BLACKSTONE
HERBERT SMITH
MOOTING COMPETITION RULES
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1.
The competition shall be run under the auspices of an advisory Board, which
shall have the power to:
a) co-opt members;
b) appoint a National Secretary and Assistant Secretary to administer the
competition; and
c) amend these rules as it thinks fit
2.
a) The competition shall be open to not more than one team from each
participating institution.
b) Each team shall consist of two law students, who must be registered as such
with the institution which they represent
c) Undergraduates, postgraduates and those studying for CPE are all eligible to
take part
d) The members of each team may be changed from round to round
3.
a) Each participating institution shall submit one original mooting problem
dealing with a topic in the area of law specified by the National Secretary.
b) No entry will be accepted unless it is accompanied by the mooting problem
specified in paragraph 3(a)
4.
a) The National Secretary shall have the sole power to determine the mooting
problem to be used in each round of the competition.
b) Any ambiguities or objections apparently arising out of a mooting problem
shall be brought to the attention of the National Secretary within three days of
receipt of the problem by the participating institution.
c) The National Secretary shall have the power to resolve the matter in his or
her absolute discretion.
5.
a) The competition shall be run on a knock-out basis.
b) Each team's opponents in the first round will be drawn by the National
Secretary, who shall attempt to minimise the distance to be travelled by the
away teams so far as is possible.
c) The first-round draw shall form the basis for each year's competition (as in
a tennis competition) and no new draw shall take place for every round.
d) Each participating institution shall receive a copy of the draw specified in
paragraph 5(b) and the results of each round.
e) The first named team in each round shall be the home team.
6.
a) The home team shall argue for the Appellant and the away team shall argue for
the Respondent.
b) The order in which speakers shall be heard shall be determined from round to
round by the National Secretary.
c) Leading counsel for each team will be permitted to speak for no longer
than 20 minutes.
d) Junior counsel for each team will be permitted to speak for no longer
than 15 minutes.
e) Time taken up by judicial interventions, and by counsel dealing with
such interventions, shall not count towards the time limits specified in
Paragraphs 6(c) and (d)
f) Time shall be kept on a stopwatch by a clerk, who shall warn counsel
by some suitable means when they have:
i) five minutes left;
ii) one minute left;
iii) to conclude their speech forthwith.
g) There will be no right of reply.
h) There will be no speeches from the floor or by amici curiae
7.
The home team in each round shall be responsible for:
a) selecting the judge, who shall be a qualified barrister, solicitor or
law lecturer who is not employed by or identified with the home team's
institution;
b) arranging a venue for the moot;
c) faxing the details specified in paragraph 7 (a) and (b) to both the
away team and to the National Secretary at least seven days before the moot is
due to take place;
d) faxing a copy of these rules to the judge at least seven days before
the moot is to take place; and
e) producing for the use of the judge a full copy of each law report and
other literature cited by the participating teams.
8.
a) Both the home team and the away team shall fax to their opponents, the
judge and the National Secretary not later than 3pm on a day at least two
working days before the moot is to take place:
i) a list of authorities on which they wish to rely in
the moot court; and
ii) a summary (which must be typed or written in block
capitals and no longer than one sheet of A4 paper) of the main points of their
argument.
b) No team may compile a list of more than SIX case citations.
c) All other legal literature (including statutory materials, EC
Directives, journals and textbooks) must also be cited on the list specified in
paragraph 8(a)(i) and (ii)
d) No team may compile a list of more than FOUR citations of the type
specified in paragraph 8(c)
e) Citations from law reports not included in Schedule 1, or from law
journals no specified in Schedule 2, shall be admissible only if accompanied by
a photocopy of the whole report or learned article to which reference is
intended to be made.
f) No mooter shall rely in his or her speech on any law report or other
literature whose citation has not compiled with the requirements of this
paragraph.
g) Each mooter shall, however, be free to rely on any case or other legal
literature, whether it has been cited in accordance with this paragraph or not,
when dealing with any judicial intervention.
9.
a) The judge shall not refuse to hear argument on any ground of appeal
specified in the mooting problem, nor shall he or she allow either team to
concede a point of law which is identified in the mooting problem as requiring
legal argument unless the other team have already consented to such a course of
action in writing.
b) The judge should ask any questions of counsel that seem to him or her
to be appropriate.
c) At the end of the moot the judge shall adjudicate first on the points
of law raised in the course of the moot.
d) The judge shall then announce which team has won that round of the
competition.
e) In reaching a decision under paragraph 9 (d), the judge shall take
into account in particular the following matters:
i) the quality of each team's summary argument
specified in paragraph 8 (a) (ii);
ii) the court room manner and etiquette of each
mooter;
iii) the presentation and clarity of each mooter's speech, including
whether each speech (or aspects of it) was too long or short bearing in mind the
confines of the Competition;
iv) the use made by each mooter of each authority or
other literature cited; and
v) the ability of each mooter to deal with the judges
interventions.
f) There shall be no appeal against the decision of the judge.
g) Objections to the outcome of any round which are based on the
allegation that the rules of the competition have been infringed shall be faxed
to the National Secretary no later than the working day immediately following
the day on which the round took place.
h) The National Secretary shall have absolute discretion to determine the
result of any round of the Competition following any objection received within
paragraph 9 (g).
10.
The National Secretary shall have absolute discretion to resolve any question
concerning the interpretation of these rules.
SCHEDULE 1: Law Reports not requiring to be photocopied
The Law Reports
All England Law Reports
Common Market Law Reports
Criminal Appeal Reports
European Court Reports
Industrial Cases Reports
Industrial Relations Law Reports
Weekly Law Reports
SCHEDULE 2: Law Journals not requiring to be photocopied
Cambridge Law Journal
Common Market Law Review
Criminal Law Review
Current Legal Problems
European Law Review
Journal of Law and Society
Law Quarterly Review
Legal Studies
Modern Law Review
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
Public Law