1. Meaning and Relevance of
Mooting
Ramandeep Kaur
Assistant Professor(Law),
Centre for Legal Studies,
Gitarattan International Business School
2. • Mooting captures a law student’s attention perhaps like no other
co-curricular activity. It is a highly useful and competitive activity
that helps you develop the core skills of research and writing,
argumentation and presentation, and teamwork.
• Legal Research is an inalienable part of Moot Court
Competitions and learning this art can make your entire Mooting
journey seamless. The first step towards becoming an ace
mooter is to learn how to ‘Research’ on your moot proposition
to make brilliant memorials and craft logical arguments.
3. Researchers do what their name suggests:
they research.
• They are also responsible for formatting the memorial and appearing for
the Researcher’s Test if there is any for the particular moot competition.
Performing well in this test helps increase the team rank by a great margin.
The memorial can be formatted by anyone in the moot team but it is
usually the researcher who does it.
• Researchers lessen the burden of research of the speakers, both literally
and figuratively. Researchers are very helpful in the way that they research
much more than the speakers because they do the job of filtration. They
find out the relevant cases and they usually format and finalise the
memorial.
• Obviously, even speakers can do it but the role of speakers is more
important on the D-Day while the ones to help them do their best are
researchers who give them what they need to speak and put forward.
However, this should not stop speakers from carrying out their part of the
research.
4. What makes one a good researcher?
• Being able to find out relevant case laws quickly, using the right
keywords
• Being able to comprehend judgments quickly
• Knowing how to read a judgment, that is, knowing which the
important parts of a long judgment are
• Adept at using online databases
• Having efficient skills in formatting
• Knowing the required citation method
5. How to be a good researcher?
• 1. Learn the usage of online legal databases such as Manupatra and SCC
Online.
• Better usage of them leads to quicker research and precise results.
• Both Manupatra https://www.manupatrafast.com and SCCOnline
https://www.scconline.com have tutorials on how to use their databases. Do go
through them!
• 2. Know how to read judgments.
• Judgments are usually two hundred to three hundred pages long and it is not
possible to read through all of them line by line. Learn how to read by skimming
through them but locating the important parts relevant to your moot problems.
• Evelyn Wood’s book on speed-reading is freely available online. You may also
wante to read Tony Buzan’s book on speed reading.
• Close, concentrated reading surely is required, but speed reading will help you go
through a text quickly, and then know which portions to focus on.
6. • 3. Learn proper citation.
• Usually, the citation system you can never go wrong within a memorial is The
Bluebook. The moot prop under its rules and regulations always mention the type
of citation to be used which mandatorily needs to be followed.
• Check page 5 of Sample Moot Proposition under ‘Rules and Regulations’.
• Citation is required while footnoting important information such as legal cases
where you need to use citation styles. In the given picture, they have asked for
any recognised citation format which includes all popular citation styles such as
Bluebook, MLA, Chicago, etc. including the citation style of your own university.
• However, Bluebook is the most popular and convenient citation style for anything
legal unlike MLA, Chicago and the others which are more convenient to be used
in research papers in the field of humanities, for example.
7. • 4. Learn impeccable formatting.
• It is usually the responsibility of the researcher to properly format the memorial.
• There is always an award for “Best memorial” in every moot court competition. This can be largely
won by following the proper citation method and perfection in formatting. Formatting rules are also
mentioned in all proposition which, once again, need to be followed strictly.
• As can be seen in the given sample prop, everything regarding the formatting such as font size, font
type, line spacing, etc. has been mentioned. Even the location of where the team code is to be
written has been mentioned. These are expected to be followed.
• Every detail of submission of memorials needs to be properly followed including the binding.
• It is important the researcher takes the responsibility of being sure of rules, regulations, and
penalties as the speakers have a lot of their plate for their performance on the day of the moot.
• This, however, does not exempt them from being careful regarding rules. Yet, it is usually blamed on
the researcher if any rule is not followed because he or she does not have to deal with the main
work of arguing.
8. • 5. Prepare well for the Researcher’s Test if one is being conducted for
the respective moot competition.
