Information on mooting at oxford can be found on the Faculty of Law mooting pages.
For those students conducting the LRMSP mooting module then there is the WebLearn site as well (see your active sites on weblearn for the LRMSP site).
Below are a number of books on mooting. The link will take you through to the catalogue record.
Mooting and advocacy skills by Below is an example of a skeleton argument and list of authorities for the LRMSP moots. There are plenty of other examples in the resources above. Remember to refer to competition guidelines.
There is specific language and etiquette when doing a moot. Always look at any guidance in the competition rules and information on procedure. Below are just a few pointers.
Below are a number of terms you will come across in case citators, there are others but these are the main ones. There are usually guides to these terms within the source itself
Positive treatments
APPROVED: Higher court has stated that the decision in the lower court was correctly decided
APPLIED: Court has applied a principle established in an earlier case where the facts are materially different.
FOLLOWED: Court was bound by precedents set in an earlier case where the facts of the case were substantially the same
Neutral treatments
CONSIDERED: This is where the court has discussed the earlier case in some depth but there has been no definite use of it in its decision.
DISTINGUISHED: This is where the court has discussed the earlier case and has established that there are substantial differences.
CITED: This is where the earlier case has been cited by counsel but the case has not been discussed in detail
MENTIONED: This is where the earlier case has been mentioned in court but not discussed
Negative treatments
OVERRULED: This is where a court overrules a principle/ratio of an inferior court. (there can also be PART OVERRULED)
DISAPPROVED: This is where a higher court states that the decision in the lower court was not correctly decided
A moot is a mock appeal whereby 2 teams put forward a legal argument in front of a judge or panel of judges. There are no juries or witnesses as the moot is in the appeal courts (usually the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court) and so the facts of the case are already established. It is important to prepare, below is an outline of how to prepare. There are other resources on mooting both print and electronic on the left hand side
To prepare for a moot there are a number of steps:
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Interpreting your moot problem
Researching the law
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Relating the law to the facts After researching the legal topic and getting an understanding of the law in the area go back to your moot problem and relate the law to the facts you have established. In a moot it is important to get the balance right between citing the law and discussing it in relation to the facts in your case. Using legal authorities a) Citing the correct authorities When arguing you need to use relevant authorities to support it. This means primary legal sources i.e cases and legislation. Secondary sources such as books and articles are usually not be cited as support for your argument. b) Always remember which court you are in and what cases are binding If you are in the Court of Appeal, judgments made in the House of Lords/Supreme Court are binding on you and so you can not ask for the court to overrule them or argue that they were incorrectly made. You will need to distinguish your case on the facts. Likewise you can not ask the court to be bound by a decision made in a lower court you must establish why the decision is a sound legal precedent and why it should be upheld. Format You need to think about the structure of your argument and this has be logical and clear. Some people find it useful to write out word for word what they are going to say to help them practice. It is a good idea to take in shorter notes or cards rather than the whole of your speech as it may be difficult to keep eye contact with the judge and keep your place. |
Before a moot take place both teams will have to submit to both the judges and the opposite counsel a skeleton argument and a list of authorities.
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Skeleton argument This must be a short and structured list of what you are going to argue. It should include enough information to help the judge determine the structure and content of your argument but not go into too much detail. It should also signpost which authorities you are going to use to establish each point. At the top of the skeleton argument you must include the Parties names of the case, the date of the case, the court and whether you are acting as lead or junior for respondent or appellant. For an example see the left hand column. As a guide the whole argument should not be more than an A4 sheet in a decent size font. A lot of competitions will give guidance on what the format should be. |
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List of Authorities The list of authorities should be a list with full citations of the legislation and the cases you are going to use to support your argument. Legislation should come at the top of the list, followed by cases. Legislation should not be abbreviated and should include section and sub-section numbers. Cases should be in italics or underlined and have the neutral citation (if it has one) and then the report citation (see citation tab for details). If the case does not have a neutral citation then you should put the court abbreviation in brackets at the end. As with the skeleton argument there needs to be the case details at the top of the list. See the example in the left hand column. |
Before you go into the moot court you need to have prepared a court bundle to give to each judge. This contains a copy of all the legal authorities you are going to use during your argument. Some competitions will expect you to have the whole case or act photocopied, other competitions will allow you to just have the part you are going to cite and some of the pages around it to give it context. Read any competition rules and guidance. You will have to guide the judge(s) to the different parts of the court bundle as you make your argument and so some tips for producing a good bundle are
TIPS FOR A GOOD COURT BUNDLE
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You can view this presentation at http://youtu.be/g_lq9SkDp_k
