So you want to moot?

Moots are competitive mock trials used to prepare trainee lawyers for the atmosphere of a court. They are a brilliant tool to improve presentation, communication and speaking skills, and heighten your ability to produce and defend complex arguments. They are easiest to explain as being similar to debates, but the focus of a moot is much more on using analytical skills to build and defend arguments based on facts and legal precedents. You will also have to face questions from a judge - a unique and unrivalled experience where your argument is tested by a highly informed and very skilled mind; in competitions judges are often current justices of The Supreme Court or judges at the High Court or Court of Appeals.    

Mooting at St Andrews

Mooting at St Andrews is a unique experience because we are the only mooting team without the benefit and assistance of a law faculty or law library. Obviously we don't let this stop us, and so as part of the team you will be integral to producing your argument and improving your skills with the help of older members and our very dedicated alumni. This makes mooting with us a much more hands on experience than you would find anywhere else. All of our mooters are tremendously intelligent and dedicated; this has led us to some spectacular victories against prestigious universities including Bristol and Oxford. Our annual competition with Oxford this year saw them narrowly clinch a victory - a result we soon hope to rectify. Nevertheless, a number of our teams succeeded against opponents who study law full-time, alongside St Andrews mooters being awarded 'Best Speaker' for every competition we have entered.

Mooting is typically done in pairs, with a junior and senior speaker (counsel) working together against their opponents. We like to encourage you to find a partner with whom you can work for all your moots so that we build strong and dedicated teams who are very comfortable working together. To this end you will be given as much opportunity as possible to practice mooting through weekly training sessions, as well as pub nights, team dinners and other events.

How To Get Involved

The mooting team will be at this year's Law Society freshers event: The Champagne Social at the Old Course Hotel, and also at the Freshers' Fair to give you any information you might want about our team. You can also come to any of our Freshers' socials or early training evenings (will have updates not the mailing list). You can also get in contact with the Master or Mistress of the Moots by emailing them at the addresses below:

Carine Ghannoum: srm27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Phillip Wright: pw50@st-andrews.ac.uk