MASTERING MOOTING: MALLEABLE MINDS
Assistant Professor Louise Parsons
25 February 2013
CRICOS CODE 00017B
EXPERIENCE BOND LAW
Why do students study law?
Career options
• Legal practitioner – solicitor, barrister
• Prosecutor
• Magistrate, judge
• In-house counsel
• Mediator (e.g. in family law) or arbitrator (e.g. in construction)
• Academic
• Related fields: insurance, company secretary, politician
Companion degree to commerce, business, international relations, arts, etc.
How to become a lawyer
3 steps:
1. Academic qualification - LLB or JD
2. Practical Legal Training – through a university or through a firm of attorneys
3. Admission to practice by Admission Board
Law Degrees
Undergraduate:
• LLB (undergraduate)
• JD (postgraduate)
• Bachelor of Jurisprudence
• Bachelor of Business Law
Postgraduate:
• LLM
• SJD
• PhD
Studying Law at Bond provides:
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Academic requirement for practice (LLB or JD)
A fast-track degree – shorter because of 3 semesters per year
Facilities – moot courts, library, streamed (recorded) lectures
An integrated skills program – skills focus
Small tutorial classes
Academics with ‘real world’ experience
Student support (extra help classes in entry-level law subjects, remedial tutorials, all
the Bond support such as help with English)
Studying Law at Bond also provides:
• Accessible and supportive staff – ‘open door’ policy
• A vibrant community –
• An active Law Students Association
• In-house skills competitions
• External skills competitions (mooting, negotiations, client interviewing, witness
examination)
• Alumni network all over the world
• Contacts with great employers
• Opportunities for exchange, work experience and internships
• Fantastic opportunities
• And lots of mooting!
Mooting at Bond
• Mooting accolades over the past years on the Bond Website
• Why is mooting important? Why does mooting success matter?
• Mooting forms part of the broader skills programme
Mooting and teaching
• The perfect marriage of the 5 “R’s” in legal training:
• Research
• Reading
• (w)Riting
• Reasoning
• Role-playing
• A moot is a mock appellate court proceeding between 2 parties concerning a
fictitious case.
The ‘R’s
Reading
Researching
Reasoning
“R”s
Role-playing
[w]Riting
Developing Research skills
• Identifying legal problems/issues in a problem
• Identifying where and how to research
• Library and electronic databases
• Research management and development of effective research processes
• Developing teamwork
Developing Reading skills
• Reading complex texts
• Navigating complexity
• Selective reading
• Skimming
• Speed reading
• Extracting meaning from primary and secondary materials (journals, books, statutes,
cases)
Developing Legal Reasoning
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Statutory interpretation
Precedent cases
International influences in national law
Public policy issues
Considering both sides – evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the case
"There's three sides to every story: Yours and mine and the cold, hard truth."
- Don Henley ("Long Way Home", I Can't Stand Still, 1982)
Refine WRiting skills
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Application of research to problem scenario
Development of propositional writing
Benefitting from an arduous editing process
Development of skills in management of large documents demanding a very high
level of accuracy
Role-playing
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Coaching for oral skills
Effective oral communication
Persuasion
Pressure; performance
‘Thinking on your feet’
• Dealing with pressure, different locations, different opponents and judges
Demonstration: Experience it for yourself
Try out being a lawyer Making appearances before a judge
APPEARANCES - APPELLANT
• May it please the court
• My name is [last name], initial [?] and together with
my co-counsel, Smith, initial M, I appear on behalf of
Katie Holmes, the Appellant in this matter. I will
speak for 10 minutes, and my co-counsel will speak
for 10 minutes. We reserve 2 minutes for rebuttal.
May it please the court.
APPEARANCES - RESPONDENT
• May it please the court
• My name is [last name], initial [?] and together with
my co-counsel, Thomas, initial B, I appear on behalf
of Tom Cruise, the Respondent in this matter. I will
speak for 10 minutes, and my co-counsel will speak
for 10 minutes. We reserve 2 minutes for surrebuttal. May it please the court.
CLOSING STATEMENT
• Your Honour, the Respondent demonstrated that all the
evidence points to the fact that the Appellant did commit the
crime. He had motive – he stood to benefit from the
insurance money. He had the means – he had access to the
victim’s kitchen, and he had the knowledge to produce the
anaphylactic attack. He knew the victim had a prawn allergy.
He admitted to having a supply of prawn paste. He cannot
prove that he was not at the scene of the crime. In fact three
witnesses place him there. The Crown has proven beyond
reasonable doubt that he poisoned the victim.
• That concludes the case for the Respondent.
SPEAK TO A TOPIC
• Quick thinking and lateral thinking are important for mooters
• A challenging exercise ….
QUESTIONS?
CRICOS CODE 00017B