About the Moot Court Program (LAWC 460; LAWC 480)
QU Law offers Moot Court experiences in both English and Arabic.
Moot Court is a genre of performance-based extracurricular activity that provides QU students with valuable opportunities to put what they learn in the classroom into practice. Participants take part in simulated court, arbitration, or other proceedings, usually involving researching legal questions, drafting relevant legal documents, and participating in oral arguments or debates.
The QU Moot Court program is dedicated to the development of practice-ready lawyers. Students are trained to serve as advocates in disputes that arise between governments and individuals. They develop their critical reading and analysis skills by researching actual legal questions in real jurisdictions. They also develop their persuasive writing skills by preparing written submissions for both sides of the legal issue. Finally, they develop the oral advocacy skills required to make a formal oral argument before an arbitral or judicial tribunal.
Moot Court and other legal skills competitions are a unique and important part of the legal education experience for several reasons. First, these types of extra-curricular activities encourage Qatar University students to engage in higher level critical thinking, problem solving, research, writing, editing, and oral advocacy. Second, they provide a platform for students to put their classroom learning to practical use. Finally, they provide students with an opportunity to develop their English-language skills at a higher level and in a professional context.
Students are required to engage problems that have strong and weak points on both sides. They have to do their own research, write their own drafts, assimilate professor comments, and revise their work based on those comments.
They have to look at both sides of an issue, and struggle with ambiguities arising from their research. They have to learn how to make a persuasive argument on one side, and then to make an equally persuasive argument on the other side.
They learn to draft an argument, and then they learn how to convey that argument orally via a question and answer model. Again, for oral argument it is not enough to memorize. They learn to think on their feet, and to answer new questions relying only on the expertise they have developed in their research and writing. And they learn to do all of this in a second language (English).
Professionally, students who have participated in these competitions are exposed to international commercial arbitration and negotiations. Many of our moot court and legal skills competition students have ended up going into international commercial law or have gone on to achieve arbitration certifications, based on their exposure through these programs.
Students who have successfully completed a moot court or legal skills competition experience also report being more attractive to potential employers. In Qatar at least, having the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot or the International Negotiation Competition on your CV is shorthand for high English-language ability, good written and oral advocacy skills, and a stronger than average work ethic. Those things all make these students more employable.
QU Law has participated in a number of Moot Court competitions all over the world, including:
- Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
- Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
- The International Negotiation Competition
- The Hague Inter-University Law Debate Tournament
- Arab Moot Court