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What is a Moot?

The simplest way to describe a 'moot' or 'mooting' is the oral presentation of a legal issue or problem. By taking part in mooting, students practise their public speaking and it is perhaps the closest experience to appearing in court that you can have while at university.

Mooting draws on a wide range of intellectual and practical skills and it can help develop your confidence in public speaking, research and advocacy. We recognise the importance of mooting in enhancing your future employability and this is reflected in the creative way that integrate mooting tasks into our courses.

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.

There are many opportunities available in all years and if mooting is something you really enjoy, you can take a dedicated mooting module in the final year, which enables you to develop your skills to an impressive standard.

Ian Hutton Moot

Why Moot?

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 advocacy or mooting experience while at university.

Mooting is an exercise which will enhance your overall understanding and knowledge of particular areas of law and also enhance overall confidence in public speaking, general research, and presentation skills.

Mooting Opportunities

You can also get involved with mooting outside of lectures. We have a thriving undergraduate mooting club and the Lex Student Law Society holds its own mooting competitions. There are also opportunities to take part in national and international competitions in which we hold a strong track record. We've recently enjoyed success in Blackstone's Criminal Advocacy Competition and the UK Law Students' Association Mooting Competition and two of our students were selected to compete at the International Chamber of Commerce and Mediation Competition in Paris.

Mooting experience can benefit every student whether or not they plan to follow a traditional legal career path upon graduation.

Assessment by moot

Some undergraduate module assessment is partly by moot. This encourages the students to think like true lawyers. Students gain confidence mooting in front of their colleagues and develop their understanding of topics through questioning from their judge.

Advocacy

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. Competition to get into the module is fierce with only the best students in the year being selected. The module is intellectually rigorous, as students are required to participate in moots against each other regularly on a variety of legal areas with only a short period in which to prepare. Moots are performed both in class and before the whole Law School.

Courtroom

Facilities

We have invested in some outstanding facilities which means you will be able to practice in an authentic environment. We have three wood-panelled courtrooms, one with a civil court set up and two with a full criminal court set up. All courtrooms are complete with judge's bench, dock, witness stand and seating for the jury, barristers, solicitors , press and the public.