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Is mooting 'fun'?

happy1234

121?

Reply 1

Dark and Lovely

15

well things can be serious and fun at the same time ...like when i'm in basketball game, i'm having fun as i love competition but i'm serious at the same time.

Reply 2

Lady Narcissus

14

I think how seriously people take it depends upon the moot concerned. The OUP, for example, a national competition that I took part in, tends to be viewed slightly less seriously than the Essex Court Chambers moot. In the quarter final the losing team was really kind to us and took us out for drinks so people do show good sportsmanship when mooting. The university moots are as serious as you take them I guess. I saw a variety of people participating, sometimes the serious worked hard and used their efforts to do well and sometimes relentless confidence and humour scored points.

Reply 3

vixky!

13

WHAT is mooting? I keep hearing it :/

I could look it up but I'm hoping someone will explain lol.

Reply 4

gentlyused

Vicky88

WHAT is mooting?

Definition: Mooning, pronounced MOOTING but the T is a Half-Silent N...
It is when you pull your pants down so that those in the car next to you on the highway can either stare in awe or disgust and probably, if the driver is overtly male, cause a big enough pile-up to keep all of you sick-headed-adolescents stuck in traffic for days.

Definition: Mooting, pronounced MOOTING, nothing is left to silence...
For something to be MOOT it means that it is still subject to debate and or controversiy/uncertainty. Moot courts allow law students to debate and argue some fake or imaginary cases that by virtue of being imaginary, have no precedence at law and therefore no predetermined conclusion or correct final answer.
:wink:

Reply 5

Tory_boy

2

Mooting is pretty serious. The setting will usually be a make-believe court room (though really it can be anywhere). Its good etiquette to wear a suit as well. And the more formal and convicning rather than informal and unconvincing you come across the more chance you have of 'winning' the moot.

Reply 6

Lady Narcissus

14

gentlyused

Definition: Mooning, pronounced MOOTING but the T is a Half-Silent N...
It is when you pull your pants down so that those in the car next to you on the highway can either stare in awe or disgust and probably, if the driver is overtly male, cause a big enough pile-up to keep all of you sick-headed-adolescents stuck in traffic for days.

:wink:

Where did that come from? :smile:

I suppose you could always combine the two en route to a moot, mooning to mooting.

Reply 7

vixky!

13

gentlyused

Definition: Mooning, pronounced MOOTING but the T is a Half-Silent N...
It is when you pull your pants down so that those in the car next to you on the highway can either stare in awe or disgust and probably, if the driver is overtly male, cause a big enough pile-up to keep all of you sick-headed-adolescents stuck in traffic for days.

Definition: Mooting, pronounced MOOTING, nothing is left to silence...
For something to be MOOT it means that it is still subject to debate and or controversiy/uncertainty. Moot courts allow law students to debate and argue some fake or imaginary cases that by virtue of being imaginary, have no precedence at law and therefore no predetermined conclusion or correct final answer.
:wink:

lol thank you.

Reply 8

Lush Law

15

I love mooting, much prefer the presentation than the prep, but I enjoy both. Can't wait to do it again!!

Reply 9

LawyerPrincess

I'm part of the Law socity at my university and we do Moots all the time *we also have them during our Skills, careers and the legal profession session* and they are fun! Its hard work but you will have fun standing up and presenting your case, spech when you know you have the upper hand!! xx

Reply 10

Fireman John

9

Fun? Hmmm.... In a way, yes... but more than that, I find it immensely challenging and satisfying (win or lose) and I can say that I have taken a great deal out of my mooting experiences in terms of developing my depth of knowledge and understanding. Again, that goes for winning and losing - but having recently just lost in the final of the internal freshers mooting competition I can honestly say that I took more out of THAT experience (losing) than I did out of any of the victories I have had. Not only did I work hard putting solid arguments together - having lost I went away and critically took to pieces my argument and re-analysed THEIR argument - that extra element really re-inforced what I had alreayd learnt and forced me to look at it from different angles and in greater depth.

I think I WOULD describe it as fun, in all honesty - but more than that I'd say it has really gone a long way to expanding my knowledge and "forced" me to study wider and deeper than I might otherwise have done.

I'd recommend it to anybody.

