Moot points

A thrilling mock court battle at the annual ICLR mooting competition was witnessed by two excited members of our sales team just before Easter. Fought at the Law Society in London between teams of students, the event was sponsored by Justis Publishing.

The case dreamt up for the occasion focused on a chastity-ring-wearing schoolgirl. Excluded for violating the school’s dress code, she brought a case against her school.

Presided over by two mock judges, the bout provided a superb platform for the demonstration of the use of citations in court, according to Simon Watson, Justis Publishing’s sales manager.

Was he impressed by the overall winners from BPP Law School, who represented the claimant?

“Yes”, said Watson. “They were very articulate, confident and stood out from the crowd. They deserved to win the contest.” He added that even though they didn’t win the case itself, he felt they put across very well-argued, valid points for a position that was very hard to justify.

Watson went on to explain that the ultra-prepared judges threw in a deliberate curve ball to fox the prosecuting counsel, namely that a case they’d cited had been overruled. It hadn’t. But, speculates Watson, had JustCite been used beforehand – ironically it hadn’t – they might well have known this and gone on to win the case as well as the contest. “As a student you learn from your mistakes”, he said. “In your professional life these mistakes can be a little more costly.”

Read the ICLR’s extended press release.

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