Mooting
The simplest way to describe a 'moot' or 'mooting' is the oral presentation of a legal issue or problem. It is perhaps the closest experience to appearing in court that you can have whilst at university.
Law schools vary widely in their attitude to mooting and clinical legal skills in general. Mooting now forms a compulsory part of certain undergraduate law courses, but will remain a totally voluntary student organised activity in other law schools. As many first year law students will be aware, the legal profession (be it as a barrister or as a solicitor) is an increasingly difficult one to enter. Application forms for legal professional courses, solicitors' firms and barristers' chambers often demand that a candidate has, and can provide evidence of, their advocacy or mooting experience whilst at university. Therefore for the sake of your future career it is worth gaining some mooting experience. Besides, mooting as an exercise may enhance your overall understanding and knowledge of particular areas of law and also enhance overall confidence in public speaking, general research, and presentation skills. In other words mooting experience can benefit every student whether or not they plan to follow a traditional legal career path upon graduation.
Unique mooting module for final year LLB students
We believe we are the only institution in the sector to provide a final year module entirely focussed on mooting for our LLB students. The module is intellectually rigorous, as students are required to write a full moot question, judge each other's moots, participate in informal moots against each other and be formally assessed for their performance in the National Moots. Students will also need to perform their moot question in front of the Mistress of the Moot and Law Teacher of the Year 2010, Becky Huxley-Binns, for their final grades. Find out what our LLB courses can offer you.
Nottingham Law School exhibition moots
For undergraduate students, exhibition moots are held and judged by lecturers at Nottingham Law School on the first four Wednesday afternoons of the autumn term. As a result of those exhibition moots students may be selected to represent Nottingham Trent University in several national mooting competitions.
Lincoln's Inn Annual Intervarsity Student Moot
Nottingham Trent University won the 2010 annual moot against The University of Nottingham at Lincoln's Inn, judged this year by Supreme Court Justice, Lord Walker of Gestingthorp. Congratulations to Stefan Fox and Chris Brooks for their sterling performances.
Midlands University Mooting Competition
Rachael Cooksey and Sophie Chan represented Nottingham Trent University in the Midlands University Mooting Competition, beating Derby University in the first round, but losing to Sheffield Hallam University in the following round. The moot was presided over by immigration judge Mr Collyer, of Nottingham Immigration Tribunal.
English Speaking Union National Moot
Students Jane Harvey and Kirsty Hoyle are through to the third round of the ESU National Moot, with their sights on the quarter final.
At postgraduate level, the School's GDL Mooting Society enables full-time Graduate Diploma in Law students to develop their mooting skills by pitching against fellow students. The society was set up by students in 2007, supported by tutors Paula Moffatt and Erika Kirk.
