICC judges within an ICC courtroom, but there will be various international rounds prior to this.
Nuremberg Moot Court Competition
Open to all programmes. Teams are invited to argue a fictitious case before the "International Criminal Court" during a three-day competition. The organisers tell us that 'students are given the unique opportunity to develop their skills and plead at the historic Courtroom 600 in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, where the Nuremberg Trials against the major Nazi war criminals took place.'
Fletcher Insolvency Moot
Open to all programmes. Last year was the first time we had entered this one, and although we did not progress to the semi-finals we were delighted that the Best Mooter in the Preliminary rounds was named as Kendya Goodman from City Law School.