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An estimated 14-minute read

Moot Court

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We had an interactive moot court orientation program at the Institute of law, Nirma university. It was all very informative. The students who have won the international moot courts and one lawyer of the Gujarat High court spread knowledge among us which I would like to share with the world.

The Institute of law, Nirma university,Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India have organised an interactive moot court orientation program for its 1st year students of Law to make them aware about various etiquette, intricacies, and technicalities of this science called as Mooting or in a simpler way we can say debating or Arguing. But don’t think that mooting just means debating or arguing, Mooting is a lot more. It is science, and art and a technique needed to learn by every law student, to inculcate the litigation culture and to become the best lawyer, from the very first year of the 5 year law course. In debate and argue you simply argue to win the situation in any possible manner sometimes by shouting. But In mooting you need to argue to convince the judge with proper proofs, by keeping your voice humble, and by following the mooting culture and manners.

Mooting skills boosts up the confidence level of the student, so every law student should participate in moot court which is a fun with learning technique,which is ultimately going to give you fruits in future. Mooting requires lots of hard work and efforts with lots of knowledge, that can affect your marks but ultimately will give you an edge among all the other students. It will add value to your CV [that you prepare for fetching a job] and a lot of exposure comes to you. When you participate in International moot courts many companies see you and they decides that they can recruit you during placement, so that is another plus point. No one is a born mooter, this is a technique which every law students learns only after entering into a law school. The more you practice the better you perform.

Moot court is a dummy of original court where law students learn the art of mooting or lawyer-ing. The students are given framed cases on which they have to argue to win the case, that actually happens in real life situation and real courts. It looks like a real court where 3 judges will listen to you while you present your case, after you finish they start bombarding you with thousands of questions.

There is 2 mooters one is counsel and other is co counsel, and there are 2 researchers who should know all the relevant laws and cases related to the case. Mooter is a orator but the actual research is done by researcher. Researcher prepare the things to be presented after doing a lot of research work and mooter presents it before the judge.

History of moot court in India

The moot court culture first was adopted by Britain. India after Independence adopted many features of Britain, be it a language, constitution, cloths and what not.

In 997 there was one university Inns of court which was on the same footing with oxford, nalanda and Cambridge in terms of legal education. That was basically a law school. In 18th and 19th century formal legal education began in America where they followed the same practices of teaching as Inns courts, England. The professors followed the same method of teaching by mooting exercises. Then in 1870 Harvard introduced the case system, thus this was also introduced in mooting culture and the same culture is been followed by almost every college and universities providing legal education.

In India the mooting culture started when Bar council of India organised the Bar council of India moot court in the year 1981. In 1985 learning through moot court became an integrated feature of Indian legal education. And from that time, mooting culture is being followed by Indian law institutes.

Mooting manners

Dressing sense:- Avoid wearing informal dress, Moot court is a platform which will guide you to face business professionals in future and you are to present yourself in best possible manner before eminent jurists, so in order to be on a safer side wear formal dress [Black trouser, white shirt and black blasser]. It reflects that you have proper knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and you are more serious and well aware about your work. Boys should have short hair, so that you do not need to comb them with your hands during your 10-15 minutes mooting presentation. Girls should make a tight pony tail so that its hair should not fall in between the presentation.

Moot court add value to your CV and it invites a lot of exposure.Moot court is self test of confidence and personality. Thus everyone should participate in a moot court.

Never argue on the basis of the facts of the given case but argue on the basis of laws.

Start up with May it please your honour. Tell the facts to a judge like a story telling. Narrate your favorable points in a simple way. Hide your weak points of facts without suppressing any material facts. Don’t suggest any incorrect thing.Always respect the judge, as he is your god. What ever he is saying is right. Good behaviour toward all will make your way easy as questions can be asked just to check your patience. You should develop good command over speech therapy [including temper, language, gesture and movement of your body] Dressing should be adequate as explained above.

How to prepare

Read the facts of the cases twice minimum and 5 times maximum.

Underline the important things.

