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On paper, moots and mooting competitions, may only appear relevant to aspiring future barristers. This might put people off mooting but it’s such a beneficial experience to anyone learning the law, and I’m here to discuss some of the reasons why. 

Confidence

Mooting, even through internal university-based competitions, can do a world of good when improving your public speaking. Even if you aren’t interested in an advocacy-based career, public speaking is a huge part of the law.

When I started university, I was very much a quiet student who kept to himself. However, after completing internal moots, as well as other extra-curricular activities, I’ve become much more confident, especially with discussing topics of law. Even as someone looking to go down the Solicitors Qualifying Exam route, as opposed to a barrister-based career, mooting has made a massive positive impact on my learning.  

Confidence is a skill that transcends mooting competitions and works its way into other areas of your legal career. For example, when interviewing for a legal role, confidence is incredibly important, and experience discussing the law with conviction is a great way to build it. Therefore, mooting is an excellent way to help improve these skills, while also adding a meaningful experience to your CV.

Familiarity with court

A vast number of legal professionals end up working inside a court at one time or another. While barristers generally do more work in a court, practically all legal professionals will find themselves there in their career.  

The opportunity to challenge yourself is both daunting and hugely beneficial. The courtroom is there to judge your legal skills. It’s tough being judged before your career has even begun, but it’s also very rewarding.

Perhaps later in your career, you may find that you want to do more work in the court, and then apply for higher rights of audience. Mooting is intended to replicate the experience of being in a courtroom. Although from my experience a moot is more similar to crown court proceedings than magistrates, having that added level of scrutiny and professionalism gives you a great, but tough lesson, in legal proceedings. 

There’s nothing like practical experience

Although this is a point that applies to practically every element of the law, there’s simply nothing like practical work. Writing down on paper what happens in a courtroom, or mock court, is simply a completely different beast from actually partaking in the experience.  

Even writing what you want to say in a moot is a completely different experience to actually getting up and stating your argument with a judge sitting in front of you. In addition, with the opposing counsel making points that you want to debate, mooting teaches you to think on your feet.

I think this is ultimately why mooting is so helpful to all people within the law. The opportunity to apply the law in real time has a massive influence on your knowledge, and can really help you in actual practice, regardless of the direction you go down.