Mooting opportunities for students 2026/27
updated on 21 April 2026
Mooting is one of the best activities you can do to get a sense of what it's like to be a legal advocate. Mooting gives you the opportunity to think on your feet and argue your case. It’s also an impressive addition to any CV, whether you’re pursuing a career as a barrister or solicitor.
Why should students get involved?
There are mooting competitions at almost every level, from institutional to international, and mooting isn’t just for the Bar-bound among you. Evidently, it develops key advocacy skills, but it also hones skills useful to all in the legal profession, including research, communication, teamwork and more.
Mooting is quite a daunting activity to just dive into, particularly if public speaking isn’t your forte. As such, this guide outlines what mooting actually is, the competitions you could get involved with and the skills you’ll develop by taking part.
What is mooting?
In essence, a ‘moot’ is a competition that centres on a fictional legal appeal case to either the Court of Appeal or to the House of Lords. Two-person teams representing the appellants and respondents each present their arguments before a judge (usually a practising lawyer, lecturer or actual judge) in the setting of a mock court. Each mooter has a limited time to speak and respond to the judge’s questioning.
Mooting opportunities
Mooting may or may not be a compulsory part of your law course – either way, gaining mooting experience can positively influence your future career in the legal profession.
Most university law schools have a mooting or debating society, so there should be opportunities to moot near you. In fact, the University of Nottingham Mooting Society received the award for best mooting activities at LCN’s Student Law Society Awards on Thursday 12 March 2026. The society’s mooting activities were praised for breaking down “complex advocacy skills into something more manageable and fun”, with the workshops featuring practising barristers providing “a huge confidence boost” to those taking part.
The society set out its mission at the start of the academic year, intending to make mooting accessible to all “regardless of status, finances or experience”.
In addition, the four Inns of Court in London each have a mooting society: the Lincoln’s Inn mooting and debating clubs, the Inner Temple mooting society, the Middle Temple Rosamond Smith mooting competition and the Gray’s Inn moot nights. Find out more about these moots and more below.
Middle Temple
Rosamund Smith Mooting Competition
This is Middle Temple’s main annual mooting competition and is open to its student members who compete in teams of two. It works as a ‘knock-out’ style moot, with the semi-finals and finals usually taking place in front of a large audience. This competition is open to both Bar course and conversion course students.
Mooting with Pepperdine University
Middle Temple and Pepperdine University – a US university with a London branch – usually collaborate to host a moot. The competition, open to interested students from Middle Temple, takes place in the Royal Courts of Justice each year. Middle Temple students are then paired up with a Pepperdine student for the competition.
The Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
As part of this week-long moot, Middle Temple takes a team of up to six students to compete against more than 360 other teams from around the globe. As well as coaching sessions, students will take part in pre-moots to help them prepare for the competition.
Gray’s Inn
Gray’s Inn hosts an annual mooting competition, where the mooters compete as individuals across four rounds throughout the course of a year. It’s open to the Inn’s student members and there’s a Nicholls Memorial Prize worth £1,000 up for grabs too.
Find out more about Gray’s Inn’s annual moot, including eligibility and qualifying sessions via the Inn’s website.
Inner Temple
Inner Temple provides students with the chance to get involved in several internal mooting competitions.
Inter-Varsity Moot
The Inter-Varsity Moot is open to participants who aren’t a member of the Inn. It puts university teams against each other in a one-day knock-out competition.
Lawson Moot
This competition comprises multiple rounds on various areas of law.
Other mooting competitions held by Inner Temple
The Inn also runs an Ecclesiastical Law Moot and Commercial Law Moot, and arranges friendly moots against other institutions like Pepperdine University and Notre Dame Law School.
There are also several external mooting competitions open to members of the Inn, including the Telders International Law Moot and The International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition.
Lincoln’s Inn
This Inn runs five mooting competitions for its student members each year.
Crowther Sheild Public Speaking Competition
This competition invites students to deliver a timed plea in mitigation on behalf of a historical or fictional character who’s committed a crime, including Guy Fawkes and his conspiracy to cause an explosion, and Goldilocks for burglary and criminal damage.
Inter-Provider Mooting Competition
The Inter-Provider Mooting Competition selects the top mooting team from Bar course providers. London-based providers then hold the preliminary round for students in the form of a speed-mooting system, while providers outside of London organise their own process. The two top-scoring students qualify to represent their provider in the final rounds.
Debating Shield
Designed to find the best debating team at the Inn, those taking part in this competition are selected at the final debating club meeting of the year. The final debate will follow the format of a British Parliamentary Debate.
Gluckstein Advocacy Prize
This prize aims to award Lincoln’s Inn’s best junior advocate. To take part, students must submit a one-minute advocacy video, which will be assed by a panel of members from the Bar and Bench. From these submissions, 32 competitors are chosen to take part. On the day, competitors will take part in a preliminary advocacy round, with the judges selecting eight finalists.
Student Legal Essay Competitions
Lincoln’s Inn’s annual student law journal competition invites students to submit essays on a topic of their choice. All submissions will be reviewed by a panel of Benchers and barristers, who will select the top 10 essays for publication in the Student Law Journal.
There are two essay competitions – the Lord Millet Equity Essay Prize and the Lincoln’s Inn Essay Prize. Students can submit to both prizes if they wish, but they must submit different essays for each.
Find out more about what’s involved via the Inn’s website.
Jessup
With participants from around 700 law schools in 100 countries and jurisdictions, Jessup is considered the world’s largest mooting competition. It’s described as a “simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations”.
You can see what the 2026 moot involved via the website.