Reply 11

Lady Narcissus

14

Sorry you lost, John! You still did really well and I thought your arguments were really good in the first round. It is still good to get to the final, you can use it as stepping stone.

Reply 12

Fireman John

9

Thanks Laura... The "Judge" made it clear that my argument in the final was by far the best, although a lack of research in one area (that we haven't studied yet) and a failure to fully develop the arguments let me down. In some ways that (underdeveloped argument) was perhaps because I'd been picked up for "over labouring" the point in the past... it's a learning process and, as you say, a stepping stone. However, I'm slightly concerned that "the wheels may have come off of my wagon"!!!! My progress to the Mooting final and my 80% in my first ever assignment have sadly marked the beginning of a decline!!! 75 % in Comparative, followed by losing in the Mooting final and now (tonight) having my Contract C/W returned and a mark of just 62%... Feels like it's been all downhill since Christmas - despite the Contract been the second piece handed-in in mid-Dec... I suppose it just "feels" like a declining performance. Pretty devastated about the Contract CW though - certainly doesn't reflect the hours and the effort I put into it... Having said that - IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE MOOTING IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN 62% - Much of the research I did for the first round moot found its way into my CW - Like I said - Mooting definitely helps develop a depth of knowledge and perhaps more importantly, develops research skills.

Reply 13

litispendence

1

I want to try mooting but at my Uni it seems very cliquey and only for the would-be barristers.

Reply 14

Fireman John

9

I think it depends on the people constituting the body of the society. I can imagine it being as you, Lucy, describe it at the upper tier universities - and Sheffield is very much upper tier. Through both my work and more recently my own student expeience I've been able to see and feel first-hand the difference in "attitude" and I can imagine why you would feel "intimidated".

I don't really know what to suggest. I've found the society members at Hallam to be absolutely fantastic. Very, very, very inclusive. I'm 35 years old AND ONLY PART-TIME- I'd left school before most of them were even born -but from day one thay have made me feel very welcome. I think sometimes though you really do have to "bite the bullet" and push yourself forward. I can quite appreciate why you would feel the way you feel, but you honestly might be surprised. Perhaps the best way forward might be to email the Master of Moots and enquire about getting involved - email being the easy, impersonal option - if you get cold-shouldered by email then your gut feeling is probably right; I suspect you might, however, be surprised.

Reply 15

Lady Narcissus

14

Fireman John

My progress to the Mooting final and my 80% in my first ever assignment have sadly marked the beginning of a decline!!! 75 % in Comparative, .

um 75% is not really a declining mark Fireman J, it is still really good. Some tutors don't feel very happy awarding 80%. Most people are entitled to at least one drop to 60% something even if they are first class material. Even my maths tells me that just one of or two 80%'s here and there would make up for it :wink:

. Hull hate giving out high marks and I have come top of modules for being the only 70% sometimes. I am not used to things like 80%, apart from very occasionally.

Thing is with mooting finals, the higher up the competition progresses, the harder it is to distinguish people. We lost our national semi-final by one point and I know the judge found it hard because we had so many different strengths and weaknesses. On a different point, I advise in a national competition a good well organised bundle of notes for the judge. The opposing side in the semi's had paid to have their notes bound with little tags and the judge loved it. As there was not much between us in the moot, it gave them the edge. I just provided her copies of the law reports themselves from the library as it was at home. Mind you, I deserved points for effort actually managing to get the books out of the library

Reply 16

Lewisy-boy

11

Laura pretty much hit the nail on the head: some profs are much more willing to dish out the 80s etc than others! 75% is still a very very high grade, if you don't graduate top of your year... then I don't know who will lol.

Reply 17

Lady Narcissus

14

Yes American Public Law in Hull. That always hands out an 80% every year and a couple of high 70%s. It is quite sad really but when it came to selecting modules some people intentionally choose it for that reason. It makes little sense though, for EU out of the whole year group of around 160 I was the only first, 70%. Then for Amercian Public Law out of around 23 students there were 5 firsts. When there is not much dividing the top graduates overall in year three, the best overall mark really can be determined by choice of modules. I must say I have played this game when choosing Conflicts of Law which turned out to be my favourite subject. People never seemed to do badly in it and there were always a few firsts so I though um, why not.