Mooting 2010 - let the party begin!!

The LSS Mooting Competition, sponsored by Mallesons Stephens Jacques, is about to kick into gear for 2010 - this time with some new changes!

For those who haven't heard, mooting is a competition in the form of a mock submission, usually an appeal, designed to develop skills in advocacy, oral argument, and legal research.  Two teams present a written argument, and then make oral submissions in front of a judge, the winners of each round advancing until the Grand Final, where a winner is ultimately chosen.

This year, there have been some changes to the competition:

First, an optional 3rd person can join your mooting team.  Each team will still have a Junior and Senior Counsel, who will make oral submissions to the judge, but now each team can also have an (optional) Instructing Solicitor, who helps prepare the legal research and written submission, but does NOT give oral arguments on the day of the moot.  This is to allow increased flexibility in the competition - a team will not be disqualified from a mooting round simply because one person cannot make it.  Team members can rotate these positions throughout the competition.

Second, there are additional mooting opportunities for those interested.  The IHL Mooting competition will be running during the first semester, concurrently with the Mallesons competition, and a Mooting League will be available second semester for those who want to practice mooting without fear of being eliminated.  See the Competitions Guidebook for more information.

Online mooting applications will close at the end of Week 2.  A mooting demonstration will be held on Monday of Week 2 (08/03/10) at 1 PM, and a practice round for first-time mooters will be held Mon-Thurs of Week 3 at lunch time.  The first round of the competition will be Mon-Thurs during Week 5 in the evenings.