Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In many countries, the phrase "moot court" may be shortened to simply "moot" or "mooting". Participants are either referred to as "mooters" or, less conventionally, "mooties".
Format and structure
Moot court involves simulated proceedings before an appellate court, arbitral tribunal, or international dispute resolution body. These are different from mock trials that involve simulated jury trials or bench trials. Moot court does not involve actual testimony by witnesses, cross-examination, or the presentation of evidence, but is focused solely on the application of the law to a common set of evidentiary assumptions, facts, and clarifications/corrections to which the competitors are introduced. Though not moots in the traditional sense, alternative dispute resolution competitions focusing on mediation and negotiation have also branded themselves as moot competitions in recent times, as had role-playing competitions in the past such as the Jean-Pictet competition.
Moot court, like law review and clinical work, is one of the key extracurricular activities in many law schools around the world. Depending on the competition, students may spend a semester researching and writing the written submissions or memorials, and another semester practicing their oral arguments, or may prepare both within the span of a few weeks. Whereas domestic moot court competitions tend to focus on municipal law such as criminal law or contract law, regional and international moot competitions tend to focus on cross-border subjects such as EU Law, public international law (including its subsets environmental law, space law, and aviation law), international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international trade law, international maritime law, international commercial arbitration, and foreign direct investment arbitration. Ancillary issues pertaining to jurisdiction, standing, choice of law, and remedies are also occasionally engaged, especially in arbitration and international law moots.
In most moot court competitions, there are two sides and each side is represented by two speakers or oralists (though the entire team composition may be larger, and the number of speakers may range from one to four) and a third member, sometimes known as of counsel, may be seated with the speakers. Each speaker usually speaks between 10 and 25 minutes, covering one to three main issues. After the main submissions are completed, there will usually be a short round or two of rebuttal and even surrebuttal. Communications between speakers may or may not be prohibited. Throughout the course of the submissions, judges — usually lawyers, academics, or actual judges — may ask questions, though in some competitions questions are reserved to the end of submissions.
In larger competitions, teams have to participate in up to ten rounds (not including any domestic or regional qualifiers); the knockout/elimination stages are usually preceded by a number of preliminary rounds to determine seeding (power seeding is often used). Teams almost always must switch sides (applicant/appellant/claimant on one side, and respondent on the other) throughout a competition, and, depending on the format of the moot, the moot problem usually remains the same throughout. The scores of the written submissions are taken into consideration for most competitions to determine qualification (whether for the competition or for the knockouts) and seeding, and sometimes even up to a particular knockout stage. Participation in moot court are relevant to some law school rankings.
International moot court competitions International moot competitions are generally targeted at students (including postgraduates) and only allow participants who have not qualified to practice law in any jurisdiction. However, there are a handful of international moot competitions that are targeted at newly qualified lawyers, such as the ECC-SAL Moot, which is a regional moot started in 2012 and is jointly organised by Essex Court Chambers and the Singapore Academy of Law, and the New South Wales Young Lawyers/CIArb competition.
The table below lists some of the more notable international moot competitions for students. Grand slam international moots refer to class-leading moots or those that attract a substantial number of teams, while smaller or less established and region-only competitions are known as internationals and regionals respectively. Some countries also divide competitions into various tiers of prestige for the purpose of awarding points in league tables, with moots such as the Jessup and Vis competitions being considered as belonging to the highest tier. Most international moots only permit one team per institution; competitions that allow more than one team tend to be smaller in scale, and competitions that allow teams to comprise members from more than one institution are rare. Some competitions also limit the number of teams based on geographical location; for instance, for most countries, the Jessup generally only permits one qualifying institution for every ten law schools.
Due to COVID-19, many moot competitions were either cancelled or moved to an online format for some years. By the 2022/23 season, however, almost all competitions had reverted to the in-person format.
