Gujarat National Law University, (GNLU) enjoys a rare place among an elite group of Law Schools in India and we are defined by an insuperable passion for mooting. The Mooting culture in GNLU is electrifying and the enthusiasm among the students is overwhelming. The selection rounds in the University itself are very tough which invariably results in the best people being chosen to represent the University. It is our endeavour to offer the best teams which have unparallel innovative thinking that helps our teams in performing really well in various moot court competitions including international moot court competitions. In order to accomplish this, we hold intra moot court competitions where the students compete in order to qualify and choose a moot in which they represent the University. One has to prove that he or she has the confidence, the talent and the knowledge to succeed.

GNLU has a rigorous qualifying structure comprising of two intra rounds in every semester. The problem for the 1^st round which is an elimination round, is normally based on domestic law while for the 2nd round, which is a merit round, is premised upon International law. The successful participants are then offered moot court competition based on the ranking.

A very interesting feature in GNLU which has helped us tremendously is the fact that mooting is compulsory for the 1^st year students. For them the moot problem is normally based on Tort Law with elements of Constitutional Law. The top 20 students from the intra rounds of the 1^st year are eligible to participate with the seniors in the 2nd round. One thing that must be noted here is that that there is no demarcation between the 1st years and the rest of the batches as far as opportunities are concerned, when it comes to representing the University.  This means that even the 1st years are entitled to represent the University as researchers or Speakers, in national as well as International moot court competitions. This is one of the key initiatives that the Moot Court Committee (MCC) has taken. This policy is very unique and rewarding and ensures that whoever has the talent is given an opportunity to showcase it. The MCC also conducts special orientation programs and classes for the 1st years to acquaint the students about the moot courts as it is also part of their academic curriculum and carries 20 marks.

The MCC also conducts special round for selecting researchers. The basic objective of this initiative is to give a platform to those students who have good research skills but have court room phobia. By this move these students get a platform to showcase their skills and boundless talents. It’s a kind of talent search for the GNLU students.

The recent success of our teams in various moot court competition including International moot court competitions can be attributed to the sheer hard work that is put in by the team members. Below is a list of Mooting Achievements of the students of our University in the past year:

National Moot Court Competitions

·         The GNLU team comprising of Prerana Chaudhari, Prajwala Lagali and Preseedha Premnath represented the University at the D. M. Harish Memorial Government Law College International Moot Court Competition, 2011 and were adjudged the Best Team (Winners).

·       The GNLU team comprising of Gursharan H. S. Virk, Nishant Sharma and Roopali Gupta participated in the Bar Council of India International Law Moot, 2011 and Gursharan H. S. Virk was awarded Best Advocate Award. The team was also bagged  the Best Memorial Award.

·       The GNLU team comprising of Ritwik Bhattacharya, Atulya Kishore and Kaustav Kundu participated in the B.R. Ambedkar National Moot Court Competition, 2011 and were declared the winners.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Aayog Doshi, Asmita Mishra and Vikas Walia represented the University at the NLS International Arbitration Moot 2011 and their team was ranked 3rd in this competition which is organised by National Law Shcool of India University, Bangalore. Ayog Doshi was also adjudged the Best Speaker and the team won the award for the 3^rd best memorandum.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Nikhil Varshney, Ujjvalya Anand and Divyanshu Kumar Shrivastav represented the University at the 6th G.H. Raisoni & ISIL National Moot Court Competition in Nagpur in March, 2011. They won the Best Memorial Prize and finished as the 3rd Best Team.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Arjun Sreenivas, Ankita Sharma, Saksham Marwah and Stuti Joshi participated and were the semi finalists in the Pro Bono Enviro Moot Court Competition 2011 held at the School of Excellence in Law, Chennai.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Devaditya Chakravarti, Rishav Bannerjee, Varun Chablani, Sujoy Dutta, Sujoy Mazumdar and BN Vivek participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, 2011 North India Rounds and attained the 5^th position overall and were awarded the prize for the 3rd best memorial.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Amresh Anand, Kamakshi Jasra, Kapil Chaudhry and Harsha Rajwanshi (all LLM students) participated in the II P.G. Moot Court Competition organised by the University of Pune and were declared the 1^st Runners up.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Tanya Nayyar, Manish Rao and Alok Nayak
participated in the Commonwealth International Moot Court Competition, 2010
and were Semi Finalists in the National Rounds.

International Moot Court Competitions

·         The GNLU team comprising of Esha Goel, Anisha Somal and Ishita Farsiya represented the University at Manfred Lachs International moot court competition 2011 in Indonesia. They were the Semi-finalists at the oral rounds and Esha Goel was awarded the 3rd best speaker.

·         The GNLU team comprising of Mansi Tewari, Tuhin Sharma, Prateeti Gaur and Tarang Shashishekar participated in the ICC International Mediation Competition, Paris, 2011 and were given an Honourable mention award for the Best acknowledgement of cultural differences and they also secured 3 more nominations for other such awards. They were the only Indian team to win an award there.

Extraordinary amount of preparatory work goes into organizing the intra moot court rounds as mooting is extremely popular amongst the students and most of the students of the University participate in the moots and so the Committee is an ever bustling centre of activity, and is without wonder, a coveted committee to be in.

Mooting is one of the key extracurricular activities in a law school. The legal profession is an increasingly difficult one to enter. Application forms for legal professional courses, solicitors’ firms and barristers’ chambers often demand that a candidate can provide evidence of their advocacy or mooting experience whilst at university because mooting helps in building confidence in public speaking, general research, and presentation skills. In other words mooting experience can benefit every student whether or not they plan to follow a traditional legal career path upon graduation or not.

All Communications, queries and doubts can be addressed to the ID: mcc@gnlu.ac.in and the Moot Court Committee can be contacted at:

Mr. Girish R., Faculty Convener, Moot Court Committee, (+91) 8128650806

Ms. Radhika Chadva, Student Convener ,(+91) 9825443386

Ms. Arunima Chandra, Student Co-Convener, (+91) 8690253293