Mooting and Debating

A moot court competition simulates a court hearing, in which participants analyse a problem, research the relevant law, prepare written submissions, and present oral argument. Moot problems are typically set in areas of law that are unsettled or that have been subject to recent developments.

The procedure imitates that followed in real courts: the judge enters, the mooters and the judge bow to each other, the clerk announces the matter, the mooters give their appearances and are then called on in turn to present their submissions, the judge asks questions of the mooters, the court adjourns, and the judge then returns to deliver a brief judgment and some feedback.

Mooting is not the same as public speaking or debating, although it shares some common elements with these activities. It is a specialised application of the art of persuasive advocacy. At the Department of Law we believe that mooting is an essential part of the academic study of the law as an undergraduate programme. A common misconception is that studying law is mainly a matter of memorizing data. It is true that there is a lot to remember but lawyers exist to use the law, not just to know it, and the main way that lawyers use the law is by making legal arguments. A central aspect of legal education is learning to make a proper legal argument. This is a creative activity and calls for originality and inspiration as well as information and accuracy.

Through a combination of teaching, learning in the classroom and mooting we hope to create the right environment for our law students to explore the art and science of making a good legal argument.

We propose to use mooting as part of in-course assessments and to also conduct an annual mooting competition from this academic year onwards.

The Department encourages students to take part in debating activities. It recommends the parliamentary style of debating as the best possible format of debating to engage in public policy debates.

The Department will, as far as possible, support student participation in national and international debating and mooting competitions.

Constitutional Law Moot 2024 organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo

Members:

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe
  2. Ruvindi Fernando
  3. Yasara Pitawala
  4. Sasa Perera

Achievements:

  1. Runners Up
  2. Best Overall Written Memorial
  3. Best Written Memorial for respondent
  4. Best oralist in the PR – Ranudi Premasinghe

Nuremberg Moot Court 2024

Organised by:

  1. The International Nuremberg Principles Academy
  2. The International Criminal Law Research Unit at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (ICLU)

Venue: The Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany.

Members:

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe
  2. Ruvindi Fernando
  3. Yasara Pitawala

Achievement:

  1. From the written phase, the team advanced to the top 40 teams, qualifying for the global oral round out of over 200 teams worldwide.
  2. Having won both preliminary rounds, the team advanced to the ‘Last 16’ stage out of 131 teams, being the only team from Sri Lanka to do so.

Coached by alumna and Attorney at Law, Ms. Shannel Gunatileka.

KDU Memorial Criminal Law Moot Court Competition 2024

Members:

  1. Dilini Dambagalla
  2. Lakshadi Navodya
  3. Sharanya Mathiyalagan
  4. Laviksha Herath

Achievements:

  1. Semi-finalists.
  2. Runners-up award for the best Memorandum for the Respondent side.
  3. Runners-up award for best oralist (Lakshadi Navodya)

Coached by alumnus and AAL, Mr Chathura Viraj Wijesekara.

Waag-Prabhashwara Debating Tournament 2024 organised by Uva Wellassa University

Achievement – Runners-up

Members –

  1. Asindu Chanuka
  2. Pasindu Jayadeesha
  3. Madura Chamal
  4. Lakshadi Navodya
  5. Sadeesha Dinanjalee (R)
  6. Nirosha Lakmali (R)
  7. Hansani Gurusinghe (R)

Hulftsdorp Debates 2024 – participation

Members:

Team A – Thejasvini Philips, Supuni Bhagya, Hishra Farooque (R)

Team B – Hamna Azur, Senuri Yapa. H.M.Amasha Dhananjanee (R)

Team ranking (total teams 38):

Team A – 17 (points 599)

Team B – 22 (points 596)

Speaker ranking (all speakers 60):

