Future legal experts celebrated by university

Oshwal Academy, Nairobi, second runners up

Dundee Law School has been training high school pupils from across Africa in the art of Mooting since 2019. In 2021 the competition was contested by 13 schools from five countries, with a team from Kenya coming out as winners.

The 2022 competition involved teams from 30 schools across five countries. Each team participated in two moots, arguing for, then against, a fictitious civil law appeal before the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

For the second year in a row a team from Kenya prevailed, with the team from Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi, scoring the highest points total after performances of the highest standard. The team from Chisipite Senior School in Zimbabwe were named first runners up, with Oshwal Academy, Nairobi, second runners up.

Professor Peter McEleavy, Barrister, Professor of Law and Academic Lead for Sub-Saharan Africa at the University, said, “Establishing Mooting Societies in our partner schools has had an extremely positive effect. We have been able to conduct training over a more sustained period and the pupils can also see the level reached by Dundee Law School students, who have led most of the training sessions. The end result has been mooting of the highest standard.

“Next year we hope that alumni from each of the schools who are now studying at Dundee will get involved in the training of their former school mates – this can only make the experience better still.” 

The 2022 competition was the culmination of a year of training and advocacy practice led by Dundee Law School staff and student trainers from the Mooting Society. Thirty Schools across Africa were provided with mooting gowns and legal textbooks at the start of the academic year and then began an online training course introducing them to English law and advocacy.

An internal competition held in January determined which four pupils would represent each school in the international competition, which was held online.

Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi, first place

Beatrice Ombura, Teacher of Law at Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi, said, “The moot competition by Dundee was a fantastic opportunity for the students of Aga Khan to expand their horizon. Our school curriculum unfortunately doesn’t offer law as a line of study, therefore making the competition all the more impactful.

Mrs Vibhanshu Sharma, Head of Oshwal Academy Nairobi, added, “The participation in moot court sessions organised by the University of Dundee has been a very enriching experience to our students.

“The skill of mooting they have learnt will enable them to think and analyse like an advocate. They loved it and of course the position of second runners up is an icing on the cake. They had a chance to interact with University students, which is a good exposure to University level work. A moot is a vehicle for teaching and learning, therefore it has been a great experience for our teachers as well. The team is waiting for next year’s competition.”

The University of Dundee has a long and distinguished history of training lawyers who go on to practise in common law jurisdictions. 

The University offers law degrees in English Law (three years), Scots Law (four years) and a Dual Qualifying LLB in Scots and English Law (four years).

Dundee Law School has a growing community of African students undertaking their LLB degrees – several having participated in the University’s previous Mooting competitions in Kenya and Nigeria.