St Mary’s Law Students Participate in Moot Competition

Students of the Law Programmes at St Mary’s University, Twickenham recently took part in the latest moot competition.

The moot, which takes place every semester in the University’s new moot court, sees competing students present legal arguments to a panel of judges in the mock Supreme Court.

The events provide students with the opportunity to draw on skills they have learned from their studies and practice their advocacy in a formal yet supportive setting, something well regarded by the legal profession.

The latest moot was based on a contract law problem and was guest judged by Principal Solicitor at Descartes Solicitors’ Evelyn Ofori-Koree, who has more than 14 years of court advocacy experience with the higher rights of audience qualification and is also a US attorney.

In addition to her work in practice, Evelyn sits on the Council of the Law Society, the Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Regulatory Processes and  Immigration Law Committees and has been the Vice-Chair of the Ethnic Minority Lawyers Division of the Law Society since November 2017.

She was joined on the panel by Senior Lecturers in Law at St Mary’s Lloyd Gash and Dr Thomas Giddens and gave a short talk to students at the start of the event and practical feedback at the end of their submissions.

This semester’s competition was jointly won by Billie-Jo Askew and Nadia Dileone, and Zara Todd and Marissa Celis for their preparation and high level of advocacy.

Lloyd said, “An enjoyable evening was had by all and a big congratulations to the winning teams. On behalf of the staff and students on our Law Programmes, our sincere thanks goes to Evelyn for sharing her experiences with us, for being such an excellent judge and for her warmth and kindness throughout the event.”

The next moot will be held in the autumn and will be based on a criminal law problem with all students warmly encouraged to take part.