Defending The Whole Damn Mess To The Death

Oh, I forgot to say: I got through to the next round of of the senior mooting competition. The best two from each moot go through, and I somehow managed this despite the fact that I arrived late with only half my submissions written, and wrote the rest while the person before me was speaking. Which is a lot tougher in mooting than it is in debating, because you need to be far more precise with what you’re saying when the judge can interject at any time.

In his feedback to us, the judge said my strongest point was the fact that I wouldn’t take any crap from him. This is probably due to the fact that once I finished the stuff I’d actually written down, I was pulling everything else from various orifices, and thought the best policy was to just defend the whole damn mess to the death. Seems to have worked.

The judge in this one was extremely good – he was pleasant, but obviously understood everything that was going on, and questioned all of us thoroughly. If I hadn’t gone through, I’d have accepted it, firstly, because he definitely knew his stuff, secondly, because with my dismal preparation my arguments probably had holes in them, and thirdly, because it was the highest standard moot I’ve ever been in and my competitors all seemed better prepared. This does mean, however, that I have to go through the whole damn rigmarole again in the next round. This is so ludicrous. First I whinge about having to do the moot, and it being difficult. Then I get through, and I whinge about having to do it again. If I’d lost in a way I thought was unfair, I’d whinge about that too.

Guess there’s just no satisfying some people…