Prepare chronological sequence of events

After reading 4th time jot down points that comes to your mind. Jot down from both of the angles one from petitioner’s and other from the respondent’s. Don’t be overconfident, overconfidence will kill you. Always consider yourself a learner learning from others mistake. Be a master of facts, that can only be done by reading 3 to 4 times the facts of the case. Try to put yourself in opponent’s shoes and think like him. Always work in a group, you all will have different points which can be helpful in winning the situation. All people in a group should prepare favorable points for opposition as well and then prepare controversies. Find out where is the exact problem, then try to find out various provisions of law applicable to the given case, then connect the legal provisions to the points in your favour and also prepare defences against the points that opposition can raise with proper proof. Find out the citation of a court or similar judgement delivered by court. If there is no such judgement delivered by Supreme court then try to find out the judgement of High court, If not High court then Supreme court and if neither supreme court nor High court has delivered such judgements then try to cite the judgement by foreign superior courts and International court of justice.

You should prepare your brief after taking care it should be simple written submission. Always focus on your strongest points and try to hide the weakest points. Make your strong points more strong and find out the way from the weak points.

You are here: Home » Spirituality » Moot Court

Moot Court

by apoorva in Spirituality, August 2, 2011

We had an interactive moot court orientation program at the Institute of law, Nirma university. It was all very informative. The students who have won the international moot courts and one lawyer of the Gujarat High court spread knowledge among us which I would like to share with the world.

How to prepare

Read the facts of the cases twice minimum and 5 times maximum.

Underline the important things.

Prepare chronological sequence of events

After reading 4th time jot down points that comes to your mind. Jot down from both of the angles one from petitioner’s and other from the respondent’s. Don’t be overconfident, overconfidence will kill you. Always consider yourself a learner learning from others mistake. Be a master of facts, that can only be done by reading 3 to 4 times the facts of the case. Try to put yourself in opponent’s shoes and think like him. Always work in a group, you all will have different points which can be helpful in winning the situation. All people in a group should prepare favorable points for opposition as well and then prepare controversies. Find out where is the exact problem, then try to find out various provisions of law applicable to the given case, then connect the legal provisions to the points in your favour and also prepare defences against the points that opposition can raise with proper proof. Find out the citation of a court or similar judgement delivered by court. If there is no such judgement delivered by Supreme court then try to find out the judgement of High court, If not High court then Supreme court and if neither supreme court nor High court has delivered such judgements then try to cite the judgement by foreign superior courts and International court of justice.

You should prepare your brief after taking care it should be simple written submission. Always focus on your strongest points and try to hide the weakest points. Make your strong points more strong and find out the way from the weak points.

Training

Practice makes a man perfect but only perfect practice makes perfect. Don’t forget the small things while making the presentable submission as small things brings perfection and perfection itself is not a small thing. What to say and how to say is the only art to develop for mooting. Always keep separate documents ready for your oral submission as there is world of difference between what you submit manually and orally.

Always show the legal provisions after you finish your arguments, and never fight on facts fight on laws. Try to read in Between the lines. Explain to judge how such legal provision is applicable to the given facts and situation. Try to convince judge in a very humble and polite manner.

Research

Before you participate in any moot court competition, be sure to have read all the rules and regulation for the participants. The competition rules will give you a thorough guidelines and deadlines as well as the manner in which the memorial is to be prepared. Team work is indigenous part and is very essential. Read the entire moot problem with your team member thoroughly, also read various articles available on Internet related to the moot problem also read full laws that are applicable to such a situation. you can also cite the judgements delivered by superior courts on the matter familiar to your moot problem.

Be prepared with the points that can be raised by your opponent. A good mooter should know what an opponent wants to argue, so it is always better to scrutinize the case carefully and write the defences and facts and arguments in both of th parties behalf.

Research the law

First read the facts of the case then analyse the background of both of the parties, then find out the dispute between the parties and finally write about all these things. Look at any case mentioned in the problem.

Read articles related to the subject matter of the case, but again articles are only for clarifying your doubts, don’t refer or cite it before the judge and in the memorial refer only the cases and judgements as articles are merely an opinion of the author and thus you cannot fully rely upon it.

Points to remember

Have a research plan. Don’t take any shortcut for your research,the longer the way the better is the research but work smartly. while thinking as petitioner of one side think about the other side too. Stay focused about your objective about what do you want to prove and keep the authority in mind.