• Try talking to the seniors in your college/university who have given the test
for getting an idea about the type of questions.
• The test is usually of 100 marks with objective questions of 60 marks and
subjective questions of 40 marks.
Read the moot proposition very thoroughly and repeatedly. A considerable
number of questions come from the proposition itself and it would be a pity
to lose marks on these questions.
• Learn the citation style as prescribed in the moot proposition. You might
have to cite a given book, legal case or any other authority in the
prescribed citation style.
• Learn all amendments and judgments related to the moot proposition.
9. • 6. Be sure to seek permission from the judge about passing chits to
your speakers.
• Many judges do not allow it while others might be liberal about it. Be so
well-prepared as a researcher that you are able to aid your speakers when
they are in a fix during their oral rounds.
• 7. Prepare good compendiums.
• Compendiums are a compilation of all the cases cited in your memorial.
This is for the judges so that the speaker can automatically point out the
relevant case in the compendium if the judge raises a question regarding
it.
• Needless to say, there need to be two sets of compendiums- one for the
speaker at the dais and one for the judges.
• 8. Know the mannerisms of court beforehand and aid your team if they do
not know it.
10. • What should you not do as a researcher?
• Do not think your position to be unimportant and thus, refrain from doing any
work or do really little work.
• A good performance of the speakers depends partly on the researcher and
his/her research.
• Also, if the speakers are not able to convince the judge, sometimes the
researcher is called to the dais too.
• Conclusion
• A good researcher is an invaluable asset to any moot team. Providing your
speaker with the correct case law to prove his point while he/she is fumbling or is
clueless can help your team immensely.
• Digging out that one case law which will make your argument invincible is a great
satisfaction on its own. Therefore, even though a researcher does not get the
limelight on the D-Day, a good researcher contributes a lot.
11. Mooting: What Is It and Why Take Part?
• A moot court competition simulates a court hearing (usually an appeal against a final decision), in which participants:
• analyse a problem,
• research the relevant law,
• prepare written submissions, and
• present oral argument.
• Moot problems are typically set in areas of law that are unsettled or that have been subject to recent developments.
They usually involve two grounds of appeal, argued by each side.
• The procedure imitates that followed in real courts: the judge enters, the mooters and the judge bow to each other, the
clerk announces the matter, the mooters give their appearances and are then called on in turn to present their
submissions, the judge asks questions of the mooters, the court adjourns, and the judge then returns to deliver a brief
judgment and some feedback.
• Mooting is not the same as public speaking or debating, although it shares some common elements with these
activities. It is a specialized application of the art of persuasive advocacy. It has been part of the process of training
lawyers for centuries and plays an important role in legal education at Oxford.
12. WHY MOOT?
• There are many reasons to moot. Mooting enables students
• to engage with and think deeply about interesting and topical legal
issues;
• to enhance their advocacy, legal research and writing skills;
• to work closely with and learn from their peers; and
• to demonstrate their interest in advocacy and competence as an
advocate to prospective employers. Most students find mooting to be
intellectually rewarding and highly enjoyable. It can be nerve-racking
and frustrating but it is a lot of fun.
13. TECHNIQUE: SOME BASIC TIPS
• It is critical to engage with the bench. This requires you to bring
many skills together including maintaining eye contact with the
judge, speaking at an appropriate volume and pace, responding
directly and accurately to questions and holding the judge’s
interest. It also incorporates a cardinal rule of mooting: never,
ever talk while the judge is talking.
• Remember that it is accepted to ask a judge to repeat a
question if you do not understand it, and that it is always best to
say 'I regret I am unable to assist your Lordship/Ladyship on
that point' when you really do not know the answer.
14. • Mooting is not just about presenting propositions of law. An important
aspect is applying those propositions to the facts in order to argue
for the result you want. You should be very familiar with the moot
problem and be able to take the judge to relevant paragraphs in it.
• You will often make extensive use of authority in delivering your
submissions. You need to know what principle a given case stands
for and if a case is binding on the court before which the moot is
being argued.
• A critical aspect of mooting is time management. You need to be
able to expand or contract your submissions depending on how
interventionist the judge is.
