Blackstone Human Rights Moot Court Competition 2022
The Blackstone Human Rights Moot Court Competition 2022, co-organised by Oxford Lawyers without Borders, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the Oxford Mooting Programme, was held on 4 and 5 March. This year’s edition was generously supported by Blackstone Chambers.
In the preliminary rounds, teams had to argue once as Applicant and once as Respondent. Participants included both undergraduate and BCL/ MJur students. The judges, drawn from a pool of Oxford’s Master’s and DPhil programs, included Angelo Ryu, Almas Shaikh, Juliana Mota and Lara Ibrahim.
After the preliminary rounds, the two teams that proceeded to the finals of the competition were Oisin Mag Fhogartaigh (Linacre) and Frances Hand (Hertford) for the Applicant, and Abe Chauhan (Jesus) and Gianna Seglias (Wadham) for the Respondent. The finalists made their submissions before a panel of esteemed judges consisting of Prof Maurice Mendelson QC and Emmeline Plews from Blackstone Chambers and Ashleigh Barnes, DPhil (Law) candidate.
The bench praised all finalists for their high-quality submissions, exceptional advocacy skills and nuanced analysis of the cited international authorities. The winners were the agents for the Respondent, Abe Chauhan and Gianna Seglias. Abe Chauhan and Gianna Seglias also walked away with the ‘Best Oralist, Final Round’ and ‘Best Oralist, Preliminary Rounds’ awards respectively. They will go on to represent the University of Oxford at the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot 2022 this summer.
We would like to congratulate all participants on their performance, and extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Finals Judges and the Preliminary Rounds Judges for making time for this moot. Our gratitude also goes to the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, Mansfield College, the Oxford Law Faculty, and Oxford Lawyers without Borders, for their valuable support. Last but not least, we are immensely grateful to Blackstone Chambers, for making this moot possible year after year, and giving Oxford students an opportunity to engage in human rights research and improve their advocacy skills.
