Moot! Moot! Moot!

Please listen carefully; I will say this only once…

If you are an aspiring mooter, this is your chance to get involved in competitive mooting with the OU during this academic year. The following article – more like a FAQ page – will guide you through the various ways in which you can participate in an external mooting event whilst officially representing the OU.

Application to compete in external mooting competitions with the OU

Each year, the OULS sends teams to compete with teams from other universities in external mooting competitions, often referred to as inter-varsity mooting competitions. To put yourself forward for a chance to represent the Open University at one of these competitions you must complete the External Mooting Application Form 2017-18 and send it to mooting@ouls.org by Sunday 08th October – the application form can be found here.

There is a selection day on the 14th October – that doesn’t leave any of us with a lot of time to prepare so it is recommended that if you plan to attend then you submit your application to moot as soon as you can in order to receive the moot problem bundle. As soon as an application is received we will confirm receipt and release the bundle to you.

Eligibility

In order to be considered to represent the Open University within an external competition you must be a fully paid up registered member of the OULS. The majority of you are paid-up members of the OULS already; however, if you have not yet paid the membership fee of £5 for this year, you must do so before returning the application form. Any applications received by members who are not registered as OULS members on Monday 9th October 2017 will not be considered for external competitions within the 2017/18 academic year.

All external competitions that the OULS consider have their own eligibility rules that the OULS must conform to when selecting its team. All OULS mooting team selection and competition entry decisions are at the sole discretion of the OULS mooting co-ordinators. OULS mooting co-ordinators’ decisions are final.

So you’ve submitted the application form – what next?

Once you have submitted the application form, the mooting coordinators – Michael and Jennifer – will invite prospective mooters to attend the selection day on the 14th October. Those mooters will be notified on Tuesday 10th October. It is important to realise that due to the limited number of external competitions in which the OU can participate, only a certain number of applicants will be invited to the selection day on the 14 October in London.

What’s the selection day for?

It’s really a chance for the mooting coordinators to provide coaching, guidance and feedback to novice mooters, in order to be in a better position to make an informed decision when pairing people for the external competition, based on their advocacy skills, adaptability, presentation and much more. This pool of applicants will be added to the established pool of mooters, who will go on to represent the OU in external competitions. If you are one of the prospective mooters invited to the selection day on the 14th you will be expected to moot opposite sides of the same ground of appeal. The details of the moot problem (R v Thrasher) have previously been sent to those who attended any of the various mooting workshops last month but for members that were unable to attend please email mooting@ouls.org as soon as possible to receive the moot bundle. At that stage we will also email two example skeleton arguments. If there is any other information required please let us know in the same email. Remember on the day you will need to have prepared two skeleton arguments for the selection day, one for when you are acting for the appellant and one for when you are acting for the Respondent as on the day you will be required to moot both sides.

Does attendance at the selection day guarantee a place on a mooting team representing the OU in external competitions?

The short answer is no. If you are invited to the selection day you are not automatically guaranteed a place on the teams representing the OU in inter-varsity competitions. At the same time, non-attendance does not preclude you from representing the OU in inter-varsity competitions. As long as you submit your application form by the deadline of Sunday 08th October, you will be considered to compete in external mooting competitions.

I’ve been invited to the selection day – will my expenses be covered for this event?

Unfortunately our budget does not extend to covering workshop, selection day or any internal competition preliminary round expenses. Whilst the OULS will endeavour to cover reasonable expenses incurred by selected mooters for the external competitions these must also be pre-approved in line with OULS policies.

I’ve not been invited to the selection day – is that the end of my mooting opportunities?

Once again, the short answer is no. As the number of places at the selection day are so limited, the majority of students will be looking for other ways in which to get involved in mooting. There are competitions that students can enter under their own steam (i.e. without going through OULS): examples include the Times/2TG competition and the National Speed Mooting Competition, which we’ll tell you more about nearer the time. Also if you have submitted an application but have already previously mooted for the OULS then you may already be eligible for this year’s competitions.

Finally you can find some examples of OULS mooting can be found at the two links

1. OULS mooting demonstration 

2. OULS Novice Moot final 2014   

Also, look out for other mooting events throughout the year including details of the internal competition. There will be more on this in the coming months so keep referring back to the OULS website for further details. 

OULS Mooting Enquires: mooting@ouls.org OULS Master of Moots: michael.linnane@ouls.org OULS Mistress of Moots: jennifer.wharton@ouls.org Website: www.ouls.org