Moot Court Competitions

Moot Courts are a unique opportunity for students to experience a court proceedings first-hand. Moot courts test not only legal skills, research, legal writing and oral advocacy, but also competitiveness and team spirit. It is a unique experience, with the core aim of gaining practical experience under the guidance of experienced coaches. Participation in the moot court involves students having to study and analyse a fictitious case in detail and formulate persuasive arguments on behalf of the parties involved, using case law and other sources of law, both in writing (students submit written submissions meeting strict formal criteria of a real court filing) and orally (students present their arguments  to a panel of experts - the 'judges').

Through these simulations, students have the opportunity to gain valuable practical experience in preparing a logical and well-structured legal text, and learn how to present convincingly without stage fright and nervousness.

You can become a member of a competition team that will represent the Faculty of Law at one of the international moot court competitions (and, if successful, you will travel to an international round of the competition in question).

Notes:

English Master's degree students: The information provided here concerns specifically the application procedure and participation in competition teams, representing the Faculty of Law on international moot court competitions. While students of the English-language degrees are required to participate in moot courts as regular study courses (in first and second year of English-language Master's degree), the information provided herein is applicable to them only insofar as they opt to apply for a competition team, and are selected to represent Faculty of Law in one of the international moot court competitions. If students of English-language degrees that are obliged to participate in moot courts opt to participate as non-competing members, or are not selected in the selection procedure as team members, the details of their participation in moot courts will be provided by the their study department (ERASMUS+ office), after consulting with the moot court coaches.

English degree students: While students in first and second year of English-language Master's degree are obliged to participate in moot courts as study courses (and they can choose to apply for a team position, or remain non-competing member), students in other year of English-language degree studies are encouraged to apply for position of the competition team members as well.

Visiting students: ERASMUS+ and other foreign visiting students are eligible to apply as moot court competition team members, if the moot court rules allow such students to participate, and provided they apply within the regular application deadlines. Visiting students' applications will be considered only if they remain as visiting students at Comenius University for the duration of the entire competition (traditionally, this requires mobility to last during both winter and summer terms).

Scope: The information on this page refers to international English-language moot courts to which Faculty of Law sends coach-led teams, such as the competitions listed below. In the case of competitions in Slovak or Czech language, it is necessary to contact directly the responsible departments, universities or other organizations that arrange the competitions.

How to apply?

The selection procedure for moot court competition teams consists of two rounds, written and oral.

Written round

The application form consists of 1 document, which consists of an application form and two annexes - a structured CV and a cover letter.

In the cover letter, you should indicate in particular:

i) why would you like to participate in a moot court,

ii) the reasons why we should select you for the competition team (your strengths),

iii) what relevant work experience, professional interests, ambitions and career goals you have.

The application form and both annexes must be emailed to moot@flaw.uniba.sk.

Oral round

Based on the first round of the selection procedure, the selected candidates will be invited to a second round, consisting of an oral interview. In addition to general questions about the candidate's personality, motivation and skills, the interviews may also consist of:

1. a discussion of a fictitious case study from the subject matter of the moot court for which the candidate is applying;
2. an oral answer and discussion of selected theoretical questions (from a list published in advance, candidates are expected to prepare for the interviews at a minimum using the suggested readings).

Participation in the Moot Court Competitions

The members of the competition teams are chosen on the basis of a selection procedure, which usually consists of a written application with annexes (in English) and an oral interview. The coaches are responsible for the selection of the members of the competition team, who may also decide in justified cases:

• not to open a moot court in a given academic year and not accept any applicant;
• to accept only suitable candidates into the competition team, even though the competition rules allow for more team members to be part of the team, than the amount of team members coaches accept in the selection process;
• allow and recommend candidates to participate in a moot court other than those in which they expressed an interest when applying.

Candidates who are selected for the competition team will be assigned courses that represent an evaluation of their participation in the mock trial (generally one course in the winter semester for participation in the written round and one course in the summer semester for participation in the oral round).

As each moot court has different rules, different schedules, and different responsible coaches, the specific terms of participation and evaluation of students representing the Faculty of Law are individualized by the moot court coaches and communicated to the selected team members. The general conditions of participation and evaluation of the members of the competition team are published in the information under Article 11, paragraph 4 of the Study Regulations (bilingual version).