Mooting

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What is mooting?
Mooting in 2026
Internal Mooting Competitions
External Mooting Competitions

Mooting is a fun, challenging and social law school experience in which two teams argue a hypothetical fact scenario before a court. Mooting competitions at UNSW provide an exciting opportunity for students to develop their advocacy, legal writing and legal research skills. These competitions are also an excellent opportunity for students to meet other members of their cohort.

By mooting, competitors are able to practice skills relevant to both their degrees and their future legal careers , including legal research, writing submissions and making oral submissions to a bench of highly experienced and knowledgeable judges. Competitors may also cover areas of law that they have not yet encountered in their formal studies, better equipping them for the subjects they will come across in future years. Mooting is also favorably regarded by potential employers and can provide a gateway to external representation at competitions across Australia and the world.

Mooting in 2026

2026 sees the largest amount of mooting opportunities being offered by UNSW Law Society, new categorisations for the competitions, and other new programs including mooting mentoring to allow more law students to be involved.

The calendar above provides a brief outline and estimates as to when the competitions will be running throughout the year.

For more information on these opportunities, read below on our internal competitions that run across the year, and the external competitions in which students represent UNSW and compete against other universities!

Always keep an eye out on social platforms for updates and events, with information nights, training sessions and competitive opportunities being run throughout the year.

Internal Mooting Competitions

UNSW Law Society offers six internal mooting competitions across the year.

Three of these are based on competitor skill and degree level: the Beginners, Intermediate and Senior Competitions. They run across the year, with a first preliminary round in term 1, a second preliminary round in term 2, and finals rounds spanning the end of term 2 and in term 3. To be eligible for the finals rounds, you must compete in both preliminary rounds.

The other three are Specialty Competitions with shorter time periods and a less competitive environment to encourage student wider participation and provide more opportunities to further develop advocacy skills.

For more information about each competition, and who to contact, see below. For competition documents (including rules and the handbook), please click here.


Beginners Mooting Competition

Offered to all students in their first year of law, including first year transfer students and JD students.

To be eligible to judge this competition, you must have competed in at least two rounds of any internal or external mooting competition and have completed Torts (LAWS1061/JURD7161).

For more information, feel free to contact beginner.mooting@unswlawsoc.org.

 

Intermediate Mooting Competition

Offered to all students in their second year of law, including transfer students and JD students.

To be eligible to judge this competition, you must have competed in at least two rounds of any internal or external mooting competition and have completed Crime and the Criminal Process (LAWS1021/JURD7121), Criminal Laws (LAWS1022/JURD7122) and Principles of Private Law (LAWS1150/JURD7150).

For more information, feel free to contact intermediate.mooting@unswlawsoc.org.

 

Senior Mooting Competition

Offered to all students in their third year and above, including transfer students and JD students. This competition is judged by industry professionals, making it a unique experience to get advice from most qualified people.

For more information, feel free to contact senior.mooting@unswlawsoc.org.

 

Specialty Mooting competitions

We run one specialty mooting competition per term, designed to foster involvement in more student communities to further develop their skills and create more opportunities throughout the year. These programs are a great learning experience!

ESL Moot (Term 1)

Designed for individuals who have English as a Second Language (ESL), this moot has one preliminary round and one final round in Term 1. It is open to individuals at any stage of their degree, with the questions being accessible regardless of which year the student is in. It is also a perfect pathway to apply for and compete in the intervarsity ESL moot.

Women's Moot (Term 2)

This is the perfect opportunity for individuals who identify as female, or non-gender conforming, to test their advocacy and meet other like-minded students. This moot is in Term 2, with one preliminary round and one final round. It is also open to individuals at any stage of their degree. It is similarly a great pathway to apply for and compete in the intervarsity Women's moot.

Open Torts Moot (Term 3)

This moot is open to anyone at any stage of their degree, and with any level of mooting experience. Running in Term 3, it will have a preliminary and final round. This competition is a particularly good opportunity for those who did not proceed to finals rounds in other internal competitions, as it provides an additional chance to participate in some mooting towards the end of the year.

For more information, feel free to contact specialty.mooting@unswlawsoc.org

External Mooting Competitions

External Mooting competitions are a great way to develop your mooting skills in a team environment under the guidance of an experienced coach. Teams represent UNSW at various competition nationally and internationally. These competitions include:


In 2026, UNSW will be hosting the annual Private Law Moot. The UNSW Law and Justice Faculty also offers international mooting competition opportunities.

Applications open throughout the year for various competitions, so keep an eye out for updates in The Brief, on the Discussion Forum and here!For more information, feel free to contact external.mooting@unswlawsoc.org.