Moot Courts

Objectives

he main objective of the discipline is to provide students with the necessary skills to be lawyers in competitions that simulate trial cases in international and national courts.

Moot courts serve multiple purposes:

1. They allow a direct contact with a simulated judiciary experience;

2. They connect the law in the books and the law in action, through litigation in a simulated trial case;

3. They integrate and articulate in a real context legal subject-matters learnt in several courses.

Students that participate in moot courts improve substantially their legal writing skills, through the drafting of the written proceedings, and also their oral skills, through the pleading in simulated oral judicial proceedings, where they have to answer questions made by the juries of the case.

General characterization

Code

33155

Credits

4

Responsible teacher

Francisco Maria Gil Fernandes Pereira Coutinho

Hours

Weekly - 2

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Books

Anthony E. Cassamatis e Peter Billings, Thompson Reuters´ Guide to Mooting, Thomson Reuters, 2016

Christopher Kee, The Art of Argument ¿A Guide to Mooting, Cambridge University Press, 2007

David Pope e Dan Hill, Mooting and Advocacy Skills, 3.ª Edição, Sweet & Maxwell, 2015

Eric Baskin, Mooting ¿ The Definitive Guide, Routledge, 2017

Emir Crowne, Mohammed Hashim e Shelley Kierstead, The Essential Guide to Mooting

A Handbook for Law Students, Irwin Law, 2010

Francisco Pereira Coutinho, Moot Courts, Almedina, 2017

Janet Walker, The Vis Book ¿ A Participant´s Guide to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Juris Publishing, 2008

Jeffrey Hill, A Practical Guide to Mooting, Palgrave MacMillan, 2009

John Korzen, Make Your Argument: succeeding in moot court and mock trial, Kaplan, 2010

John Snape e Gary Watt, How to Moot: A student guide to mooting, 2.ª Edição, Oxford University Press, 2004

Markus Altenkirch et al., The Complete (But Unofficial) Guide to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, 2.ª Edição, CH Beck, Hart & Nomos, 2014

Margaret Louise Ross e Michael Hammon, The Student Guide to Mooting, Dundee University Press, 2010

Megan Spillane, International Law Moot Court: an introduction, Idebate Press, 2008

Paul I. Weizer (ed.), How to Please the Court ¿ A Moot Court Handbook, Peter Lang, 2004

Sarah L. Cooper e Scarlett McArdle, Preparing to Moot ¿ A Step-by-Step Guide to Mooting, Routledge, 2017

Suzianne D. Painter-Thorne e Karen J. Sneddon, Moot Court Workbook: finding educational success and competition glory, Wolters Kluwer, 2017

 

Articles

Bruna Corby et al., ¿An Inside View on the Biggest Competition of International Commercial Arbitration¿, Young Arbitration Review, April, 2018, pp. 15-19

Eric E. Bersen, ¿Experimental Education Through the Vis Moot¿, Journal of Law & Commerce, 34, 1, 2015, pp. 1-15

Gerald Lebovits, Drew Gewuerz e Christopher Hunker, ¿Winning the Moot Court Oral Argument: A Guide for Intramural and Intermural Moot Court Competition¿, Capitol University Law Review, 41, 2012, pp. 887-942

 

Others

Center for International Legal Education, A Guide to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 2013, disponível em https://vistrainingmaterials.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/cile-cldp-vis-moot-manual.pdf (consultado a 19 de janeiro de 2019)

Teaching method

Through tutorial orientation, in the hours of contact, the professor, starts by explaining the basics of moot courts. Afterwards it will guide the students in the preparations of the written pleadings of a chosen hypothetical case and the preparation of the simulations of the trial. During the semester, students will have to litigate the case several times before a jury made of specialists in that subject matter.

Evaluation method

This course follows a system of continuous evaluation. In groups of four students have to draft a written pleading and litigate in several simulated court trials.

The assessment methodologies include:

1) Written pleadings (50%);

2) Oral pleadings (50%).

Subject matter

The syllabus serves two purposes: introducing students to a professional work environment and developing legal skills directly connected with litigation. They also stimulate teamwork, which is essential for success in legal professions, through the common drafting of written pleadings.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: