Catz Lawyers Moot Victoriously over Cambridge

Two second-year Law students, Wei Jin Chan (2016, Law) and Kseniia Simongauz (2016, Law), recently won a mooting competition between St Catz and our sister college, Robinson College, Cambridge. A moot is a competition that simulates a court trial, preceded over by a professional judge, and there is one held annually between Catz and Robinson to offer a platform for students from both colleges to hone their mooting skills, as well as get to know one another better. This year’s moot was focused on land law.

Wei Jin, who is President of the Catz Law Society, shared his experience of the competition with us: “I took it up knowing that I am a relative novice when it comes to public speaking, in order to challenge myself and develop my skills. In preparation for the moot, we spent a few weeks conducting our legal research, drafting our skeleton arguments, as well as running through the arguments orally.

“I definitely enjoyed the experience of mooting for St Catz, and pushing myself to improve my presentation skills. Our victory over Robinson came as a pleasant surprise, as prior to this year we’ve lost the moot to Robinson – and they had the extra advantage of setting the question. It was a great experience being able to work with my moot partner, Kseniia, and I feel that it was our synergy as well as hard work that certainly paid off in the end!”

Kseniia, who is also on the Catz Law Society committee as Vice-President, told us: “I found the preparation for the event rather nerve-racking, but once I began reciting my speech, the argument seemed to flow naturally. Our friends and tutors have been incredibly supportive in the run-up to the competition, for which I am extremely grateful. Having worked alongside Wei Jin for an entire year, I had no doubts that he would be a fantastic moot partner and he certainly lived up to my expectations!”