Thejasvini Philips – 18

Hamna Azur – 28

Supuni Bhagya – 33

Senuri Yapa – 36

Coached by alumnus and AAL, Mr Chathura Viraj Wijesekara

National Mediation Competition 2024 organised by the Moot Court Bench

Achievements –

  1. Semi-finalists
  2. Best Opening Statement – Sasa Perera and Kavindya Dilrangi.

Members –  

  1. Sasa Perera
  2. Supuni Bhagya
  3. Kavindya Dilrangi

Clash of Minds 2024 – Sinhala

Achievement – Semi-finalists

Members –

  1. Asindu Chanuka
  2. Supuni Bhagya
  3. Lakshadi Navodya
  4. Pasindu Jayadeesha
  5. Chamidu Denuwan
  6. Kavindya Dilrangi

Coached by Mr Hasitha Perera

Clash of Minds 2023/2024 – Tamil

Achievement – Semi-finalists

Members (Team was a cross-faculty team) –

  1. Vijayakumary (Law)
  2. Sharanya (Law)
  3. Rishikeshan (Engineering)
  4. Harthiyayini (Management)
  5. Lojan (Arts)
  6. Pinthuja (Arts)

Henry Dunant National Memorial Moot Court Competition 2023 – Tamil category organized by University of Jaffna with the collaboration of ICRC

Achievements –

  1. Champions
  2. Best oralist – Ragavi Paskaran

Members –

  1. Ragavi Paskaran
  2. Rashika Balasubramaniyam
  3. Sharanya Mathiyalagan

 

Henry Dunant Memorial Vernacular Moot Court Competition Sinhala medium

Achievements –

  1. Runner-up
  2. Best Advocate (Lakshadi Navodya)

Members –

  1. Lakshadi Navodya
  2. Sasa Perera
  3. Reshmi Shermila (R)

Paladine Debating Competition 2023 organised by Horizon Campus

Achievement – Quarterfinalist

Members –

  1. Asindu Chanuka
  2. Kavindya Dilrangi
  3. Supuni Bhagya
  4. Hiruni Nipunika

Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition 2023

Achievements –

  1. Semi-finalists
  2. Best written memorial

Members –

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe
  2. Yasara Tennakoon Pitawala
  3. Pasindu Jayadeesha Perera

Coached by alumnus and AAL, Mr Chathura Viraj Wijesekara.

International Bar Association, International Criminal CourtMoot Court Competition 2023 – participation

Team rank – 53rd out of 88 teams.

Members –

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe (Oralist)
  2. Ruvindi Fernando (Oralist)
  3. Yasara Tennakoon Pitawala (Oralist)
  4. Afliha Ayoobkhan (Researcher)
  5. Banuja Sivanantham (Researcher)

Coached by alumnus and AAL, Mr Chathura Viraj Wijesekara.

Hulftsdorp Debates 2023

Achievement – Semi-Finalists

Members –

  1. Supuni Bhagya
  2. Nuzna Hanim
  3. Piraneetha Piradeeban

Clash of Minds Inter-University Debating Competition 2023 – Tamil category organized by the University of Sri Jayawardhenapura

Achievements –

  1. Runners Up
  2. Best Point Presenter – Sharanya Mathiyalagan

Members –

  1. Sharanya Mathiyalagan
  2. Vijayakumary Assiskumar
  3. Renuka Thavapalaratnam
  4. Rashika Balasubramaniam
  5. Mohammad Nauf Mohamed mustaq
  6. Ragavi Baskaran

Coached by Miss Mathuri Kathiravelu.

Clash of Minds Inter-University Debating Competition 2023 – Sinhala category organised by the University of Sri Jayawardhenapura

Achievement – Top 6

Members –

  1. Sayini Senevirathna
  2. Umayanga Gallage
  3. Pasindu Jayadeesha
  4. Dinuththara Subhasinghe
  5. Dhananjana Dinuwantha
  6. Abdur Rahman

Clash of Minds Inter-University Debating Competition 2023 – English category organized by the University of Sri Jayawardhenapura.

Achievements –

  1. Runners Up
  2. Best Point Presenter – Ranudi Premasinghe
  3. Most popular team

 

Members –

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe
  2. Yasara Pitawala
  3. Ruvindi Fernando
  4. Aamir Hameed
  5. Thanuja Malathi (R)
  6. Thayine Kiruthisha (R)

Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition 2022 – participation

Members –

  1. Thenuka Christy
  2. Afliha Ayoobkhan
  3. Gauravi Senaratne

Constitutional Law Moot competition 2022, organized by Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.

