Moot Court Clinic

(LLLB107P)

Oral Skills in Moot

Courts

Jacob George Panickasseril

 Forms of Addressing a Judge
ALLOWED
– May it please the Honourable Court/Bench (where one or more judge(s) is/are sitting)
– May it please Your Lordships/Ladyships (where more than one judge is sitting)
– Your Honour/Lordship/Ladyship
NOT ALLOWED
– Sir (For Academicians) (BUT see Resolution 58/2006 under s. 49(i)(j) Advocates Act 1961 which permitted advocates to
call judges as Sir)
– Your Excellency (For Diplomats and High Officials) (Used in International Moots)
Never use the words – YOU –while arguing before the court and referring to the judge
Use second person/third person forms to maintain respect to the court – Your Lordship/Your Honour/The Honourable
Bench
Always refer to the court/bench when addressing the court even when one member of the bench is asking questions
 Forms of Addressing Your Opponent

ALLOWED
– The Counsel for the …. (Opposite Party)
– My Learned Friend
NOT ALLOWED
–He/She/They
Respect your opponent even if you are fighting tooth and nail on every single issue
 Structure of Argument

– Introduction
– Brief Summary of the Facts
– Brief Summary of the Issues
– Detailed Argument on Issues
– Prayer
 Introduction

Bow before the court before starting your argument (The same is to be followed when the
judge(s) enter or leave the court)
Ask permission from the court to begin your oral round – Counsel seeks permission to
approach the dias and refer the Bench as Your Lordships
– May it please the Honourable Court, (pause)
– This is the Counsel for the Appellant/Respondent (name of party) in the instant case, in
the matter of (Appellant) v (Respondent) (pause)
– With the permission of the Honourable Court, Counsel will like to begin
submissions/with a brief statement of facts (pause)
 Brief Summary of Facts

Begin the case with a one line statement which captures the essence of the dispute before
the court
Stick to the relevant facts only and do not add facts not stated in the moot proposition.
This holds true for the entire duration of the oral rounds.
As much as possible mention the dates in a chronological sequence during the course of
your introduction.
The counsel’s mastery of facts in the introduction can be gauged by the court and clarity
over the relevant facts will be appreciated by the court
 Brief Summary of Issues

Moot court competitions generally state the issues for adjudication and may permit
drafting of additional issues
With the permission of the court briefly state the issues to be addressed by the court
The issues for adjudication before the Honourable Court are two/three-fold
Number the issues as Firstly, Secondly and so forth
The speakers may distribute the issues amongst themselves keeping in mind the allocated
time
 Detailed Argument on Issues

Detailed exposition of the sub-issues should be taken up during the detailed arguments.
With the permission of the Honourable Court, Counsel may proceed to advanced arguments on
the abovementioned issues. The first issue raises several sub-issues therein.
Generally the first issue which is to be addressed before the court is the jurisdiction issue unless
there is no dispute from the opposite party. If the jurisdiction issue is disputed, the court cannot
proceed with the issues on merit unless the jurisdiction issue is determined. (This applies for real
courts and not for moot courts where all issues are to be argued upon with the permission of the
court and within the allocated time.)
After the jurisdiction issue is argued upon, proceed to the argument on other issues on merits.
 Detailed Arguments on Issues

Ensure that issues are having some form of continuity with each other for the purposes of
coherent arguments
Try to connect one issue when it is getting completed with the next issue
Sub-issues are to have overall structural continuity within the main issue and must not be
disjointed
 Prayer

With the permission of the Honourable Court , counsel for the appellant/respondent
would like to proceed to the prayer
The prayer in the appellate court should be to affirm or reverse the findings of the
lower court, or to grant the prayers mentioned in the memorial
With this, counsel for the Appellant/Respondent concludes the submissions and
unless the Honourable Court has any further questions, (pause) it was a pleasure
arguing before the Honourable Court
Counsels have to be specific with the prayer.
 Rebuttals & Surrebuttals
After the first round of arguments are concluded between the counsels, the counsel for the appellant is
provided with an opportunity to address the arguments made by the counsel for the respondent.
Surrebuttal is the rebuttal by the counsel for the respondent to the rebuttals made by the counsel for the
respondent
With the permission of the Honourable Court, may the counsel present his rebuttal/surrebuttal to the
arguments made by the counsel for the Respondent/Appellant?
Several points of rebuttal/surrebuttal arise of which two are crucial to be addressed before this
Honourable Court.
Rebuttal/Surrebuttal is limited to the points raised by the counsel for the respondent/appellant in its oral
submissions
Time is extremely limited for these submissions. Refrain from raising from more than two-three points in
the rebuttal/surrebuttal.