Calling all budding lawyers…

At Ashtons Legal we take pride in our involvement with our local community. Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee is therefore inviting students who will be joining year 12 in September 2021 (and are local to our four offices in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, and Norwich), to take part in the annual Ashtons Legal Mooting Competition starting in the 2021 autumn term.

What is a moot?

A moot is a competition where students play the role of barristers in a mock legal hearing, preparing and arguing a case in front of a judge. Two teams will compete against each other as if appearing before a court. At the end, the judge gives a short ruling and decides which team were the best “mooters”.

How will this work?

Step one: We will be preparing a legal question for teams to answer. Lawyers within Ashtons will then anonymously judge answers and the best two will be the two final teams that enter the moot. Each moot team should have four students and these students do not have to be studying A-Level law. All team members can be involved in answering the initial legal question. It will be up to the teams how they split the presentation of their argument before the moot judges, should they make the final.

Step two: We will then prepare a moot question to send out to the two finalist teams to prepare. Training for the moot will be provided by members of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Ashtons Legal – either in person, by remote video, or both.

When are we planning this?

We aim to have the initial legal question out to schools for the start of term September 2021. We will ask for answers to be emailed to us before the 2021 Christmas holidays.

These answers will then be judged and in early 2022, the two best teams that have made the final will be decided.

The “Ashtons Annual Moot” final will be held at our Bury St Edmunds office in autumn 2022.

The moot will be judged by solicitors from Ashtons Legal along with barristers and judges from Fenners Chambers, Cambridge.  Refreshments will be provided at the final and it will be an excellent opportunity for school students to speak with local lawyers.

Before the moot begins, members of the firm that have taken different routes into law will provide a brief talk, so to set the scene for the event and to provide information about career options, which we hope will be helpful to students.

Why should your students get involved?

We feel that the competition will be a great opportunity for students to engage in something new and gain further information about a career as a lawyer. Mooting itself is a skill and can hone debating and analytical skills, as well as provide an opportunity for public speaking. We hope that the competition will provide a brilliant forum for students to learn new skills and meet local legal practitioners, particularly if they have an interest in the law.

What to do next?

Any schools that would like to get involved, please email enquiries@ashtonslegal.co.uk. If there are any queries at this stage, please feel free to email these to us. We will then be sending out the initial question to all participating students at the start of the 2021 autumn term.