An excellent finale to a successful year of mooting in the Herbert Smith Freehills UBLC Mooting Competition

Second Year Law Students participating in the finals of the annual moot competition organised by the UBLC at the Supreme Court

Final Year Law Students presenting their submissions to Mr Adam Johnson QC at the Law School’s Moot Court

Law students and families attending the first year finals of the Undergraduates Moot Competition.

Press release issued: 17 March 2017

March 2017 saw the Herbert Smith Freehills University of Bristol Law Club (UBLC) mooting finals held at the Supreme Court in London and our new mooting chamber in Bristol. This was an opportunity for the best mooters from all year groups to compete against one another, after a year of intense and competitive rounds.

The UBLC were honoured to invite Adam Johnson QC and Dan Eziefula from Herbert Smith Freehills to judge the first and third year students, whilst HHJ Topolski QC and Lyndon Harris judged the second year students at the Supreme Court. Family and friends attended the finals in Bristol to enjoy the moot and the subsequent drinks reception. The following week 30 lucky students attended the Supreme Court finals after an open morning at the Herbert Smith Freehills offices.

The mooting cases invited the students to engage with various legal issues included in their syllabus. The first years were faced with a controversial problem based on the infamous R v Brown case, with Mr Roger George, Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Bristol Law School compiling an excellent criminal case for the second year students concerning the gross negligence manslaughter of a rock-climber abandoned by his co-workers. The third year students, in deep contrast, argued a highly complex trusts case. Each final was gripping and the quality of advocacy was remarkable, as noted by every judge.

Ashreyna Bhatia won the first year mooting final, followed by Toby Chandler triumphing in the second year final and Lily Walker-Parr winning the third year final.

We would like to extend our thanks to our generous sponsors Herbert Smith Freehills and Dr Sofia Galani, Lecturer in Law and the School’s Mooting Academic Advisor, for their continued support throughout the competition. This was an excellent finale to a very successful year for the mooting team and all who participated in the competition.

Raina Hayles and Georgia Tetlow, second year Law students, and Mistresses of the Moot of the University of Bristol Law Club said:

"We would like to thank all the participants for dedicating so much time and effort to their submissions, as well as the judges for taking time out of their very busy schedules to preside over some of Bristol’s finest mooters. We would also like to say thank you to the Law School, and in particular Rosa Grainger who has supported our endeavours over the past few months. We hope that this year’s competition, under our leadership, has inspired more people to get involved with mooting, and we are looking forward to what the competition will bring next year".