Third time lucky for Open University winners of the OUP & ICCA National Mooting Competition

The winners of this year's OUP & ICCA National Mooting Competition were decided on Monday 14 June 2021. This year’s final may not have been held in historic surroundings of the Inns of Court, but the virtual courtroom was no barrier to quality as four teams pitted their wits against each other. Lady Justice Carr DBE presided over a hotly contested final where Charlotte Eker and Thomas Morris, representing The Open University emerged victorious.

Commenting on the standard of mooting seen, Lady Justice Carr paid tribute to the amount of work each mooter had put into their submission:

"That was a fantastic performance all round, you are all clearly budding advocates and thoroughly deserve your places in this competition final. I look forward to seeing you all before me in court in the not too distant future!"

The final saw a mixture of first-timers and old hands. Nottingham Trent University recorded their first appearance in the final in recent memory, whilst Open University notched up their third consecutive final. Queen’s University Belfast were victorious before in 2016/17 and Birkbeck, University of London took the trophy home in 2017/18.

The winning team are presented with a £1,500 cash prize, a trophy each, and the opportunity to marshal an Old Bailey judge and enjoy lunch at the Inns of Court when restrictions ease.

All four teams embraced the virtual format, new for this year as a result of the pandemic restrictions. The other finalists were David Illingworth (awarded an outstanding speaker prize) and Cameron Byrne from Nottingham Trent University, Wesley Manta and Stephanie Lopez-Cuenu from Birkbeck, University of London, and James Marks and Lucy Bill from Queen’s University Belfast who were named this year’s runners up.

We also thank barrister Tim Goodwin for the moot problems written specially for this year’s competition.