The Gazette 1991

GAZETTE

i SEPTEMBER 1991

Moot Court Competition

The valuable role which "mooting"

can play in the education of a

lawyer is undisputed. A tradition of

holding moot court competitions

and, indeed, of making parti-

cipation in such competitions a

compulsory part of a course of legal

study, is common in other

jurisdictions, particularly in civil

law countries and in the United

States. Ireland has been slow to

follow suit, although individual

universities have organised such

events internally over a number of

years.

It is now hoped that such a

tradition may be developed here

over the next few years and, to

this end, the Irish Moot Court

Committee has been established.

The Committee, with Mr. Justice

Niall McCarthy of the Supreme

Court as its President, is planning

to hold two major events in the

coming year. The first will be the

preliminary rounds and national

final of the Philip C. Jessup

International Law Moot Court

Competition. This event is one

which is well known to Irish law

students as they have been

participating therein for a number

of years and have had some

considerable success. This event is

concerned with public international

law and invariably the problem to

be addressed is topical and

stimulating. This competition will

be held in early February and the

winners will travel to Washington in

April, 1992 to participate in the

international competition.

The Committee will also be

organising a new event in the form

of the National Moot Court

Competition. This competition will

involve domestic law. The

substantive area of law addressed

will change from year to year.

Participants will be recruited from

the university law faculties and

from the professional schools. The

following institutions will be

requested to send teams: the

Solicitors' Apprentices Debating

Society of Ireland; the King's Inns

Debating Society; the Institute for

Professional Legal Studies, Belfast;

Trinity College, Dublin; University

College Dublin; University College

Cork; University College Galway;

Queen's University Belfast; Dublin

City University; University of

Limerick and the University of

Ulster.

So what happens in a moot court

competition and how will those

who participate benefit? In

competitions of this nature, a

factual legal problem is formulated

which encapsulates certain novel

points of law. Participants form

themselves into groups of four and

each team must then set about

preparing a written and an oral

response to the problem. Written

submissions in the f o rm of

memorials are submi t t ed in

advance of the oral hearing and

students' performance is judged on

the contents of their written

submission as well as on the oral

presentation made to the judges

who may question the participants

on the arguments advocated by

them. Moo t i ng affords the

participants an opportunity to put

the law which they have learned

into a practical context and also

develops skills in advocacy.

Students must have a thorough

knowledge of their subject as they

do not know what questions will be

posed by the judges. They must be

able to think on their feet, due to

the time limits which are imposed.

Lengthy periods spent considering

questions posed will result in points

being lost.

Mooting is also an enjoyable

spectator sport! The audience is

given an outline of the problem and

can follow the submissions made.

The novel styles of presentation

used by some mooters can be very

entertaining.

The Committee is presently

seeking sponsorship for both

competitions. Solicitors' firms may

well see these events as performing

a useful role in recruitment and,

therefore, may wish to have an

involvement with these events.

Further i n f orma t i on may be

obtained by contacting Eoin O'Dell

or Liz Heffernan at the Law School,

Trinity College Dublin 2 or by

contacting Nuala Jackson at the

Law Library.

IBA CONDEMNS COUP

Law Society President, Donal

Binchy, was co-signatory to a re-

cent statement by the International

Bar Association following the

attempted coup in the USSR.

The statement, issued after a

meeting of International Bar

Leaders at the Canadian Bar

Association in Calgary, Alberta,

expressed the concern of the

international legal community at

the violation of the rule of law and

constitutional due process per-

petrated by the instigators of the

coup. The statement was issued on

August 22 within days of the

dramatic events taking place.

The full text of the statement

read as follows: —

"The President and representatives

of the following national bar

associations and law societies

express the concern of the

international legal community at

the violations of the rule of law and

constitutional due process per-

petrated in the past days in the

Soviet Union, reaffirm the supre-

macy of the rule of law in the world

and manifest their solidarity and full

support for the Soviet lawyers and

the Soviet people in their struggle

to reinstate constitutional due pro-

cess and the rule of law in the

Soviet Union."

In addition to Donal Binchy, the

signatories to the statement

were: —

Mr. Guiseppe Bisconti, President

IBA; J.J. Camp, President of the

Canadian Bar Association; Tony

Holland of The Law Society of

England and Wales; Judith Potter,

President, The Law Society of New

Zealand; J.A. Cameron, Q.C., Vice

Dean of the Faculty of Advocates,

Scotland; Henrin Grondin, Presi-

dent, Union Internationale des

Avocats, An t hony Scrivener,

Chairman, Bar of England and

Wales; James H. Campbell,

President of The Law Society of

Scotland.

The statement was prepared

following contacts with Soviet

Lawyers based in New York.

According to Giuseppe Bisconti,

President of the International Bar

Association, upon learning of the

statement of support the Soviet

representatives said, " we are

very grateful and we shall never

forget."

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