The Times 2TG Moot
In its 11th year, The Times 2TG Moot aims to provide an open and accessible mooting competition to enable students from all backgrounds to get involved. As a chambers, 2TG looks to pupillage applicants favourably if they have experience in mooting, so it’s well worth investigating and getting involved if you can.
Bookmark The Times 2TG website to find out when the next moot is set to take place.
Price Media Law Moot Court Competition
Another well-established competition is the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition, which is in its 19th year.
Head to the website to find out when the next Price Media Law Moot Court Competition will take place.
ESU-Essex Court Chambers National Mooting Competition
This competition has been running since 1972 and remains a popular competition for aspiring lawyers. The final is held at the Royal Courts of Justice in June, with the winning team of two receiving £1,000 each and an additional £1,000 for their institution. Monetary prizes are also awarded to the runners up and all four finalists are offered a mini-pupillage at Essex Court Chambers.
Find out how you can get involved in the next competition via the website.
National Student Negotiation Competition
The University of Law and Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) sponsor the National Student Negotiation Competition, which sees teams of UK law students compete to represent England and Wales at the International Negotiation Competition.
The national competition consists of three regional heats, with the winners progressing to the national finals and then the international championship.
Find out more about the competition, including when applications for the 2027 competition open, via the CEDR website.
European Law Moot Court
A fantastic competition for those interested in EU law. Each year, around 100 student teams from EU and US universities apply to take part in the moot, with European Law Moot Court (ELMC) judges determining which teams will qualify for the next round.
Find out when the next case will be published and how you can get involved via the ELMC website.
Landmark Property and Judicial Review Moot
Landmark Chambers runs a property law and judicial review moot annually, comprising three knock-out rounds and a final. The mooters with the highest scores in the final round will receive £500 and the chance to complete a mini-pupillage with Landmark Chambers.
Find out more about what the Property Moot Competition and Judicial Review Moot Competition consist of via the Landmark Chambers website.
Internal and external moots
If you’re nervous about jumping straight into these prestigious mooting competitions, it’s worth seeking out the internal opportunities available to you at university to help build up your confidence and experience.
There are so many benefits to taking part in both internal and external competitions. Alongside developing your confidence, you’ll meet new people who can form part of your growing network. Speaking in public isn’t a skill that everyone is comfortable with, but taking part in a moot is a great way to conquer your fears. Unlike a game of Scrabble, with a moot it really is the taking part that counts – being able to learn from your experience, take on board the feedback you’ve received and develop a host of important skills.
Virtual opportunities
Meanwhile, virtual moots are available with the intention of reaching a broader audience. As an example, Quadrant Chambers has hosted a virtual speed moot for law students and society members in the past, enabling candidates from across the country to take part.
Check the chambers’ website to find out when the next competition will be held.
What skills do you develop?
Mooting can be a fun – albeit demanding – experience. But beyond that, it can help you to develop existing skills and teach you new things that will be beneficial as your legal career progresses.
Advocacy
The most obvious skill developed as a mooter is advocacy – a skill referenced time and time again by practising barristers. For many, they’re drawn to the Bar by the prospect of getting involved in advocacy as part of their long-term career, but for others public, persuasive speaking comes less naturally. Either way, building up your confidence in this area is crucial for success at the Bar and a skill that should be outlined in applications – and mooting is a fantastic opportunity for aspiring lawyers to build up this evidence.
Researching and structuring
As part of the mooting process, competitors will be required to read the problem/case at hand and put together an argument. An exercise that’ll no doubt benefit a mooter’s understanding and ability to present arguments in the most effective way in terms of pace, structure and emphasis. Make the most of any feedback you receive from the experienced judges that might be involved in the moot and look to apply this in your next moot, during your studies or even in an interview setting.
What do moots cover?
As described above, UK moots will look at a fictional appeal case, concerned solely with a point(s) of law. However, if you’re new to the process, it can be hard to imagine the sorts of cases you might expect to grapple with. As such, here’s a non-exhaustive list of the sorts of areas that are covered as part of mooting competitions:
- criminal law.
- intellectual property law; and
- international law.
The types of case will differ and can include appeals, civil suits and more. The subject matter can be vast but there are also opportunities to get involved in specific areas of law (eg, Landmark Chambers’ property law moot). More specifically, The Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot “involves a dispute arising out of a contract of sale between two countries that are party to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods”.
Why should students get involved?
Or rather, “What’s in it for me?” Simply put, mooting is the most effective way to get an idea of what conducting an oral legal argument is all about. Your self-confidence will improve and it looks impressive on your CV, which will enhance your chances of securing a pupillage or training contract.
There are also so many transferable skills to be developed throughout the mooting process, which will be invaluable to your future career in the legal profession – whether you’re an aspiring solicitor or barrister. Experiencing the law in practice, rather than just from a textbook, is also so helpful in identifying whether working in the law is right for you and it’ll provide you with evidence to demonstrate your interest too. Simply saying you were involved in a moot is unlikely to secure you a training contract/pupillage spot but being able to explain the moot, your role and what you learnt from it will impress recruiters.
Plus, if you’re successful, a number of the competitions have mini-pupillages on offer for winners, which could be just the in you need to kickstart your journey
What now?
So, you've decided to give it a go – where to from here? The first step is to contact your university or postgraduate provider mooting society or law faculty to find out how to get involved.
As with many things in life, practise makes perfect, so it goes without saying that you must engage in research and sufficiently prepare to give yourself the best chance of success.
2TG Chambers has set out a guide to mooting to help you put together your moot submission.
Olivia Thorne (she/her) is content manager LawCareers.Net.
