Finalists – with Ben and Louis on the left

Thursday 27th June was the long-awaited OUP/BPP National Mooting Competition and City’s GDL students Louis Zvesper and Ben Woolgar had made it through to the final 4 teams. The evening consisted of the moot problem being battled out twice – first between the University of Lincoln and City and then the University of Leicester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The appeal in the final’s moot problem centred on Miss Olivia Roberts who, whilst undertaking her pupillage at 5 Rivers Court, is asked to forego her fees in the Second Six due to cash flow problems at Chambers with a verbal promise of being a ‘shoe-in for tenancy’. Chambers cannot afford to expand and she is not offered tenancy at the end of her pupillage. Students were challenged on topics such as duress and undue influence. (Read moot problem and full report of the final via the competition website).

His Honour Judge Charles Gratwicke of Chelmsford Crown Court kept the competitors on their toes with some searching interventions. In his summing up, he said:

“Once again, the standard of mooting this evening is humbling. We are blessed in having a very, very good bunch of advocates, whom I have seen here tonight. I hope that all of you will continue on, as you all have an extreme amount of talent. Everyone did themselves proud this evening. Congratulations to you all.”

It was a tense affair for the spectators and Christopher Canning and Nicholas Lee from Manchester Metropolitan were declared this year’s champions, with the City team runners-up. Ben and Louis shared £700 of prize money between them. They did brilliantly considering they were recovering from 7 exams in 2 weeks, which had only finished 6 days previously.

Stella White, of OUP said:

“These students demonstrate such passion for and a commitment to mooting. Thank you not just to our eight finalists, but to each and every one of the students who, with the support of their law schools, have participated in the OUP and BPP National Mooting Competition 2012-2013. This competition is a high-calibre, must-enter event because you all make it so.”

Teams wishing to enter the 2013-2014 mooting competition can register their interest by email to mooting.uk@oup.com