The Bucerius Common Law Moot started ten years ago to give students a chance to moot in English using common law precedents. The annual competition has traditionally been open to first and second year Bucerius Law School students. This year, to commemorate the 10th anniversary, the competition was coordinated with City University London.
Students researched and argued a complex commercial case involving a breach of contract. 18 Bucerius students participated by representing alternating sides of the case, either a German transportation company or U.K. haulage company, depending on the round. In addition to the submissions being entirely in English, students had to apply English law.
Jakob Dürr won the Award for Best Oral Advocate in the preliminaries. Four finalists, Tjark Neumann, Finn-Ole Münchow, Jonathan Friedrichs and Paul Plümpe, distinguished themselves as the School’s top mooters.
Then, each Bucerius finalist was paired with a City Law School student from London for the final rounds. The English barristers-to-be, Daniel Boon, Laure-Astrid Wigglesworth, Siân McGibbon, and Kah Wei Goh, travelled to Hamburg to participate.
Instead of the respective law schools competing against each other, typical of interscholastic moots, this was an exercise in cross-border practice. As often happens in real international disputes, the advocates were assigned co-counsel from the foreign jurisdiction which they had never met, but worked through the case together with.
The student's collaboration was excellent and this was reflected in the quality of their written and oral arguments. In the end, Tjark Neumann and Daniel Boon emerged victorious over runners-up Jonathan Friedrichs and Siân McGibbon in a close final.
In addition to various prizes of books, money and dining vouchers, the winners received a sought-after internship in the London office of Clifford Chance, the law firm which sponsored the competition. Clifford Chance lawyer, and Bucerius alumnus, Dr. Julia Baedorff also came to judge the finals. The winners received personal glass trophies and now have their names engraved on the Common Law Moot trophy.
Organizers included Lezel Crook, Monty Silley and Sonja Kunter, from Bucerius Law School’s Foreign Language Communication Programme, as well as City Law School academics Alex Mills, who authored the problem and used to teach at Bucerius Law School as well, and City Law School’s Moot Director Joanne Moss. All agreed that the event was a resounding success!
