Another successful year for the Hunt Cup Debating competition

Press release issued: 29 March 2019

The annual Hunt Cup Debating competition, run through the University of Bristol Law Club and founded by Lord Hunt, welcomed students from across the faculty to hone their debating skills, tackling topics ranging from slum tourism, to veganism, to endorsing the music of artists involved in sexual assault.

Coordinators of the competition and second year law students, Alysha Bodman and Chelsea Peel caught up with us recently to tell us more.

This year we had the pleasure of co-ordinating the Hunt Cup Debating competition, sponsored by the University of Bristol Law School and law firm, DAC Beachcroft. The competition has been ongoing for many years, the founder being the renowned Lord Hunt who coined the competition after many successful debates himself. This year we have seen many talented speakers tackle thought-provoking motions set by ourselves. These have included: This House Believes that important decisions should be made by medical professionals and not by their parents, this House Believes that slum tourism does more harm than good and this House believes that nations should be obliged to accept refugees in proportion to their GDP.

Launch night

In November, as an introduction to the competition we held our annual launch night. All University of Bristol Law Club members were invited to hear about the structure and history of the competition, in addition to witnessing a demonstration debate. The motion for this showcase debate was THB that vegans should condemn and campaign against all forms of non-veganism. This debate featured a previous Hunt Cup finalist and other experienced debaters. Although both proposition and opposition provided persuasive arguments, the audience ultimately decided with the opposition.

At the launch night, our sponsor firm DAC Beachcroft offered an insight into life at the firm and their practice areas. Established Hunt Cup judge Leon Smith provided some helpful tips based on his experience with the competition, while also paying tribute to the historical origins.

Following the successful launch night, we received almost 100 applications detailing previous debating experience and interest in the competition. We faced a difficult task of choosing just 64 successful applicants to participate. As we progressed into the opening rounds of the competition, the preparation became a reality and the debates were underway.

This year we introduced a new feedback structure, under which there were 5 categories that the debaters could score in. These consisted of content, structure, oral advocacy, interaction and teamwork – all assessed by a rating between 1 and 5. Our DAC Beachcroft judges provided detailed written feedback in each of these categories. This was invaluable for the debaters’ progression throughout the competition. Overall, we have seen the benefits of this new feature and hope to see its success in future UBLC debate competitions.

As the Quarter-Finals rolled around, this saw the first of our networking dinners. We were keen to introduce more post-round dinners in order to improve the social aspect of the competition, as well as building relations with the judges from DAC Beachcroft. Thanks to DAC Beachcroft’s generous sponsorship contribution, we were able to offer this privilege to all Quarter-Finalists, Semi-Finalists and Finalists.

The final

In the closing week of the competition we saw the four strongest competitors reach the final. We had the honour of hosting this highly-anticipated event in our Lady Hale Moot Court, with an eager audience, canapes and wine. After much deliberation we settled with the following motion: THB that we should no longer endorse the music of artists involved in sexual assault. The debate itself was riveting and invited many intriguing questions from the audience members along with DAC Beachcroft’s Nick Knapman.

Much to the judge’s dissatisfaction there could only be one winner. Third year Politics student Jason Palmer was the deserving winner of the competition and received the prestigious Hunt Cup trophy. Following in close second, first year Law student Justin Leung, was selected as runner up. Although the difficult choice had to be made all of our competitors, including Mohammed Hegazy and Sanjana Bindra were thought to be exceptional by the judges.

Jason has said "winning the Hunt Cup feels incredible, especially after being runner up last year! It has given me the opportunity to develop my advocacy skills, network with top lawyers, and make great friends!".

Finally, we would like to say thank you to DAC Beachcroft for sponsoring the competition and providing many talented judges and the Law School for their generous sponsorship. This has enabled all of our debaters to receive detailed advice and the ability to implement this in future competitions. We have been lucky to have had a strong relationship with DAC Beachcroft this year and we can imagine no one better to put their names to the Hunt Cup. Additionally, we would like to say a special thank you to Alison Burd for her seamless coordination of all events at her end. The competition would not be what it is without her work!

Overall we have had an enjoyable year organising the competition and are excited to see what the next year holds!

Alysha Bodman and Chelsea Peel

Further information

The Hunt Cup is an annual debating competition run through the University of Bristol Law Club, which enables students from across the faculty to debate on a broad range of contemporary and contentious issues. The competition is generously sponsored by the University of Bristol Law School local and leading international law firm DAC Beachcroft so there are plenty of opportunities to network throughout the competition over a drink or two with their lawyers. Although the Hunt Cup is branded as a 'competition', there is nevertheless a relatively informal social atmosphere with drinks occurring both before and after debates. Anyone is welcome to join the competition, regardless of debating experience.