Are these competitions really necessary for law firm jobs? I have no interest in participating in any of them. They just seem pretty dull and fake. Could I just go on with internships, decent publication ( 1-2) and above average grades ?
Lol sure, nobody gives a ff about moots really. I was close to a HR at a tier 1 firm and a partner who told me that you could win Jessup world rounds 5 times in a row in ur BALLB, but firms (all) won't even care to look at it if you don't have good(or stellar depending on the NLU, or top 3% if private college), 2-3 internships in the preferred practice area coupled with the ability to discuss your work in the interview and answer questions based on them, good oratory skills in the interview, and maybe 2 publications in a respected non scammy place (but that's your wish).
Mooting is overrated across colleges with organising committees hyping them up so much.
The only utility of moots-
1. If the prize is an internship opportunity at a large firm and/or access to resources like SCC
2. If you honestly did the research, you get to learn the subject well and you are really well versed then in topics like Sports law or Data law or Competition law that you may not be opportune enough to do in the usual course of studies
3. Networking with judges (law firm partners) over dinners
4. Exploring the city - DC, Hong Kong, Patiala, Jodhpur, Hyderabad etc.
5. The recruiter may want to connect with you/ make small talk on your experience (but will have 0 effect on your actual shortlisting)
6. Potential dates/ hookups (trust me there are many who go for moots for this)
Notwithstanding the hype, PLEASE ensure the following-
1. DO NOT miss classes of important subjects like Constitutional law, company act, Contract law. The experience of grasping concepts from class will far far outweigh you going through random notes, to score well in your sem exams. If you do miss, speak to the prof and request them to take a special session on the concepts. Do not take this lightly, this will directly impact your future prospects.
2. Don't drain yourself in your moot, if you are parallelly attending Classes, please make time to study, that will have more impact on your "law firm jobs" recruitment, kyunki the recruiter will not ask why you only came second in Vis moot, but why your grades fell. "I was preparing for this moot" is not a good enough answer, say rather than "health issues", "do not enjoy criminal law, was writing a publication on securities law (provided you have good grades in these subjects)"...etc
3. 3rd and 4rth yr mein do not moot at all, these are critical times not to waste. If you really aspire to do TC wagera don't moot at all, and focus on studies from 1st yr, they really look ay 1st yr grades .
4. Inspite of all this, if you do plan to moot, please don't do some XYZ College Moot ABC. Please do Vis E/W, Jessup and the likes at the world rounds.
Not at all required. Ignore. I would go to the extent of saying that even tier 1 moots such as Vis & Jessup are not worth the effort. Sure, these moots may make sense for tier 1 Law School students because they can afford to sacrifice on their internship breaks/studies since they can expect good placements. Additionally, these moots are super costly (Vis Vienna has a registration fee of around INR 40k, Vis Hong Kong is even worse with its fee of INR 1 lac, leave aside the travel expenses).
But mooting is surely not an option for students from smaller law schools, who as it is do not have placement support, nor do they finance the costs incurred in these moots, from travel to preparation.
Rather, spend time interning literally ALL THE TIME. You can learn research skills through internships too, no necessity to moot.
Plus, moots are becoming dramas nowadays and have no connection whatsoever with how actual courts function. Try saying "if your lordships may permit, i will move on to issue 4" before a judge. He will throw you out of his court. No one has time for these niceties- get to the point, argue, move on.
People may say mooting can improve confidence and speaking skills. Firstly, if your objective is to join a corp law firm, these skills won't matter. You can develop them gradually and you dont need to moot. Secondly, if you wish to litigate, there is no better place to learn than a court directly. See how advocates argue, witness the SC/HC live hearings and you will learn enough. Legendary vakils such as Harish Salve, Mukul Rohagti, Fali Nariman did not moot to get to where they are now in terms of arguing skills.
My 5 year mantra for law school would be:
1. Maintain good grades (between 8 & 9/10 Cgpa)
2. Intern, intern, intern, intern
3.Do good Publications (avoid those paid journals and blogs. Publish in reputed blogs only -CRCL, ACLR, RML SEAL, CCL NLUO or even Oxford, Harvard etc.)
Summarizing, moots have 0 utility. I myself have done 4 moots, including 2 tier 1 moots. Regret the efforts and parents money I wasted, even though things turned out good later as far as job is concerned.
Just letting you know, I am tier 3 private uni kid.
Mooting is overrated across colleges with organising committees hyping them up so much.
The only utility of moots-
1. If the prize is an internship opportunity at a large firm and/or access to resources like SCC
2. If you honestly did the research, you get to learn the subject well and you are really well versed then in topics like Sports law or Data law or Competition law that you may not be opportune enough to do in the usual course of studies
3. Networking with judges (law firm partners) over dinners
4. Exploring the city - DC, Hong Kong, Patiala, Jodhpur, Hyderabad etc.
5. The recruiter may want to connect with you/ make small talk on your experience (but will have 0 effect on your actual shortlisting)
6. Potential dates/ hookups (trust me there are many who go for moots for this)
Notwithstanding the hype, PLEASE ensure the following-
1. DO NOT miss classes of important subjects like Constitutional law, company act, Contract law. The experience of grasping concepts from class will far far outweigh you going through random notes, to score well in your sem exams. If you do miss, speak to the prof and request them to take a special session on the concepts. Do not take this lightly, this will directly impact your future prospects.
2. Don't drain yourself in your moot, if you are parallelly attending Classes, please make time to study, that will have more impact on your "law firm jobs" recruitment, kyunki the recruiter will not ask why you only came second in Vis moot, but why your grades fell. "I was preparing for this moot" is not a good enough answer, say rather than "health issues", "do not enjoy criminal law, was writing a publication on securities law (provided you have good grades in these subjects)"...etc
3. 3rd and 4rth yr mein do not moot at all, these are critical times not to waste. If you really aspire to do TC wagera don't moot at all, and focus on studies from 1st yr, they really look ay 1st yr grades .
4. Inspite of all this, if you do plan to moot, please don't do some XYZ College Moot ABC. Please do Vis E/W, Jessup and the likes at the world rounds.
But mooting is surely not an option for students from smaller law schools, who as it is do not have placement support, nor do they finance the costs incurred in these moots, from travel to preparation.
Rather, spend time interning literally ALL THE TIME. You can learn research skills through internships too, no necessity to moot.
Plus, moots are becoming dramas nowadays and have no connection whatsoever with how actual courts function. Try saying "if your lordships may permit, i will move on to issue 4" before a judge. He will throw you out of his court. No one has time for these niceties- get to the point, argue, move on.
People may say mooting can improve confidence and speaking skills. Firstly, if your objective is to join a corp law firm, these skills won't matter. You can develop them gradually and you dont need to moot. Secondly, if you wish to litigate, there is no better place to learn than a court directly. See how advocates argue, witness the SC/HC live hearings and you will learn enough. Legendary vakils such as Harish Salve, Mukul Rohagti, Fali Nariman did not moot to get to where they are now in terms of arguing skills.
My 5 year mantra for law school would be:
1. Maintain good grades (between 8 & 9/10 Cgpa)
2. Intern, intern, intern, intern
3.Do good Publications (avoid those paid journals and blogs. Publish in reputed blogs only -CRCL, ACLR, RML SEAL, CCL NLUO or even Oxford, Harvard etc.)
Summarizing, moots have 0 utility. I myself have done 4 moots, including 2 tier 1 moots. Regret the efforts and parents money I wasted, even though things turned out good later as far as job is concerned.
Just letting you know, I am tier 3 private uni kid.