List of notable international moot court competitions Competition Established Class Primary subject matter Record annual participation (year) Location of international finals National or regional rounds Cap on teams from same country or region Pre-moots Multiple teams from same institution Most (international) championships Philip C Jessup 1960 (1968 for international rounds; no rounds in 2020) Grand Slam Public international law 806 teams (2025) Online: 664 teams (2022) Washington DC Yes Yes No No University of Sydney (6; 1 online) Willem C Vis 1993 Grand Slam International commercial arbitration 407 teams (2026) Online: 387 teams (2021) Vienna Optional pre-moots No Yes No University of Ottawa (3) Willem C Vis (East) 2003 Grand Slam International commercial arbitration 180 teams (2025) Online: 150 teams (2021) Hong Kong Optional pre-moots No Yes No Singapore Management University (3; 1 online) Price Media Law 2007 Grand Slam International human rights law 121 teams (2014) Online: 100 teams (2021) Oxford Yes No No No Singapore Management University (4; 1 online) International Criminal Court 2005 (2007 for international rounds; no rounds in 2020) Grand Slam International criminal law 112 teams (2016) Online: 95 teams (2021) The Hague Yes No No No Singapore Management University (6; 1 online) Frankfurt Investment Arbitration 2007 (no rounds in 2020) Grand Slam International investment arbitration 66 teams (2017) Online: 105 teams (2022) Frankfurt Yes No Yes No Singapore Management University (3; 1 online) Lachs Space Law Moot 1992 (1993 for international rounds) Grand Slam Space law 100+ teams (2024) Varies Yes Yes No No * George Washington University (3) * National Law School of India University (3) John Jackson WTO 2002 International World Trade Organization law 99 teams (2018) Geneva Yes No No Yes University of Melbourne (3) Fletcher Insolvency 2016 International International insolvency law 40 teams (2025) Online: 34 teams (2021) Varies Qualification by written submissions No No No Singapore Management University (3; 1 online) Oxford Intellectual Property Law 2003 (no rounds in 2020) International Intellectual property law 66 teams (2018) Online: 32 teams (2021) Oxford Qualification by written submissions No No No Queensland University of Technology (3) Sarin Air Law 2010 International Aviation law 41 teams (2018) Online: 36 teams (2021) Varies Yes No No No Ram Manohar University (3; 1 online) PAX 2013 International Private international law 41 Teams (2023) Varies No No No No University of Ljubljana (3) Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration 2008 International Investor-state dispute settlement Varies Yes; direct qualification also possible No No Yes Murdoch University (2) Nuremberg 2014 (no rounds in 2020) International International criminal law 50 teams (2019) Online: 50 teams (2021) Nuremberg Qualification by written submissions Yes No No Maastricht University (3; 1 online) Stetson Environmental Law 1997 (2001 for international rounds) International International environmental law Gulfport Yes No No Yes Law Society of Ireland (4; 1 online) Mandela World Human Rights 2009 International International human rights law 164 teams (2018) Geneva Qualification by written and oral submissions Yes Yes Yes Norman Manley Law School (3) International Maritime Law Arbitration 2000 (no rounds in 2020 and 2021) International International maritime law 34 teams (2020) Varies No Yes No No University of Queensland (9) LAWASIA 2005 (semi-cancelled in 2019) Regional International commercial arbitration 41 teams (2018) Online: 17 teams (2020) Varies Yes (only Malaysia) No No Only for Malaysia Singapore Management University (5) Red Cross IHL 2003 (2004 for international rounds; no rounds in 2020) Regional International humanitarian law 120 teams (2019) Hong Kong Yes (Hong Kong exempted) For most countries No No Victoria University of Wellington (3; 1 online) African Human Rights 1992 Regional Human rights in Africa Varies within Africa No No No No The European Law Moot Court Competition 1988 Regional European Union law Luxembourg Yes Yes No No Asia Cup 1999 (no rounds in 2020) Regional Public international law 40 teams (2011) Tokyo Qualification by written submissions Yes No No National University of Singapore (7) International Roman Law Moot Court 2008 Regional Roman Law Varies No No No No University of Cambridge (3) European Human Rights Moot Court Competition 2012 Regional European Convention of Human Rights 120 teams (2013) Strasbourg Yes Yes No No IE University (2; 1 online) The Victor's Moot (Perera) 2018 Regional International commercial arbitration Colombo No No No No Singapore Management University (2)
Other types of competitions Competition Established Type Record annual participation (year) Location of international finals National or regional rounds Cap on teams from same country or region Pre-moots Multiple teams from same institution Most (international) championships International Chamber of Commerce International Commercial Mediation 2005 Mediation 48 teams Paris ADC-ICC Asia Pacific Commercial Mediation 2017 Mediation Yes IBA-VIAC CDRC Vienna Mediation and Negotiation Competition 2015 Mediation and negotiation Vienna Jean-Pictet Competition 1989 Various Various No No NoNo
Domestic moot court competitions
North America Some moot court organisations accept a small group of people for membership, and those members each participate in a number of national or regional moot court competitions. Other schools accept a larger number of members, and each member is matched with one competition. A few schools conduct moot court entirely intramurally. Moot court competitions are typically sponsored by organisations with interest in one particular area of law, and the moot court problems address an issue in that field. Competitions are often judged by legal practitioners with expertise in the particular area of law, or sometimes by sitting judges.