Law Programme Host Mooting Competition at St Mary’s

The Law LLB Undergraduate Programme at St Mary’s University, Twickenham held an inaugural mooting competition on Monday 2^nd March. Mooting is the presentation of a legal issue against a competitor before a judge, giving students an experience similar to appearing in a courtroom. The event was run in conjunction with the Student Law Society, which is supporting the development of mooting competitions within the Law Programmes and externally. The moot was based around the famous contract law case, Carlill vs Carbolic Smoke Ball Company of 1892. The original case saw the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company, which sold a product to prevent users contracting flu, sued by Elizabeth Carlill for refusing to pay an advertised reward of £100. Rather than a remedy for flu being at the centre the case, the students had to consider promises made concerning the effectiveness of a cure for sleepwalking. St Mary’s Law Lecturer Nabil Rafiq said, “The students handled very well the legal issues presented by the moot problem and made relevant and coherent submissions.” The moot was open to all Law students with Law Lecturers Jenny Henry and Lloyd Gash helping to judge. After battling it out, second year students Harry Hopkins and Sebastian Blomeier won the competition. Law Programme Director Vanessa Beever said, “Harry and Sebastian demonstrated excellent mooting skills and we hope to see them enter and compete in external competitions now on behalf of the University.”