1. OPEN MOOT & WITNESS EXAMINATION ADVOCACY SKILLS SESSION With guest speakers Lloyd Wicks and Mark Giddings

2. 1.What is advocacy – and how does it relate to these competitions?  Hints and tips at how to be a good advocate 2.Witness examination – Rules & Preparation Techniques 3.Open Moot – Rules & Preparation techniques 4.Scoring criteria & Progression to the final rounds 5.Guest speakers 6.Questions Outline of Seminar

3. Advocacy – at its heart is about supporting or defending an argument. It is a skill of persuasion.  Good advocates are able to present facts and law in conjunction with each other in order to persuade  Witness examination utilise volunteer witnesses in order for advocates to adduce more information in order to persuade. Mooting focuses on setting detailed sets of facts in order for students to apply these facts to the law in such a way as to persuade.  First impressions are very important – advocacy as a performance What is advocacy?

4. WITNESS EXAMINATION Rules Individuals are paired with a different team mate each week as they receive the indication of the charge facing a volunteer witness. The witness and team work together to tease out their argument and present a convincing case theory to a judge. Each team has their own witness and may also undertake cross examination of the opposing witness to weaken their argument. The aim of witness examination is to be persuasive – You must persuade the judge through the evidence you are able to present and extract from your witness that your client’s story is the real deal

5. WITNESS EXAMINATION Rounds Competitors in the preliminary rounds will deliver one of either the Opening address and Examination-in-chief or the Closing address and the Cross-examination. Competitors will be randomly allocated to sides in the trial Materials given to competitors will consist of: o The statement of their witness; o The statement of the opponent’s witness; o The relevant section(s) of any Act(s). Questions will be released ninety minutes prior to the commencement of judging for each round, and teams will get to meet with their witness 30 minutes prior to their round commencing to brief their witness

6. WITNESS EXAMINATION Preparation & Procedure on the night Procedure: 90 minutes preparation – 30 minutes with your witness When the judge enters – all stand, and only sit after the judge does so The judge may ask for appearances – if so give them The judge will read the charge against the accused and the competition will begin Prosecution Opening Address – 2 min Examination in Chief – 10 min Cross Examination by Defence – 15 mins ‘The Prosecution Rests’ Defence Opening Address – 2 min Examination in Chief by Defence – 10 min Cross Examination by Prosecution – 15 min ‘The Defence Rests’ Closing addresses by the defence and prosecution – each 3 min Please Note: Do not discuss the contents of the trial materials with anyone other than your team-mate or witness on the night. If you receive any external help you will be disqualified.

7.  READ THE RULES OF EVIDENCE RELATING TO EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES – Some questions, if they are irrelevant, vexatious or improper will not be allowed in the examination (or can be objected to)  PRACTICE YOUR APPEARANCES – there is nothing more confidence shaking than forgetting your own name – practice makes perfect  PRACTICE YOUR OPENING/CLOSING – if you and your team mate can decide in advance who will do what you can spend the week preparing some helpful general statements you can insert into your opening/closing address WITNESS EXAMINATION Preparation Cont…

8.  Teams of 2 or 3 (if you do have a team of 3 only 2 people will speak on round nights)  We will be having 2 preliminary rounds, a quarter final, semi final and grand final  Only one problem question for the first preliminary rounds  The second round is seeded on the basis of scores from the first round and will be released on the night you compete  Questions are released a week prior to the competition night  Questions are released relating to the following areas of law: Admin, Commercial, Constitutional, Contract, Corporate, Criminal, Equity, Property, Tort and Competition and Consumer Law  Jurisdiction will always be stated on the question – however if not presumed to be South Australian heard at the SCSA OPEN MOOT Rules

9.  You must submit a written memoranda of argument for each round  Submitted by 4pm to the coordinator the day prior to the competition night  The Memo must contain:  the major arguments raised;  allocate speaking time; and  a list of authorities relied upon  Memoranda must be no more than 3 pages in length with an additional one page of authorities  Each team has 30 minutes to present on the night (excluding appearances) and the time may be divided as you choose  Judges may grant extensions of 5 minutes of time, but will only do so in exceptional circumstances OPEN MOOT Rules cont.

10.  READ THE CASES – Know the argument, know which judge you are citing and know if they are in the majority/minority or dissenting  CITE CLEARLY – if you do not have a copy of the AGLC. GET ONE. Know what has to be italicised etc. Use pinpoint references at all times.  PRACTICE YOUR APPEARANCES – there is nothing more confidence shaking than forgetting your own name – practice makes perfect  PRACTICE IN A CONVERSATIONAL STYLE – train as you play. A moot is a conversation, not a speech, so prepare as such. OPEN MOOT Preparation

11.  The purpose of written submissions is to save court time and to assist the Judge  Think about which court you will be addressing. Your approach in the High Court will be different to your approach in an intermediate Court.  Use IRAC: Issue, Rule Application and Conclusion.  Make sensible concessions to limit issues. The judges will appreciate you made the effort and will be well disposed to your reasonable and organised approach.  They should contain references to the evidence  Set-out and arrange your submissions in a way that will make them as comprehensible, and as persuasive, as possible. Use headings to guide the Court. OPEN MOOT Written Advocacy

12. WITNESS EXAMINATION Scoring Criteria

13. OPEN MOOT Scoring Criteria

14. MOOT AND WITNESS EXAMINATION Progression to Finals Competitors will progress through to the Quarter Final based on the following procedure of ranking: The eight competitors with the highest win-loss ratios will automatically progress through. If two or more competitors have tied win-loss ratios they will be separated on the basis of: o Head-to-head; o then Margins; o then Points. The same procedure is used for the semi and grand finals

15. Guest Speakers

16. Useful Resources - Competitions Handbook The Competitions Handbook is an invaluable guide to all of the competitions run by your AULSS Contains vital hints, tips and some basic style guides for approaching problem questions and competition nights – it also has example problems and approaches If ever in doubt always check the handbook for information!

17. Questions? If in doubt don’t ever hesitate to contact Elizabeth, the Open Moot Coordinator at: elizabeth.carroll-shaw@student.adelaide.edu.au Thomas, the Witness Examination Coordinator at: thomas.blokland@student.adelaide.edu.au Or Ashleigh the Competitions Director at: compsdirector@aulss.org.au