Every law student must understand that there are a few essential aspects of law school that they must know. These comprise of things like writing a research paper, taking part in various conferences and competitions, etc. Of these, a key aspect of pursuing law as a career option is the exposure to “Moot Court” and the related academic activity of “Mooting”. Mooting is basically an earnest attempt to Create, witness and take part in a court proceeding and an exercise to learn the court crafts.
In a moot court, an appropriate scenario based on an actual courtroom is created for the students to have a real-life experience. They have to pretend to appear and argue the matter either from the petitioner or respondent side in the Moot Court. The legal luminaries which include Academicians, Advocates, Corporate Lawyers, Legal Advisors, Retired Judges, In- House counsels, etc. who are invited to judge Moot Court Competitions test the participant’s conceptual understanding of laws and their application to the present Moot problem. The moot court preposition is a hypothetical problem drafter in any particular field of law like criminal law, aerospace law, Civil Laws, Intellectual Property law, Arbitration Act, Transfer of Property Act, Family Law or maybe an amalgamation of various laws.
In the initial days, mooting did not hold as much importance. Therefore, law schools did not emphasize it. However, as the demand for lawyers rose, law colleges in Delhi NCR started prioritizing mooting. A lot many law schools added “Moot Court” as a subject in their syllabus. The purpose behind this was to make sure that students understood the various nuances of the law. Mooting was supposed to help them to grasp law in its multiple dimensions and depths.
Moot court competitions are generally of two types:
1) National Moot Court Competition: These are competitions that are organized by different law schools within the country. Students from all over the country can participate here.
2) International Moot Court Competition: This is where law students from all over the world come and join.
Historically, the first-ever moot court in the world was documented in the year 1997. The idea was derived from the practice of “Inns of Courts and Chancery” in the fourteenth century. The focus was not only to understand the subject of law, but also the culture, art, and other essentials pervading the human life. When formal law education began in the U.S., their professors followed a similar process. Mooting, like other key aspects, is borrowed from Britain. In India, mooting was ratified in the year 1981 by the Bar Council of India. By the year 1985, mooting started to become the essence of all good law schools.
The participation in Moot Court competitions train the law student with the required skills which is necessary in the courts of law when they start their professional Journey. It gives a flair idea and expertise on argumentative skills, interpretation skills, analytical thinking , logical and legal reasoning, Public Speaking, Court mannerisms etc. which are essential for all law students to have a successful legal career.