The latest, updated Legally India Mooting Premier League (MPL) scoring criteria and moot competition rankings: we have removed five competitions, added one and demoted and promoted one respectively.

After 14 of the 35 moots included in the MPL there is a tough fight for the top spot between NLSIU Bangalore and Nalsar Hyderabad going on.

Since the start of the MPL we have received various comments and suggestions to amend the rankings and include further moots. Based on these, we have updated the list as explained below.

TIER 1
Points:
Best Team: 20 points
Runners Up: 15 points
Best Orator / Memorial / Researcher: 12 points each
Honourable Mention: 10 points
Semi Finalist: 10 points

Competitions:
Philip C. Jessups, Washington
William C. Vis, Vienna
Manfred Lachs, world finals

TIER 2
Points:
Best Team: 15 points
Runners Up: 10 points
Best Orator / Memorial / Researcher: 10 points each
Semi finalist: 7 points
Honourable Mention: 7 points

Competitions:
Stetson World Rounds
William C.  Vis (east), Hong Kong
Manfred Lachs, Sydney
Red Cross Moot,  Henry Dunant Asia Pacific
WTO World rounds

TIER 3
Points:
Best Team: 10 points
Runners Up: 7 points
Best Orator / Memorial / Researcher: 7 points each

Competitions
North India Round of Philip C. Jessup
South India Round of Philip C. Jessup
North India Round of Stetson
South India Round of Stetson
National Rounds of Henry Dunant
Bar council of India Trust
ISRO funding round of Manfred lachs, NLS Bangalore (NEW)
WTO Asian rounds, Taiwan (MOVED FROM TIER 2)
DM Harish, GLC
ICC Mediation, Paris

TIER 4
Points:
Best Team: 6 points
Runners Up: 3 points
Best Orator / Memorial / Researcher: 5 points each

Competitions:
NLS International Arbitration
GNLU International Moot Court Competition
MM Singhvi Moot court competition, NLU Jodhpur
Nani Palkhiwala Tax Moot Court, GLC Mumbai
NUJS Herbert Smith Moot court competition
IICLAM, NLU Delhi
Justice Tankha Memorial Moot court competition, NLIU Bhopal,
Amity law school moot court competition
Surana Corporate
Surana International Tech, Pune
KLA Moot Court Competition, Kerala
Nalsar B.R. Sawney
K.K. Luthra Criminal Law Moot Court Competition, New Delhi,
S.P. Sathe Moot court ILS, Pune
All India Corporate Law Moot Court Competition, NLU Delhi
Surana Trial Advocacy, North India round (concluded)
Surana Trial Advocacy, South India round
ULC Bangalore moot

EXPLANATION OF CHANGES
Tier 2:
WTO Asian rounds, Taiwan has been shifted to Tier 3 from Tier 2. It is because the participation is not very high for the Asian rounds and not all of the major teams take part. But considering the reputation of the moot and its associates, we have decided to keep the world finals in Tier 2.

Tier 3:
We had omitted to include the ISRO Funding rounds of the Manfred Lachs Moot. We have rectified the same and included it as a Tier 3 competition.

Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition University of Oxford and International Maritime Arbitration, Perth have not been included in the list because Indian participation is very low in these competitions and not all major law schoolstake part. It would be unfair to grant points for the same. Also the reputation of these competitions is not that high as of any other Tier 3 competition.

Finally the NLSIU Arbitration moot has been moved to Tier 4 from Tier 3 by popular consensus. We have received various comments requesting the change as foreign participation is not very high or at the same level as that of DM Harish.

Tier 4:
CIAC Arbitration, RMNLU Lucknow, Anand & Anand IPR, New Delhi and Surana Minority have been cancelled this year and have been removed from the list. We also removed the moot court competition organised by ULC, Bangalore from the list after consultation. [Note 8 February 2010: We have included ULC Bangalore again after hearing detailed submissions from the ULC Moot Court Committee. It was a tight borderline case for inclusion in Tier 4 and we gave it the benefit of reinstatement seeing as it was on the original list.]

We had received a number of messages for inclusion of various other moots. However, this season we had to restrict ourselves to 35 moots and it has been very carefully decided after extensive research and consultation. Also the comments received from the readers have been given due weightage.

Update 16 February: We are also introducing a tie-breaker in the event of a tie for the top spots at the end of the competition. If the total points of teams are the same, we will take into account the total points scored by team wins only (excluding points such as runners-up, best speakers, memorials or researcher). In the event of a further tie, the next criteria will be runner-up points. Hopefully that should break any tie. If not, we will tally up the total number of wins, irrespective of each category and tier. Please let us know if you have any objections to this method.

Click here for the first version of the scoring criteria.

Get this cut-out-and-keep MPL season calendar as a handy guide of all competitions that are still coming up in the MPL.

Please leave your comments below on the changes or on future tables.