NLU Delhi Registrar shares insights on Mooting

‘’Mooting goes in a long way to enhance personality and critical and logical thinking process of a law student and helps them to become an adept lawyer,’’ says Dr.G.S.Bajpai, Registrar, NLU Delhi.

As law aspirants are gearing up for the coveted seats in NLUs, Careers360 brings you glimpse of mooting activities in NLUs. This special series of mooting in NLUs will help you to have an overview of the moot courts, their importance and learning from the activity.

In this exclusive interview, Dr.G.S.Bajpai, Professor and Registrar, National Law University Delhi, shares insights on complete mooting procedure, attributes and etiquettes of students during a mooting session.

He also talks on how a law student learns from mooting practices and what it stimulates in law student’s learning outcome. Read this exclusive interview of Dr. G. S. Bajpai to know more on mooting sessions.

Excerpts of Interview –

Careers360: Share a brief idea on moot courts, their importance and practice.
Dr.G.S.Bajpai:  Mooting enables a law student to form critical arguments and expressing them in front of judges in a court simulated environment and significantly enhances their speaking and analytical skills, which are the basic foundations for becoming an adept lawyer.

Law colleges provide abundant opportunities to its students in the form of various extra-curricular activities in order to enhance their analytical and critical thinking capabilities. Mooting is one of the thrust areas where significant emphasis is laid on mooting and simulated court proceedings to promote skills like advocacy, court-craft and critical reasoning among the students.

Careers360:  What is the procedure of selecting students for mooting sessions?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: Law colleges have a Moot Court Committee supported by a faculty advisor in order to select the best of the talents to participate in various national and international moot court sessions and competitions. The Moot Court Committee has an Internal Moot Selection Policy to select the aspirants to participate in various moot court competitions. The Moot Court Committee invites noted lawyers, academicians and alumni from reputed law schools to judge and select the students for various competitions.

Careers360: Who can participate in moot courts?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: All the students of a law school including the first year of the five-year integrated LL.B (Hons.) progamme are encouraged to participate in various moot court competitions.

Careers360: When does the mooting season begins in National Law University Delhi?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: Mooting is an all the year round activity in NLU Delhi. Our students participate in various national and international moot court competitions which are held at various points of time throughout the year at various reputed institutions.

NLU Delhi also believes in organizing various national and international Moot Court Competitions. The University recently organized South Asia Rounds of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition 2014 in association with University of Oxford between November 20 and 23, 2014.

Careers360:  What are the different types of moot court competitions of NLU Delhi?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: As I told earlier, the University believes in organizing various international and national moot court competitions for the benefit of its students.

In past, the University has organized a number of reputed national and international moot courts competitions.A few significant ones are –

• 2^nd National Mediation Competition (March 9-10, 2013)

• Price Media Law Moot Court Competition (South Asia Rounds) with PCMLP, University of Oxford (November 21-24, 2013)

• Price Media Law Moot Court Competition (South Asia Rounds) with PCMLP, University of Oxford (November 20-23, 2014)

• ICC-NLU Delhi Pre-VIS International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition 2014-15(Will be held at NLU Delhi from March 5-8, 2015)

Careers360: What attributes and etiquettes students need to possess during a mooting session?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: Negotiation skills, articulation, communication and presentation skills are some of the attributes apart from interpretation skills, which students need to possess to be a good mooter. Also, a good mooter needs to be a good researcher and spend a considerable amount of time in researching the moot problem.

Lastly, the student should understand the moot problem in a pragmatic way and should possess the skills to organize his/her arguments in a logical manner.

Careers360:  How a law student learns from mooting session?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: A law student may view various mock trial videos available in the websites of various reputed law schools to become aware of the moot court processes. Interaction with faculty members and seniors could go a long way in enhancing the understanding about the moot court procedures.

Mooting will go a long way in enhancing the personality of a law student and to become an adept lawyer.

Careers360: NLU Delhi must have won mooting awards. Share some of them.
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: The students of the University have brought laurels by winning various significant National and International Moot Court Competitions. To name a few:

• NLU Delhi became the first ever Indian team to win the prestigious ICC Trial Moot Court Competition at The Hague, Netherlands on May 23, 2014

• Best Claimant Memorial award at the FDI International Arbitration Moot Court Competition held in October 2013 in Frankfurt Germany was won by NLU Delhi’s team

• NLU Delhi’s team has won the 2014 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition held in Toronto at the 65th International Astronautical Congress by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL)

• NLU Delhi’s team won the North India Rounds of Phillip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition held in Punjab University, Chandigarh in January 2014

• NLU Delhi’s team won the 2^nd Best Memorial award in B.R. Krishna Sawhney Moot Court completion and a participant from NLU Delhi’s team was adjudged Best Speaker and another participant from NLU Delhi’s team was adjudged 3^rd Best Speaker

Careers360: How can Moot Court experience stimulate in student’s learning outcomes and act as an added advantage for them?
Dr.G.S.Bajpai: Participating in a moot court competition significantly enhances the critical and logical thinking process of a law student. The student learns how to form an argument in front of judges in a simulated environment. Now a days, prospective employers and corporate houses give a lot of weight age to those CVs, which clearly mention the achievements in various moot court competitions. Hence, it is fruitful for a student to participate in various moot court competitions.

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