Achievements –

  1. Semi-Finalist
  2. Best Oralist in the PR – Ranudi Premasinghe

Members –

  1. Ranudi Premasinghe
  2. Ruvindi Fernando
  3. Katheeja Roobi
  4. Banuja Sivanantham

 

Coached by alumnus and AAL, Mr Chathura Viraj Wijesekara.

Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition 2022 – Sinhala category organized by KDU with the collaboration of ICRC

Achievement – Champions

Members –

  1. Pasindu Jayadeesha
  2. Sahan Sathsara
  3. Umayanga Gallage

International Commercial Mediation Training and National Commercial Mediation Competition 2022 organized by The Moot Court Bench.

Achievements –

  1. Semi-finalist in Mediator Category
  2. Distinction in Mediation Management
  3. Distinction in Mediation Advocacy
  4. Spirit of the MCB award (Sharustiga Naomi)

Members –

  1. Shantheesawaran Sharustiga Naomi represented the Mediator category.
  2. Yasara Pitawala and Mathuri Kathiravelu represented the Negotiators category.

International Bar Association International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition 2022 – Participation

Members –

  1. AzzNee Marzook
  2. Fairoos Fathima Simrana
  3. Harini Mahendran
  4. Sathyavel Thanuja Malathi
  5. Iresha Anupama Kumari

Henry Dunant National Memorial Moot Court Competition 2022 – Tamil category organized by University of Jaffna with the collaboration of ICRC

Achievements –

  1. Champions
  2. Best oralist Fathima Shimrana

Members –

  1. AzzNee Marzook
  2. Fathima Shimrana
  3. Renuja Thavapalaratnam

 

Clash of Minds Inter-University Debating Competition 2022 – Sinhala category organized by the University of Sri Jayawardhenapura

Achievement –

  1. Runners up
  2. Most Popular team
  3. Best Speaker (Hasitha Gimhana Perera)

Members –

  1. Abdur Rahman
  2. Dhananjana Dinuwantha
  3. Pasindu Jayadeesha Perera
  4. Hasitha Gimhana Perera
  5. Nimesha Madhushani (R)
  6. Sasini Mahesika (R)

Philip. C. Jessup International Law Moot Competition 2022 – National Rounds

Members –

  1. Mathuri Kathiravelu
  2. Sukirtha Sivasubramaniyam
  3. Lakmal Deegalla
  4. Sathyavel Thanuja Malathi
  5. AzzNee Marzook

PARTICIPANTS OF VIS MOOT COURT BENCH OF COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION AND CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS 2020

Two member Mooting Team of the Department of Law, UoJ, comprising of Ms. Shannel Gunathileka and Ms. Mathuri Kathiravelu participated in the VIS MOOT COURT BENCH OF COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION AND CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS 2020 Organized by USAID. Ms. Mathuri Kathiravelu received the Spirit of Moot Court Bench Award for the year of 2020.

International Tamil Debating Competition-2020

A two member debating team of the Department of Law, UoJ, comprising Ms. Kathirtharshini Parameswaran and Ms. Diloginy Moses, has moved to the Semi-Finals in the International Tamil Debating Tournament -2020, organised by Tamil Studies Unit, Language Department, IPOH Campus, Perak, Malaysia.

Champions, The Henry Dunant Memorial National Moot Court (Tamil Medium) Competition – 2019

Ms. P. Kathirtharshini received the Best Mooter Award for the Henry Dunant Memorial National Moot Court (Tamil Medium) Competition – 2019

Runners-Up, The Henry Dunant Memorial National Moot Court (English Medium) Competition – 2019

Victor’s Moot Team, University of Jaffna – 2020

Participants of the Victor Moot Competition -2019

15th Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition Regional Round -2019 (10-12 December 2019) Dhulikhel, Nepal.