For any intending barrister, taking part in moots is a box which must be ticked. Through involvement in these mock trials, students can gain advocacy and legal research skills which are invaluable in preparing for pupillage and beyond.

Middle Temple strongly encourages its students to take part in moots, and to this end arranges a mooting competition every year for the 'Rosamond Smith Trophy'.

What is mooting?

Moots are essentially mock trials. Usually, two pairs of students will take it in turns to argue a case in front of a judge. The case will be based on a problem which will have been supplied to both teams, and generally takes the form of an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Mooters have to research the area of law and determine which authorities support their case. Next, they must formulate an argument as supported by their authorities by drafting a skeleton argument. The skeleton argument, together with authorities, is then supplied to the opponents and the judge. During the moot itself, each mooter will have a fixed amount of time to make submissions. The judge may, and invariably does, intervene to question mooters on their argument. After the moot, the judge will indicate who has won the moot on the law. He will also decide who has won the moot itself, since this will take account of many other factors such as advocacy skills and the formulation of the argument. Feedback will also be given.

During the year the Inn holds a number of Mooting competitions such as the Rosamond Smith Mooting Competition, open to both BPTC and CPE/GDL students.