Team – LLOYD Law College, Greater Noida comprising of Sarthak Raj (1st Speaker), Pratap Thakuri (2nd Speaker) and Wakani Nongtdu (Researcher)
Citation – Runners Up and Best Memorials
It all started in January 2019 when the team and the speaker arrangements were decided, and I found out that I would be headed to the 9th Dr. Pars Diwan Memorial International Energy Law Moot Court Competition as the first speaker. I would also be speaking for both sides. Depending on which role I was playing in that particular round, I would have to argue either for or against that proposition. This essentially required me to be familiar with twice as much material as compared to a person who specialized in either role! Initially, I was not sure if I could argue both sides with equal fervour. Nevertheless, the regular practice rounds helped to ease me into my role, and my confidence grew.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
Dr. Paras Diwan Memorial International Energy Law Moot Court Competition, hosted every year by UPES Dehradun, is the most prestigious mooting event in the SAARC nations in the field of Energy and Investment law.
PREPARATION:
My Team comprised of myself as the 1st speaker, Pratap Thakuri as 2nd Speaker, and Wakani Nongtdu as a researcher. First of it all started, by reading and re-reading the entire problem and critically analyzing and interpreting factual issues. The best way to do this is to keep writing your interpretations of each fact, for both the Applicants and the Respondents side simultaneously. After having sufficiently internalized the factual situation, we started drawing parallels to similar factual situations as stated above. After further research on each precedent, we shortlisted ones that closely resembled the given factual matrix. Then we moved on to case laws related to these factual situations. The International Courts and Tribunal judgments proved very useful in this regard since they contained an in-depth discussion of arguments from both sides, and discussion of past -precedents. This helped us divide legal arguments from each side’s perspective. To brush up our knowledge of International Investment Law, we referred to several books and research papers on the same subject. The late-night heated discussions on applicable laws and interpretations and staying in college till late night, are a sweet reminder of the beautiful experience that mooting is.
This brings us to the second stage, the memorial writing stage. We then turned to write arguments, having with us piles of photocopies, random notes were taken during discussions, investment law books, etc. We had divided the five issues in question between the three of us, depending on who has a better grasp of it. It took us around 2 months to finish the memorial. The writing of the memorial went right into the night until dawn. I still remember the submission day, we stayed back in the college till late night accompanied by some of our friends who motivated us throughout the moot. The whole time we hassled between correcting the typographical errors, correcting the page numbers and index of authorities. Finally, just a minute before the deadline we were ready enough to submit although with as setback in mind that we might lose on the best memorial award with the awareness of this fact that our seniors had grabbed this prestigious award last year, the pressure on us was at the peak.
Post submission we were into our third and final stage of preparation, the mock pleadings stage. In the hunt for a perfect and persuasive speech, the hassle remained the same. All thanks to our friends, seniors, and teachers who helped us throughout our practice sessions and were there always to motivate us. Just a day before the rounds, we were still unsure of how ready were to face it.
THE DAY:
The travel from the hotel to the venue was spent frantically cross-referencing and revising arguments. There were 26 teams in total including the teams from Nepal and Bangladesh as well. We were the applicants in the first round, and it turned out to be quite an easy affair, considering the Respondents had erred on several points of law and fact. The second round was against NUALS, Kochi and it was comparatively easy with the judges being quite passive and less inquisitive. We won both the rounds with a higher margin topping the table and making it to Top 8 teams. Later in the evening, we were pitted against 3rd and 4th-year students from Symbiosis Law School, Noida in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals had a set of extremely talented judges who mostly tested your general knowledge of international investment law issues, rather than on the main issue. One of the judges, who seemed like an accomplished scholar in the subject, asked questions making you say something that in retrospect would seem quite incorrect. Since the quarters took place at around 7 in the evening, the judge was very hostile and testy. Overall, to prevail in the quarter-finals one requires an in-depth knowledge of all the areas of law, in-depth knowledge of the fundamentals, and presence of mind which comes only from experience. We won the quarters and were still placed at the top of the table.
The next day, we were scheduled for semis early in the morning against DSNLU. The round was a thorough stress test since the judges were inquisitive and arguments were competitive. As soon as the round got over, we were declared to be in the finals making it to the TOP 2 teams. We were up against CNLU and unfortunately as applicants adjudged by a five-judge bench comprising of K. S. Venkataramani sir as the President of the court. The judges seemed to be scrutinizing the opinion of either of the teams with utmost meticulosity.
THE GOOD NEWS:
Tick Tock…, we sat there with utmost nervousness and curiosity to know the results. One after the other the awards were being declared and we sat there only to listen to who won. But suddenly we heard LLOYD and the focus changed and they repeated it the Best Memorial award goes to LLOYD Law College. Electrified by the moment I looked at my teammates and we sprung off our seats with utmost joy. Even the last minute hassle didn’t end up impeding securing the Best Memorial for our college and bringing the traditional home. But the joy was short and our focus turned back to the result we were waiting for since long. And it was time finally but the organizers kept it suspenseful questioning everyone who sat there in the hall as to who is the winner. Amazed by the sound the whole room shouted LLOYD altogether and I cannot tell what that felt.
In the end, unfortunately, we were adjudged as Runners up and thus went our moot experience in an International Moot- a journey worth sharing with you!
AUTHOR – Sarthak Raj is a 3rd Year BA.LLB. Student at LLOYD Law College, Greater Noida. He can be reached at srthkrj@gmail.com or LinkedIn handle at @linkedin.com/in/srthkrj.
ACE Memorial