Legal Research and Moot Court

UNIT 1
Introduction
TOPIC 1.1
Meaning of Mooting

Ms. Vaishnavi Srivastava

Assistant Professor
DME Law School
v.srivastava@dme.ac.in
OBJECTIVES OF UNIT I:
•Society needs good advocates and law professionals and
producing them is not an easy task and requires tremendous
efforts. Mooting is considered to be one such activity which
should be undertaken by a law student in order for them to
become good law professionals.
•The main purpose of mooting is to make law students
practice in simulated court proceedings before they actually
start practicing in actual courtrooms as law professionals.
•Mooting helps students to have real court like exposure.
They engage and understand legal issues. It helps students
analyse legal topics and work on its research. Students learn
to work in teams and learn from their teammates. Students
can demonstrate their advocacy skills and legal skills.
• TEXT BOOK
⮚ Dr. Kailash Rai, Moot Court, Pre-Trial Preparation
and Participation in Trial Proceedings, Central Law
Publications
⮚ Nomita Aggarwal & Mukesh Anand, ‘ Beginners
Path to Moot Court’, Universal Law Publications
⮚ REFERENCE BOOKS
⮚ Kailash Rai, Legal Ethics – Accountancy for
Lawyers and Bench and Bar Relations, Central
Law Publication
 Important Terminologies
1. Moot Court: A moot court, simulates a real court
environment or can be understood as a court with
artificial set up to give law students an
opportunity to put their learning into practice.
2. Mooters: Mooters are the participants of the moot
court who present their argument on a point of
law/ legal issue before an acting judge.
3. Moot Problem: Moot problem comprises of a
legal dispute based on fictional states, characters
and unreal facts and which usually has its basis on
either unsettled legal issue or that which has been
a part of recent legal development.
 Important Terminologies
4. Moot Memorial: Legal documents which are
prepared by teams competing in the moot court
competition. It is a written submission that the teams
prepare to contain details such as the cases and books
referred to, statements of jurisdictions, arguments of
the parts, facts of the case, and the prayer, etc.
5. Judge: A judge in a moot court is a person who
decides the winner based on the respective submissions
made by the two sides.
 What is Mooting?
• Participants, or "mooters", take part in simulated
court proceedings, which usually involves the
submission of written briefs and presenting oral
arguments.
• Moot problems are typically set in areas of law
that are unsettled or that have been subject to
recent developments.
• It is the closest experience a law student can have
of appearing before a court while still studying at
a college or university.
• Mooting is an invaluable skill that aids your legal
research, presentation and communication
abilities.
 What is Mooting?
• The moot court procedure imitates that what is
followed in real courts which includes the entry of the
judge followed by the bowing down of the mooters and
the judge to each other.
• Henceforth, 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
from the mooters, the court adjourns, and the judge
then returns to deliver a brief judgment and some
feedback.
• Mooting can thus essentially be understood as a mock
trial where two sides argue a point of law in front of an
acting judge, who based on the presentation by each
sides, decides who wins.
• Mooting also helps in building confidence in law
students during their initial years of training. They
develop the skills of analyzing and articulately
presenting their views. All skills need the training to
improve and it is natural to make mistakes in the
initial stages even those mistakes will help give you
pointers that you can improve from.
• Mooting aid in boosting a person’s confidence
remarkably to the point that even as a fresher or
junior lawyer you will not be intimidated to speak
and effectively present your case in front of the judge
and the opposing counsel.
 What Mooting is not?
• Mooting isn’t about giving a speech. A moot is
not a debate. While debating may have been
useful for building up your confidence,
mooting isn’t just about being able to speak in
public.
• Mooting can be evaluated upon many criteria
apart from speaking skills like knowledge of
the law, ability to respond to questions, ability
to depart from prepared speech, depth of
research, articulation of issues, use of
authorities and precedents, time management,
court etiquettes, etc.
 Concept of Moot Court
• In the earlier times, there was no concept of moot court and
mooting when the law was taught in colleges etc. But due to
the growing need and the development and advancement in the
field of law and various interpretations as to the law was made.
The concept of moot court has the genesis in the fact that the
students who will become the backbone of the future law
should have the practical and logical knowledge and
implementation of law so that it should be easy as to when they
start their career it is not difficult for them.
• Moot Court basically means a replica of a real court where
legal proceedings and trials take place and thus it is also
known as a Mock Court where students who are studying law
act as professional and take up all the responsibilities and
duties according to their role to see their ability to think
creatively and answer convincingly when questioned and show
their oratory, writing and persuasive skills.
 Concept of Moot Court
• Moot Court is a way a student is groomed as a proper lawyer.
It is one of the modern methods of giving practical knowledge
to the students by putting them in a hypothetical situation
similar to that of a real court and then the two teams each on
one side argue upon fictional cases and those questions of law
with are debatable in reality and which have not been binded or
are still the lawmakers are silent on some facts. Moot Court,
now is one of the biggest and efficient sources from where
people get the education and imbibe all the qualities and skill
that a lawyer require.
 Components of Moot
• A Judge or a bench of Judges

• A moot proposition (legal problem)

• Representatives of the parties involved (counsels or team

composition of representatives, generally consisting of 3
persons, two speakers and a researcher)

• Court master

• Audience
 Types of Moot
• There are two types of moot court competition known as
the National and International Moot Court competition.
• National Moot Court refers to a situation where the
mooting takes within the country and students from all
across the law schools from the country and participate in
the competition, while on the other hand International
Moot Court Competition is one which is organized where
people from outside India are invited to take part in it and
it happens on a large scale.
• Moot Court Competitions can be based on any law where
civil or criminal etc. as per any law that may be in news
currently or any other. These types of different moots are
really helpful for students to think deeply about the legal
issues and have a proper understanding of the Law.
 Important Tools for Good Mooting
1. Awareness of current legal issues and keeping oneself
updated with trending legal developments.
2. Participation in various other competitions which will
help in developing skills like speaking, persuasiveness,
articulation, reasoning, analyzing which are imperative for
mooting.
3. Keen Observations of the real court proceedings during
internships in court.
4. Strengthening of the Research Skills which will enable the
mooter to search for, locate, extract information that is
relevant to a particular legal topic.
5. Referring moot memorials of the winning teams which are
available online or offline.
 CONCLUSION
• Mooting is a form of an Oral proceeding similar to that of a court
proceeding practiced mainly in institutions and universities where law
as a subject is taught to see that how efficient a student is in fighting an
argument based on law.
• In this a proper court scenario is created where the students act like the
Advocates presenting each side (Plaintiff and Defendant) on the basis
of evidences and substantive questions of law argue with each other to
prove their point in front of the judge who in the end will give his
judgment in the same regard and will also declare the winner who has
performed the best.
• Also, while presenting their arguments the judge can question them on
facts or question them on any of the legal concepts to check the
aptitude and in prompt adaptability to the situation of the student.
• Mooting was earlier not practised as a subject by the universities in the
law courses but now due to the scope and requirements of lawyers
around the globe mooting in the form of “Moot Court” as a subject has
been added to the curriculum of the students so that they get prepared
and groomed in a proper manner as a lawyer before they complete their
degree.