Competition Rules

1. Each school participating should complete the registration form to enable scheduling of moots.
2. The moot topic and cases will be available on our website.
3. The participants must restrict themselves to the facts and cases that have been provided.
4. Judging of regional rounds will take place in local courtrooms in May. Venues and dates to be confirmed in writing.
5. Schools may bring 10 students or other guests to watch their moot. Parents are welcome to attend.Students should not enter the Court before they have undertaken their moot.
6. Each school is permitted to enter 1 team only, consisting of no more than three students in the role of Senior Counsel, Junior Counsel and Acting Solicitor. (Note: the third student as Acting Solicitor is optional).
7. Each speaker (senior and junior counsel) will be limited to an address of 10 minutes and will be informed when there is one minute remaining.
8. There will be no right of reply.
9. Marking will be conducted on the basis of 35% for presentation, 35% for content and 30% for the mooter’s ability to deal with questions.
10. Individual marks will not be provided. Judges will provide a précis upon conclusion of the moots on individual and team performance. 
11. One winning team will be selected from each region, with the exception of Brisbane/Ipswich where two teams will be selected from the region due to the number of schools participating. The Faculty of Law retains the discretion to invite an additional school from a region to compete in the final rounds.
12. Excellent achievement in the regional rounds may be acknowledged by designating an outstanding advocate. This has no bearing on selection of the three best advocates in the Grand Final.
13. The students who are selected as winners of their regional rounds must be the ones who moot in the Grand Final. Schools participating in the Grand Final with different students will be disqualified.
14. The Grand Final will be held at Bond University in July.
15. The appropriate costs for flights and accommodation for grand final teams will be met by the University.
16. The three best advocates in the Grand Final will be offered 40% scholarships to undertake Bachelor of Laws at Bond University - based also on academic results. Other outstanding mooters may also be offered Law Faculty mooting scholarships.
17. Whether you go on to become a barrister or solicitor is irrelevant. We hope that you will enjoy this competition and that you will further enhance your self-confidence and public speaking abilities.

Limits of Argument

In preparing their argument, counsel must limit themselves to the materials provided, including the cases whose web addresses have been provided in the statement of facts. Reference may be made to other cases cited in those cases, but only to the extent that they are cited, quoted or referred to therein.

What is Expected of You

Each team may, but is not required to, prepare a summary of argument outlining the submissions they will make. The essential feature of a summary is that it lays out in logical sequence the line of argument that is to be presented and the authority for each proposition of law that is to be argued.

Counsel should anticipate being energetically questioned by the Bench about their case and are expected to be able to respond logically to the questions asked and comply with directions given (eg “I do not wish to hear you further on that point, tell me about the law regarding course of employment”). They must be prepared to resume their argument when the Bench has been satisfied on a particular issue.

Presentation of Argument

Both counsel should be prepared to speak for between ten minutes. Where an advocate is interrupted by questions from the Bench, he or she will be expected to adjust the submissions to conclude within the allotted time. You may not seek extra time because of questions.