The University of Manchester represented by Karamvir Chadha and Hannah Gates are the 2009 ESU – Essex Court Chambers National Mooting Competition winners.
Karamvir Chadha and Hannah Gates beat Jayne Brayley and Aimee Hutchinson representing University of Sheffield in the exciting evening final, which was held in the President’s Court of the Royal Courts of Justice last night.
The ESU – Essex Court Chambers National Mooting Competition, which is now in its thirty- seventh year, attracted entries from 62 teams for this year’s competition. The final of the competition was judged this year by a panel chaired by Michael Collins QC. The other judges were Richard Jacobs QC and Professor Alan Boyle.
Karamvir Chadha, whose family live in Birmingham, explains why he enjoys mooting: “Mooting puts the law I learnt on my degree into context. It’s a chance to use legal knowledge to solve ‘real’ problems. Mooting and this competition has provided us with a great opportunity to develop our legal research skills and oral advocacy.”
Canadian Hannah Gates, whose father and sister brought forward their planned visit to England from Lantzville, Vancouver island to support her in the final, was delighted with her and Karamvir’s victory:
“We’ve been through three years of law school together, so winning the ESU – Essex Court Chambers National Mooting Competition together has been a really nice end. Studying the law can be very dry, but when I actually apply the law to very practical situations in mooting, it reminds me why I’m in law school in the first place.”
In a moot, two pairs of ‘advocates’ argue a fictitious legal appeal case in front of a ‘judge’. To win, you do not necessarily have to win the legal case, but must make the best presentation of your legal arguments.
The winners received a silver Mace and a prize of £1,000 each. Their university, Manchester, received a donation of £1,000. The runners up received “The Scarman Shield”, £750 each and the University of Sheffield received £500. For the second time in the competition, the other semi-finalists did not go home empty handed but received cash prizes of £250 each. The cash prizes were generously donated by Essex Court Chambers where all finalists will also be offered a mini-pupillage.
The competition is administered by the ESU, sponsored by Essex Court Chambers and supported by Legal Week as media partners.