The National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (NUJS), recently concluded the 4^th NUJS-Herbert Smith National Corporate Law Moot Court Competition. The event was held at the NUJS campus from February 10-12, 2012.

The competition saw participation from 16 teams across India out of the 20 that were invited. The four teams that could not attend the competition had cited scheduling conflicts with their academic and internship schedules.

The problem for this year's competition was set by Promod Nair, aformer Senior Associate with Herbet Smith and current Partner at the Bangalore office of J. Sagar and Associates. Karan Talwar, Co-Convenor of the NUJS Moot Court Committee, says that the problem was universally deemed to be challenging by judges and participants alike.

Although primarily based on the Indian Companies Act, the problem also demanded “..accurate knowledge of several RBI guidelines, various banking regulations and the SARFAESI Act.” says Talwar. The problem also required participants to apply fundamental principles of contractual interpretation.

The competition saw Government Law College, Mumbai (GLC) and National Law Institute University, Bhopal (NLIU) battle it out in the final round.

Chris Parsons, Chairman, India Group at Herbert Smith was a judge in the final round. Parsons says that it was quite a “challenge” for him to judge the teams. “The problem was very detailed and covered a wide spectrum of issues, so one had to be very careful when weighing all arguments on facts and on the law.” When he was asked about the benefits of mooting, Parsons acknowledged that mooting helps law students, “....develop skill-sets which are essential when working in a corporate law firm. One learns how to get his point across clearly in a relatively short period of time, which is a good skill to have in a law firm environment.”

At the same time Parsons also said that “On the question of whether some law school activities carry a greater weightage over some others, I don’t think Herbert Smith advocates such a stance. We’re looking for well-rounded individuals of good calibre.”

Another final round judge, Mr. Nicholas Peacock, Partner in Dispute Resolution at Herbert Smith, had an interesting piece of advice for moot participants. “I believe that when a lawyer puts forward his case, he must not just confine himself to telling a judge why his case is legally sound. In fact, he should ideally establish that his client winning the case would be the most just solution. In other words, the lawyer must use the facts to show that his client's victory would be the most viable solution, whether commercial or otherwise....”

GLC was comprehensive in its victory over NLIU, winning Best Team and Best Memorial. Riva Shah from GLC, also won the Best Speaker Award.

According to Talwar, one of the most interesting elements of the competition was the diversity in the judges. “We had a wide spectrum of judges ranging from partners and associates of prominent firms ..........to members of the academia....to advocates from the Kolkata High Court”