2026 Mooting Competition.

Each Moot will involve the following:

1.  After formal introduction to the bench each team will have 40 minutes to present their case.  The time may be divided between senior and junior counsel 20/20, or 25/15, or 15/25.  The division of time must be specified before you begin your oral submissions.

2.  A warning will be issued with 2 minutes to go and when the allocated time for each team member is up.  There will be no extensions of time.

3.  There will be a 5-minute right of reply.

4.  Each team must submit a two page written outline of their submissions.  These will briefly contain (a) an outline of the team’s submissions; (b) major argument(s) to be raised; (c) cases to be referred to; and (d) allocations of speaking time.

5.  Teams must file, and serve on the opposing team, the two-page written outline two days in advance. A copy must also be provided to the Court.

6.  If parties wish to present full written submissions they must, prior to the commencement of the moot, provide one copy for the opposing team and three copies to the Court. Where moots are occurring online, these should be provided by 5:00pm on the day before the moot.  

7.  Counsel are not required to provide copies of cases cited in their submissions to either judges or the opposing team.

8.  Each team may only make reference to a maximum of five cases.

9. Counsel are expected to wear formal attire (i.e. suits and dress jackets).Description text goes here

The winning team will be awarded the Judge Bollard Memorial Trophy, a copy of the recent publication “The Salmon Lectures: Law, Policy and the Environment” and free entry to the RMLA conference in 2027.

Note these dates are subject to change:

• Round 1: Wednesday 1 July 2026

• Semifinal: Wednesday 5 August 2026

• Final:  Friday 11 September 2026

• Problems will be released at least four weeks prior to each moot

• Participants must have less than 5 years post-admission experience.

• Participants must be fully paid up financial Young RMLA members at the time of application, and throughout the duration of the competition.

• Teams can be made up of lawyers from different firms.

There will be a registration fee of $100 per team member payable. Finalists should also note that they will be expected to travel to Paihia for the final.

3 hours of CPD is available.

Events like this would not be possible without the support of our community.

If you know anyone who might be available to judge the moots at 5.00 pm on Wednesday 1 July 2026 and/or Wednesday 5 August 2026, please do get in touch.

Similarly, we are looking for registers to support the judges on 1 July, 5 August and 10 September 2026 respectively. Again, please get in touch.