International mooting culture:-

Arbitration court is different from other court, Arbitration court is out of court settlement. Initiating a legal proceedings in a court is a time consuming process, it takes many years sometimes even centuries for court to resolve the matter so people find is better to get the matter solved before an arbitration court.

Arbitration moot court is very popular in foreign countries but in India only National law school of India universe -NLSIU Bangalore has such facility.

Like India have precedent, laws and statutes as sources, the sources of International law are International treaties [convention, protocol], customs, General principles and works of eminent jurists.

You are here: Home » Spirituality » Moot Court

Moot Court

by apoorva in Spirituality, August 2, 2011

We had an interactive moot court orientation program at the Institute of law, Nirma university. It was all very informative. The students who have won the international moot courts and one lawyer of the Gujarat High court spread knowledge among us which I would like to share with the world.

Research

Before you participate in any moot court competition, be sure to have read all the rules and regulation for the participants. The competition rules will give you a thorough guidelines and deadlines as well as the manner in which the memorial is to be prepared. Team work is indigenous part and is very essential. Read the entire moot problem with your team member thoroughly, also read various articles available on Internet related to the moot problem also read full laws that are applicable to such a situation. you can also cite the judgements delivered by superior courts on the matter familiar to your moot problem.

Be prepared with the points that can be raised by your opponent. A good mooter should know what an opponent wants to argue, so it is always better to scrutinize the case carefully and write the defences and facts and arguments in both of th parties behalf.

Research the law

First read the facts of the case then analyse the background of both of the parties, then find out the dispute between the parties and finally write about all these things. Look at any case mentioned in the problem.

Read articles related to the subject matter of the case, but again articles are only for clarifying your doubts, don’t refer or cite it before the judge and in the memorial refer only the cases and judgements as articles are merely an opinion of the author and thus you cannot fully rely upon it.

Points to remember

Have a research plan. Don’t take any shortcut for your research,the longer the way the better is the research but work smartly. while thinking as petitioner of one side think about the other side too. Stay focused about your objective about what do you want to prove and keep the authority in mind.

International mooting culture:-

Read more in Spirituality

« Spiritual Laws of Life

Arbitration court is different from other court, Arbitration court is out of court settlement. Initiating a legal proceedings in a court is a time consuming process, it takes many years sometimes even centuries for court to resolve the matter so people find is better to get the matter solved before an arbitration court.

Arbitration moot court is very popular in foreign countries but in India only National law school of India universe -NLSIU Bangalore has such facility.

Like India have precedent, laws and statutes as sources, the sources of International law are International treaties [convention, protocol], customs, General principles and works of eminent jurists.

Terms:

Use Agent or prosecution for counsel

use your excellency for your honour.

compromise means moot court problem.

some strategic points:-

Be clear on the points of jurisdiction. Have wide knowledge of the contemporary issues similar to the moot problem.Cite international instruments like UN resolutions etc. Never forget to mention the citation in the written submission. Be particular about good behaviour as good court manners matters a lot. Jot down the issues on which you have to argue, it should be in your hand at the time of giving presentation so you need not waste your time in thinking what were the issues. Your main Issues can be 1 and can be maximum 4, but you can always divide it into sub issues.

Prepare summary of arguments which is a gist of arguments. Don’t use I use counsel example- counsel wants to present the facts of the case. Avoid saying thank you instead say Much obliged. In order to seek permission say your lord and not sir. Instead of saying yes say Indeed. make your arguments very clear don’t leave any point vague. If judges throws questions on you the stop as soon as judge start speaking then give answer to him to the point and if he asked something which you don’t know then avoid pleading ignorance instead ask them to enlighten you with the matter, it will leave a good impression that even though counsel don’t know whatever asked by the judges but it is interested in knowing it. If your points does not match with the points of judges then never say that you are wrong, learn to disagree humbly, say something like this my honour the counsel begs to differ and my point is this. Before starting anything, seek permission and then move forward.

So before taking part in any moot court competition be it domestic one or an international one, if you keep all these points in mind and work whole heartily then no one can stop you from winning the case.

Overall the moot court orientation session was very informative and interesting.