Ten year anniversary for flagship mock trial on disability law

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce its ongoing support of the Oxford University Disability Mooting Championship, as the annual competition enters its tenth year.

The tenth anniversary will feature six teams from the University of Oxford and six from the University of Cambridge, going head-to-head in a mock court case, debating a problem centred on legal and policy issues impacting disabled people. This year the moot problem – a fictional case study scenario – to be debated by students involves the treatment of a pregnant disabled woman by medical staff in a hospital.

"This Mooting Championship is an ideal opportunity for the lawyers of the future to experience the pressures of a courtroom in a safe environment and also to learn more about the legal and policy issues affecting disabled people and their experiences of the legal system", says Tim Leaver, a partner in Herbert Smith Freehills employment practice and key sponsor of the event.

The competition's finalists will argue their respective sides of the case in front of a distinguished panel of judges including Lord Dyson (former Justice of the Supreme Court and Master of the Rolls), Professor John Armour (Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford), Paula Hodges KC (Head of Global Arbitration Practice, Herbert Smith Freehills), David Reade KC (Barrister, Littleton Chambers) and Dinah Rose KC (President of Magdalen College, University of Oxford, and Barrister, Blackstone Chambers).

The moot will be watched by an audience of student lawyers and guests who will also have the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion exploring how the UK can ensure adequate health and social care pathways for disabled mothers.

"We could not be prouder that, over the last decade, this competition has introduced hundreds of students to Disability Law and opened up exciting discussions at the intersection of law and policy to over a thousand members of the legal profession, access to law students and members of the public. We have covered a vibrant array of topics from inclusive action on climate change, the representation of disabled people on our TV screens and whether the criminal law considers mobility aids as part of the body. Here's to another ten years!", says Dr Marie Tidball, Coordinator of the Disability Law and Policy Project at the University of Oxford.

The winning team will be announced on Monday 20^th November 2023.