Acquiring a taste for law

20 August 2010

Secondary students interested in studying law at university can get a taste of courtroom action when they participate in Waikato University's Secondary Schools' Mooting Competition.

Run by Te Piringa - Faculty of Law, about 40 schools from the Waikato, Bay of Pleanty, Taranaki, Auckland and Hawke's Bay enter teams in the annual event where students are given a moot problem (hypothetical case), some research material and from that they develop a case which they argue with another school along the lines of an appeal. The semi-finals are held in Hamilton's District Court, with the finals in the High Court before a judge and a senior practitioner.

Hamilton's Sacred Heart Girls' College beat Matamata College in this year's final. Winning team members receive a $3000 scholarship to study law at Waikato and the winning individual mooter wins $500. The Hamilton girls team was Lydia McKinnon, who also won best individual mooter, Rochelle Monk and Leah Caddigan. Their team coach, Sally Barrett, says they began preparing for the competition in the first term and through their holidays.

"What impressed me," says Ms Barrett, "is the way the students quickly come to terms with what is often complex material and very different from anything they meet at school. Then they present their case with such flair and are able to respond to close questioning by a judge. I thought they were magnificent."

Waikato is the only law school in New Zealand to offer secondary school students this mooting opportunity. Co-ordinator Christina ter Haar says it's a good way to give students a realistic taste of law, and an understanding of court room mechanics. "It requires students to research and debate and to have a high degree of speaking competence and confidence in what can sometimes be a gruelling encounter. I'm always amazed at the dedication and enthusiasm the teams show."

She says students are guided through the mooting process. "We don't just throw a case at them and say ‘go for it'. And through the process they get skills and ideas about litigation – taking a case to court – court etiquette and procedures, the process of legal reasoning and argument and presentation."

Waikato's Faculty of Law has been running the mooting competition since 2001 and Christina ter Haar says it strengthens the town and gown relationship between the law faculty and local law community who often judge preliminary rounds of the competition.

At university level, Waikato law students take part in a series of inter-university competitions. For the last two years Waikato teams have come second at the Australasian Law Schools' negotiation competition and at home, teams also compete in client interviewing, mooting and witness examination competitions. "These events test our students in competitive situations, they gain confidence from the experience and it's good preparation for when they graduate and are out in the marketplace looking for jobs," says Ms ter Haar.

Winners: Sacred Heart Girls' College