Secondary Schools' Mooting Competition
Te Piringa - Faculty of Law proudly hosts the Waikato National Secondary Schools’ Mooting Competition.
As a mooter; you will work in a team to analyse the case, formulate your arguments, and present your case to the opposing team and the panel of judges.
Through the competition you will learn and apply vital legal skills.
- Develop and present a legal argument and opinion
- Learn the process of legal reasoning
- Learn the principles of legal research
- Enhance your public speaking and presentation skills
- Learn the process of litigation (taking a case to court)
- Learn about courtroom etiquette and procedures
- Discover sources of law in New Zealand.
What is a Moot?
A moot is a legal debate in a courtroom setting with a judge or a panel of judges. A moot regularly focuses on areas of law that have been subject to recent developments, or concern an area of uncertainty within the law. For example, the 2016 competition problem was focused on the relatively new Education Amendment Act 2013 in relation to surrender and retention of student property and searches.
Mooting competition puts two opposing teams of ‘lawyers’ against each other to argue their legal case based on the facts of the problem before a judge. Mooting has been part of the lawyers’ training for court procedures for hundreds of years, and plays an important role in becoming familiar with the legal system.
The key to mooting is the art of persuasion as it is only concerned with the points of law. Your job as a counsellor is to convince the judge that your interpretation of the law is the most appropriate to the case. The problems selected will give each counsel an equal chance to persuade the judge of the quality of their submission. This can be achieved by skilfully applying the relevant law and legal principles to the facts of your case.
Much like in a court, this competition puts two opposing teams of ‘lawyers’ against each other to argue a legal case before a judge. The ‘lawyers’ will prepare their case based on the fact problem provided.
Mooting is only concerned with the points of law. Therefore, your job as a lawyer will be to convince the judge that your interpretation of the law is the most appropriate to the case. This can be achieved by skilfully applying the relevant law and legal principles to the facts of your case.
What's it like to compete?
What you had to say after Preliminary rounds of 2015 Secondary Schools' Mooting Competition.Posted by Te Piringa - Faculty of Law on Sunday, 5 July 2015
This Mooting Handbook will provide you with practical guidance for court etiquette and written submissions. The Handbook will also cover general points of mooting, as well as outline the competition rules and regulations.
We have organised a workshop to guide you through the preparation process. The workshop will help you to tackle the scenario problem and identify what is at the core of the argument on both sides; give you some tips on how to structure your submission and what strategies to employ to make a strong impression on the judge, and persuade them to accept your arguments.
View 2018 Schools' Mooting Workshop here:
Secondary Schools' Mooting Workshop - Part 1
Secondary Schools' Mooting Workshop - Part 2a
Secondary Schools' Mooting Workshop - Part 2b
You can access both PowerPoint presentations here:
Important dates in 2018
|Mooting problem is sent out||26 February 2018|
|Mooting workshop||21 March 2018|
|Submissions deadline||by 8.00am on 23 April 2018|
|Preliminary rounds||Wednesday 9 May – Friday 11 May 2018|
|Semi-finals||Thursday 21 June – Friday 22 June 2018|
|Finals||Friday 6 July 2018|
All Finalists will receive 2 days work experience at McCaw Lewis Lawyers’ Hamilton office.
1st Prize: Competition Winner's trophy, $3,000 scholarship towards tuition fees at Te Piringa – Faculty of Law for all members of the winning team, and a cash prize to each member of the winning team provided by McCaw Lewis.
2nd Prize: a cash prize to each member of the runner-up team.
Best Mooter: Best Mooter trophy and a $500 cash prize.
Best Māori Mooter award: Best Māori Mooter trophy and a cash prize provided by Te Hunga Roia Māori o Aotearoa - New Zealand Māori Law Society.
In 2017 we continued our collaboration with the Hamilton-based law firm McCaw Lewis Lawyers who provided extra sponsorship and support to Te Piringa – Faculty of Law. In addition to 2 days of work experience for all 2017 finalists, a total cash prize pool of $2,500 provided by the firm was shared amongst the competitors.
2017 Competition Winners - Hamilton Boys High School
Represented by Reuben Hurliman, Sameer Mandhan and Liam Haughey.
|Runners-up||Tauranga Girls' College represented by Anna Jenkin, Francesca Taylor and Chae Son|
|Best Mooter of the Competition||Anna Jenkin|
|New Zealand Māori Law Society Best Māori Mooter award||Lillian Geddes|
|Best New School Mooting Team||Nelson College|
Just a few impressions of a creative mind... Our digital content guru David Duffin captured the atmosphere of the Finals of 2015 Secondary Schools' Mooting competition very well.Posted by Te Piringa - Faculty of Law on Thursday, 2 July 2015
To register your interest for the 2018 competition, and for any other queries, please contact: