A moot court competition is technically a simulated court or arbitral proceeding condensed into the draft of memoranda (phase 1) and presentation of oral arguments (phase 2), given a specific case. Teams are expected to study and analyze the case to develop a legal defense, for both parties. After participating in the first-ever moot court competition to be held in Costa Rica, organized by the ICC’s (International Chamber of Commerce) Costa Rican chapter, I can say moot is much more than that. Moot is a journey.
Here’s what I learned:
1. If you want to put yourself out of your comfort zone, moot.
Moot has been the most intensive project I've carried out, academically, professionally and personally so far. The reality of our comfort zones fades away, depending on how far the team wants to go. In my case, the objectives and milestones we set challenged us in many ways:
Colliding working styles. Carrying out projects on our own does not limit our methods and ways to complete them. Our tactics have particularities that we do not in most cases even identify, though working with others for a common goal is different. Some may be very time-attentive, others work better under pressure, rhythms are different. Moot allows the development of emotional intelligence when facing other work methods, allowing team members to arrange a sustainable path for the team and its goals.
Time consumption. Moot demands time from us. Days, nights, weekends. However, every bit of time dedicated to anything moot-related counts. Two hours committed to research could transform an entire argument with an unfavorable approach that was worked on for days. Taking time to identify and track the source for every one of your claims and arguments could save you from the possibility of not presenting your memorandum on time (after one entire month of working on it) due to a bibliographic disaster. Moot deeply promotes the improvement of time-management skills.
2. If you want to be a litigator (or explore what it means to be one), moot.
Moot is the closest experience to the world of litigation and everything it embodies. This similarity allows participants to get a clear idea of how it works. According to Oxford University’s Guide to Moot: “Mooting is not the same as public speaking or debating, although it shares some common elements with these activities. It is a specialized application of the art of persuasive advocacy. It has been part of the process of training lawyers for centuries and plays an important role in legal education […]”[1]
3. If you want to build strong relationships, network, and meet people ready to go the extra mile, moot.
The networking done in moot happens both in an external and internal sense.
External networking is the most obvious. Participating and interacting with different teams allows you to create a special bond that originates from a profound relatability of everything this month-long competition encompasses. With the other teams, you have shared development of mastery in the legal issues dealt with in the case, you have also shared excitement, adrenaline and pressure. And when this journey comes to an end and everyone continues their career paths, it will always be an experience only this specific group of teams shared, being so impactful that it’s difficult to forget.
The other type of networking happens amongst your team members. Imagine the same situation of substantial relatability happening, but with individuals who are working for the same cause and objectives as you are, representing the same institution. This is a network of a whole different kind. Moot allows us to build partnerships with our teams when the members have aligned levels of motivation and drive. This, luckily, was my case.
4. In the end, moot can resemble life.
My teammates and I defined where we wanted to go and doing so allowed us to choose to get there, by planning many steps and actions for a specific outcome. This is an essential part of moot.
But even with such devotion to a given result, as it happens in life, results are different from those that you expected. Sometimes situations can take unexpected turns. This is something that happens every day in the legal profession. In some way, the results lawyers obtain can have so much to do with their efforts, but also with how cards are dealt in the situations around them. Therefore, in the end, aside from the result, the value of moot also lies within everything you learn along the way. Moot helps students prepare for life and the profession.
Paralegal