Mooting Society
The Edinburgh Napier Mooting Society (ENMS) is a stand-alone society and is currently organised by Alexandria Siemens and Elin Lindahl. Ken Dale-Risk is the Honorary President. You can email us at mooting@edinburgh-napier-lawsociety.org Keep up to date with our events by joining our Facebook Group
This society is open to all law students (BA and LLB) of all Universities and beginners are most welcome! Get in touch if you’re interested in joining the Mooting Society, the fee for joining is £2 per acedemic session.
We will be holding elections for the positions of Student President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer at a meeting on 17th September at 1pm in room 2/47. Our first Mooting Session of the academic year will be held on 24th September at 1pm in room 2/47. Come along to spectate and get an idea of what this mooting thing is all about and how it’s relevant to you. Get in touch for a copy of the moot problem, which we have made relevant to first year studies.
What is Mooting?
If you’re not sure what this mooting thing is all about, check out this site.
Basically, mooting is a form of legal debating and it acts as excellent practice for the court room. It’s also a great was of putting what you have learned into practice. Mooting is great for your CV and some firms actually require mooting experience for you to be considered. There are two teams of two people who act as appellants and respondents for a fictitious legal situation. Each team is given a copy of the moot problem and is assigned a side. They must then prepare an argument to be given to a judge within the moot rules. Our mooting rules can be found further down the page.
Winning the Moot
A judge will preside over the moot and may ask the participants questions on their arguments. At the end of the moot the judge will determine who has won the moot. There is a winning team on the point of law i.e. who would have won the case, and a winning team of the moot. This is based on the way in which the argument is formed and communicated. A team may win on a point of law but not win the moot. There will also be a clerk of court who assists the judge and keeps the times.
Competing
We’re not shy of competition either; last year two of our members, Nathan Young and Robert Alexander, competed in the Alexander Stone Mooting Competition. Mooters from the University of Osnabruck in Germany will be coming to Edinburgh in November for a friendly moot against Napier. If you are a law student at Napier and want to represent your University, get in touch for more information. We will also be entering the English Speaking Union Mooting Competition and will be holding heats for this a little later this year. Watch this space for more information.
We hold friendly moots all year long, so use us to fill that law-shaped void in your summer. Our summer moots are held in the stunning Signet Library and have been a roaring success. We would like to give a huge thank you to Ken Dale-Risk and James McDougall for giving up their time over the summer to judge for us.
Our Mooting Rules
Each team is given a copy of the moot problem at least one week prior to the moot. There is a limit of 6 case authorities and a note of these, along with any statute authorities, must be sent to the opposing team, the judge and the mooting organisers at least 24 hours before the moot. Where possible, mooters must bring the case or statute books they intend to reference but if this is not possible a photocopy or print-out from Westlaw will suffice (in this case mooters must bring a copy for the judge to follow as well). The ENMS will help with printing costs. The language of the moot is formal and the judge is to be address as ‘my Lord’ or ‘your Lordship’.
The Teams
The mooting organisers will decide which team is assigned which role. The team members then decide between them who will be senior and who will be junior. During the moot, the junior speaks for 8 minutes and the senior for 10, in the following order:
- Junior Appellant (as this participant goes first they must start by introducing the moot problem)
- Junior Respondent
- Senior Appellant
- Senior Respondent
Any time spent answering questions from the judge will not be counted. The clerk will notify you when you have one minute remaining of your time, and stop you if you go over your time limit by more than two minutes. The mooting co-organisers are there to help and are happy to answer queries.
Useful Links
