Oxford reaches Semi-Finals of HRLA Judicial Review Moot Competition 2020

As with most mooting competitions over the past year, the annual Human Rights’ Lawyers Association Judicial Review Moot took place online throughout November and December 2020.

 

The competition involved first making written submissions. The top eight teams were then selected to make oral submissions requesting permission for judicial review in the semi-finals and finals. The oral rounds were judged by practising human rights lawyers.

 

The moot problem this year concerned the denial of a face-to-face hearing for a disabled individual during Covid-19. It was thus a very topical issue, given the presumption of video-hearings during the pandemic.

 

A team of Emma Rowland (BA Law, Exeter College) and Yan Shen Tan (BA Law, Mansfield College) reached the semi-finals of the competition. Unfortunately, Emma and Yan did not make it to the finals, but were nevertheless pleased to have been selected to compete in the semi-finals out of over 90 paper submissions. Both enjoyed the competition and learnt a lot about how to moot a judicial review application, in contrast to an appeal. 

 

The final was won by James Lamming (BA PPE, Exeter College, 2016-2020) and Rosa Thomas (BA History and Politics, St Anne's College, 2016-2019), current students at City Law School and recent graduates of Oxford University.