Join Erwan Morvan and Anna Tikhomirova in their first ever mooting experience at the George Hinde Mooting Competition
We heard about the George Hinde as soon as we arrived at Queen Mary: spanning over 40 years and being Queen Mary’s longest-running and most prestigious mooting competition, judged by some of the finest minds in the judiciary - we were understandably terrified at the idea of even attempting this challenge.
However, thankfully, the mooting society convinced us otherwise in the end, by reiterating that all the moots were based on first year LLB Law modules and that no prior mooting experience was needed. That was music to our ears considering we had never heard of mooting before that very moment, let alone touched the thing with a ten yard stick.
In the end, we are so glad we embarked on the mooting adventure as it turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of our first year. Here’s what happened!
Looking back now, it is hard to identify when we got started with mooting because honestly speaking, there was never a moment where you sat down and simply studied something incomprehensible. The George Hinde Competition provided us with training, workshops and practice rounds - where we got to receive feedback from experienced mooters and academics, which was amazingly helpful. Most incredibly, all these experiences combined to gradually make you a competent mooter - without it ever feeling overwhelming or unattainable. What shocked us most was the tangible difference in how we delivered our moots and in the quality of our arguments - in a very short period of time. We still laugh at how poorly prepared we were for the first round, but hey, it is all part of the game.
Moving up the rounds of the competition was like being hooked on a roller coaster ride with increasingly higher peaks with no desire to detach. After the initial adrenaline rush of mooting in person for the first time at the quarterfinals, I had finally made it to the Semi-Finals of the competition.
I must admit, mooting at the Royal Courts of Justice in London felt like stepping into a legal blockbuster where centuries of gravitas hang in the air like finely aged library books. Suddenly, mooting had become serious and immersive. The client may have been fictional, but the passion and the case law was real.
By that time, the original fear had partly gone away and made space for the realisation that as a first year law student, I had the privilege of pleading before esteemed professionals like recorder Anne Studd KC and Judge Simon Freeland KC who provided me with invaluable advice on how to improve my advocacy skills.
The Semi-Finals marked the final stop in my first mooting journey. A journey filled with late night study sessions and intense research, but also the support of friends and teammates which made it all worthwhile. Now it was my time to support some of those friends that I had made along the way, namely my moot partner Anna, who had made it through to the Finals.
Reaching the Finals of the George Hinde competition was an incredible honour, as I got to experience what it is like to be in the beautiful Octagon of Queen’s Building, presenting my arguments before the Honourable Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBE, a High Court Judge sitting in the Commercial Court. I have to say, the experience is unparallelled.
By the final round of the George Hinde Competition, the moot problem we were given was as captivating as it was complex - requiring us to consider the role of the 1972 European Communities Act on Human Rights in the UK in light of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. This moot problem, written by Queen Mary’s own Professor Merris Amos, truly challenged me, and having competed in 4 mooting rounds by that point, I felt I had developed the skills to tackle it.
I was incredibly grateful to receive the Yeats and Lane award, which is given to the first year who has advanced furthest in the George Hinde Mooting competition. To me the award represented the hours of library study I had poured into the George Hinde Competition and my personal journey of understanding why Law and advocacy go hand in hand. In all honesty, whilst the award definitely ended my first time mooting experience on a sweet note, I cherish most the friends I made along the way with each mooting round, however cliché that may sound. Moreover I am proud that I can genuinely say that I am a far better orator and lawyer because of this competition, than I would have been without it.
Whilst our first mooting experience had certainly ended, our George Hinde Competition journey is nowhere near the end yet, as this year we are extremely excited to be co-organising the 2023-2024 George Hinde Mooting Competition.
We cannot wait to welcome every student into our Queen Mary Mooting Community! See you in September!
Erwan Morvan and Anna Tikhomirova
George Hinde Officers 2023-2024