Mooting Series Part 2: 7 things which you can’t miss in Moot court competition

Mooting series Part 1- Introduction to Moot Court, Structure of Moot Courts.

1. SELECTION OF MOOT PROPOSTION

If you are participating in moot court competition just to get experience then, you can select any moot proposition but if you want to be successful in MCCs (moot court competition) and wants to achieve something big, in that case, you should choose moot proposition very wisely. Try to avoid selection of moot proposition by only watching MCC name, before participating in moots you must check their proposition.

Do not choose a tough proposition if you are participating first time. If you choose tough preposition it will reduce your chance to be successful in moot court competition. But here question is, how to decide which is tough proposition and which is easy or comparatively easy preposition. For this, remember the following tips—

• Choose proposition of those subjects which you have already read, for example, if you are in your first year of law school and you just have read constitution, contract law, family law, then only choose proposition of these subjects because it will be easy for you to deal with that proposition.
• However, some propositions are combination of different subject. For example if there is a preposition on bride murder then preposition may have issues related to criminal law and evidence law also, it will be difficult for you to deal with these issues if you did not read that subjects, only reading of articles related to that issue can’t make you good as compared to those teams who have read those subjects.
• So in your first moot, try to choose proposition of that subject which you have been read.

In your first moot, do not dare to select proposition of entirely different subject, you could somehow manage to deal with that proposition which contains issues of relative subjects. But you can’t choose maritime law moot or Income tax moot, if you did not read these subjects, but if you even read these subjects then also you should not choose these subjects in your first moot, try to choose that subject’s proposition in which you are well versed. Otherwise you will just be stuck in Bermuda triangle and it will also increase your mental stress at very high level.

2. HOW TO MAKE A TEAM

Success depends on the coordination of your team, team coordination is most important in moot court competition. You could not prepare a good memorial if your team is not well coordinated.

ALWAYS MAKE TEAM WITH STRONG ONES

If you are participating at first time in moots and you don’t know how to deal with moot, in such case, you also could not make team with those persons who are low in study than you. Try to choose those persons who do well in study because a person who is good at study will know better about moot subjects also.

But if you choose that person who have no interest in study then you can think yourself what will happen with your moot.

HOW MUCH FRIENDISM IS IMPORTANT WHILE MAKING A TEAM

If you are good at debate, research and likewise activities and you have friends who are also same as you in such learning activities then you should make a team with your friends. Because a team of friends will do better than a team of those members who are meeting first time only for moot participation. And it always great to go somewhere with your friends than with strangers. A team with friends make excellent coordination in team.

But if your friends are not like you and if you still make a team with them, then you could not do better and you can disappoint sometimes.

So use friendism only where you need it.

3. HOW MUCH MCCs ARE EXPENSIVE

Moots are expensive. Sometime 10,000 may spend on a moot court competition if registration fee is 6000. But you shouldn’t take stress of money, many law schools reimburse all spending. Although some laws school (mostly private) do not reimburse and students spend money from their own pocket. Therefore, before participation in moot, you should enquire from your moot court committee about reimbursement system, make clear everything what they reimburse and how much they reimburse.

While moot court competition, you have to spend on following-

Registration fee (national moot) – A standard registration fee of national MCCs are 5000/- but it may vary between 4000/- to 10,000/-. So, A minimum registration fee of national moot is 4000/- and maximum registration fee is 10,000/- for a national moot. And it is generally for whole team not per person. This registration fee bears the expenses of food, residence and travel from hotel to moot court place. So you don’t need to take tension of these expenses.

Law school who reimburse moot court expenses, compulsorily reimburse registration fee.

Travel- to reach at moot court competition, you have to reach at their destination firstly. Law school also reimburse travel expenses. But you should specifically enquire from your moot court committee, which type of travel they reimburse if they reimburse air travel expenses too.

Xerox- in MCCs, you have to prepare minimum 4 copies of your memorial (both side memorial) and you also need to get Xerox of compendium too, so these Xerox also consume money. You should also enquire about reimbursement of Xerox or stationary, how much your law school can reimburse you.

Post- Some MCCs require demand draft of registration fee, in such case you have to send it to their address by post. And before reaching MCC, organiser requires to send your memorial to them for examining in memorial award. In such case, you have to send them by speed post or courier. (Some organizer specifically mention about mode of posting).

Besides above-mentioned expenses, there are a lot of petty expenses which you have to bear for preparation of moots.

4. CLARIFICATION ABOUT MOOTS

In moot court competitions, while releasing time table of moot, organiser also releases deadline of clarification before which you have to clarify every doubt about preposition or moot court competition. If you want to report against any rule of that moot then you should report before that deadline. Because after releasing clarification answer which they received from students, many organisers do not consider any question further.

So after registration you cannot be passive you should check if there is rule which is not right for you or if there is any doubt in preposition which you need to clarify.

5. COMPENDIUM IN MOOTS

The compendium is a collection of those sources which you have written in your memorial. It is a compilation of judgements, reports, books, or any other sources which you have mentioned in your memorial. It contains photocopy of those sources. But you don’t need to get photocopy of full judgment if you mentioned any part of that judgement. You just need to get Xerox of first page and that page from which you mentioned para in your memorial. This applies to every source.

The compendium is important if you want to make impression on judges. Some student avoids compendium in their first moot which can be the reason of marks reduction in moots.

6. DON’T GO AGINSIT RULES OF MCCs

Moot court organiser issues guidelines and rules for moot court competition while releasing their moot court competition, they specifically mentioned almost everything about moot court, and instructions for memorial.

While preparing moot court competition, if you avoid these instructions it can decrease your marks. Especially in memorial making, do follow their instructions. Some organizers are very strict about their moot rules, a little variation from their rules can minus your chances to be successful in moot court.

7. MEMORIAL ROUND

In a moot court competition, there are generally four rounds ‘qualifying round, quarterfinal round, semi-final round, final round”. But some reputed moot court competition also have “memorial round”, if team registration exceeds from their fixed number. For example, if they have decided to take only 40 teams for their moot but more than 40 teams registered for that moot court competition then they held “memorial round”.

Memorial round is that round when your memorial goes for screening and only after successful screening of your moot, you can get entry in that moot competition. But if your memorial fail in screening and don’t go up to mark then you are disallowed to participate in moot court competition.

If you are participating first time you should not go at such moot court competition where there is memorial round. Because memorial preparation got a lot of time and gives mental stress at first time and even after this your memorial get rejected then it will not be good for your motivation.