NLIU Bhopal to hold first Moot Court Convenors Conference Standardisation of moot court formats sought

The National Law Institute University in Bhopal (NLIU) is playing host to a unique initiative in the form of the All India Moot Court Convenors Conference 2012, scheduled to be held at the NLIU campus premises on March 24-25, 2012.The goal of the conference, as per NLIU’s Moot Court Committee convenor Bishen Jeswant, is to “standardize moot formats in India” and also to create a mechanism to lift the current standards of mooting in India. The conference is being held in assocaition with Surana & Surana International Attorneys and Lex Witness. Jeswant is expecting around 20 universities to participate in the Conference..Jeswant (pictured left) is a strong believer in the importance of moots in law school. “ An enthusiastic student can do 8-10 moots during his law school life, meaning working on around 25-30 distinct legal issues. There can be no doubt that that this is a great value addition to ones legal education”, he says. At the same time, Jeswant also believes that Indian law students are faced with several disadvantages vis-a-vis their foreign counterparts. Some of the problems Indian law students face are inadequate coaching (Moot coaches in the West have numerous incentives to coach students), language (in terms of diction and pace) and access to sufficient knowledge..Other than discussing the possible changes in current mooting formats (Jeswant argues that both “Two Wins” and “Cumulative Score” systems are flawed), the Conference will also allow students from different law schools to interact and, perhaps, help create a database of prize-winning memorials..One of the more interesting concepts which are to be discussed in the Conference are the possibility of holding annual “Moot Camps” in different universities. The idea of a Moot Camp, explains Jeswant, is to “provide a platform for the senior champion mooters from the various universities to interact with budding novice mooters in a non competitive atmosphere.”Jeswant sees these Moot Camps as a multiple-day affair with talks, discussions, exercises etc..With the number of law schools increasing along with general awareness about moot courts themselves, this Conference should make for an interesting platform for law students to discuss, debate and exchanged ideas..Steps for Registration: The Convener/Co Convener (or their nominated representatives) have to simply send an email to mca.nliu@gmail.com conveying their intention to participate in the Conference. Subsequently, the travel plans need to be sent in as soon as possible