Cardiff mooters take final to Supreme Court

Not many students have the opportunity to showcase their skills in a real court of law but this May, third year law students Ken Chiu, Law Jing Yu, Lim Jia Yun Ruth and Amelia Jefford did just that, in a mooting competition at the UK Supreme Court.

Mooting is an essential element of legal training which sees law students take part in simulated court scenarios where they hone their speaking, persuasion, research and analytical skills.

The UK Supreme Court, which is the final court of appeal for civil cases and cases of public or constitutional importance, run a programme which offers university moot competitions, the opportunity to have their final judged by one of the Supreme Court Justices.

The School of Law and Politics run mooting competitions each year which are 'sponsored' by a local barristers' chambers - Civitas Law. The stakes are high with the winners being given the opportunity to undertake a mini-pupillage (a period of work experience) with chambers. This year, third year student Rose Hancock, Student Law Society’s Competitions Officer, applied to the Supreme Court mooting scheme on behalf of the School of Law and Politics at the beginning of the academic year and following an interview in November 2021, we were notified we had been successful.

On 4 May 2022, a group from the school travelled to London for the final. We were permitted to bring spectators, which meant that a number of our undergraduate and BTC students, who had assisted in the earlier rounds of the competition, were also able to attend alongside the finalists.

The group were taken on a tour of the building prior to the start of the moot, and then the competition began, judged by Lord Lloyd-Jones who has been a Justice of the Supreme Court since October 2017.

Ken Chiu and Law Jing Yu represented the Appellant, and Lim Jia Yun Ruth and Amelia Jefford represented the Respondent. Lord Lloyd-Jones spoke very highly of all the competitors, commenting that it was no mean feat to stand in front of a Supreme Court Judge and make submissions!

When asked to pick a winning team, and also a best mooter (who would be the student to receive the mini-pupillage) Lord Lloyd Jones chose the Respondent team as the winners, but had difficulty distinguishing between Ruth and Amelia, stating that both had been very impressive, and equally deserving of the mini-pupillage prize. As a result, he declared them both winners which was an excellent result!

There followed a short certificate presentation and opportunity to chat with the judge. The finalists were all also presented with a commemorative book about the Supreme Court.

Speaking of the event, lecturer, Kathryn Clague, who accompanied the group said, “The day at the Supreme Court was wonderful. Judge Lloyd Jones took time to share some of his wisdom in relation to persuasive advocacy, which was very insightful and it was excellent to see our students perform in court with such confidence and ability. I would like to thank Rose Hancock for making it all possible and providing our students with such a unique experience.”