Oxford students finish as Finalists at the Inner Temple Inter-Varsity Moot 2022

We are proud to announce that the team representing the University of Oxford, Benedict Stanley (St John’s College) and Henry Fahrenkamp (Magdalen College), have finished as Finalists at the Inner Temple Inter-Varsity Mooting Competition 2022.

This year’s competition was held remotely on Sunday, the 16th of January, and saw 20 teams (representing universities from around the United Kingdom) participate in a series of knock-out rounds. The moot problem explored traditional contract law doctrine in the context of online messenger services. In particular, competitors had to determine if casual text messages could amount to a contractual offer, and, secondly, whether or not these would be subject to the ‘postal acceptance rule’.  Over the course of the competition, teams had to represent both parties to the appeal, which required switching between two wholly different sets of arguments at short notice.

Oxford's team received kind praise from the moot judges throughout the knock-out rounds. The grand final was judged by Lord Hughes of Ombersley as well as HHJ Deborah Taylor and Mark Hill QC, Master Treasurer and Master of Mooting at The Inner Temple, respectively. All finalists were commended on the quality of their oral advocacy and, in particular, their responsiveness to judicial intervention.