Mooting - the verdict

Not that anyone actually reads this blog but I feel compelled to tell my non readers that today's moot was the most HORRIBLE experience of my life.

The Judges (looked like just graduated or in the stages of training pupilledge who then told us after the moot that they had mooted nationally and internationally) acted like REAL judges. They were not nice. They interupted me at every point.(suppose thats what judges do)

Whilst making my very first submission they asked me to give the elements of promissory estoppel ( I thought to myself FUCK, they want me to give a brief definition right here and now of my WHOLE moot) So from the first minute I had basically fucked it up.

Although the 2nd Judge who seemed a lot nicer did say at the end, that I got a raw deal, and that he would have never asked me to give the elements of promissory estoppel, but instead that I should have refered him to the cases I had used. I didnt know that though! I wasn't inventive enough! The other judge had asked for them and I didnt know what the fuck to do!

I conceded to everything the judges said, I gave up, whilst I did OK at mooting last year getting to the third round, I have never experienced being question before I had made my first submission.

I had heard that in during the final rounds of the Moot at my Uni that barristers that were invited to judge the competition threw the counsel's bundles and just said it was rubbish, that they interrupted them before making their first submission, I thought that was what happened in the final stages, and I was very wrong.

The appellants were very good, first year mooters who had never before mooted, very clear, did not back down on their arguements (my downfall - can't hack being told repeatedly what I am saying is rubbish so I just agree what im saying is rubbish)

I stumbled my way through my arguement because I felt that all of it was rubbish, I hadn't had any real grasp of the topic, the judges were talking about things of promissory estoppel that I had never heard of before, even though I read two text books on promissory estoppel.

I was shit I hadnt prepared enough, just generall shit and I feel really shit, because of the way the judges talked to me which as i said in my moot" you've completly thrown me off my argument" note - never say that in a real moot. I just despaired, I despair now.

Advocacy is hard really hard.

Points to improve
- Our Bundle was apparentlly shit, the judges didn't like our complicated system of tabbing.
- Fair enough it was complicated however we had been told the year before that our tabbing wasn't complicated enough and that for example if you want to refer the judge to the facts of the case then that should have a tab, and if you want to refer them to a judge's ratio then that also has to be tabbed. - The judges HATED our Bundle, said it was confusing, and preferred the appellants bundle which just had each case clearly separated.

Yeh

So I feel shit, great, currently not thinking "oh I should think about this, note down points and improve" I just want to curl up, watch the new series of The Mighty Boosh, and get mightly pissed.