After winning in the 1st Round of the UKLSA National Moot Competition we had a successful 2nd Round moot (mock trial) against Manchester University’s Ella Coverley and Harry Bithell. Dr. Bruce Wardhaugh, Manchester University and Dr. Keith Puttick, Staffordshire University were the judges (shown in the pic with both teams, us on the left).
We represented the Crown Prosecution Service in the High Court in an appeal by Bill Farmer after he was convicted of driving his tractor while drunk. To see off the appeal, and persuade the court to uphold Bill’s conviction, we had to convince the judges that the fields in which he had been driving were a ‘road’ and a ‘public place’ under the Road Traffic legislation. After a tough battle the score-sheets showed equal marks for both teams! The judges’ were highly complimentary in their marking and feedback – particularly on UKLSA marking criteria of quality of presentations, argument, and legal research.
The University of Manchester were graceful hosts and we thank them for a truly great experience (and the cake!).
We are waiting to hear from UKLSA if we and Manchester will go through to the next round. Hopefully yes. Let’s see! Who knows, if we progress (and the force is still with us!) we could go on to win the competition?
Whatever happens next we had a great time and did well to draw with a team from one of the world’s top universities.
Jack Bizzell
Staffordshire University Law School

Congratulations to Staffordshire University Law student Jack Bizzell who won their first round tie against Wolverhampton University’s Aaron McKenzie and Hiba Asghar in the UK Law Students’ Association competitive moot competition.

They represented an appellant fighting a deportation order in the Immigration Tribunal. Jack  successfully argued that their client was assisted by his (and his family’s) ‘exceptional circumstances’, ECHR Convention rights, and Public Law ‘proportionality’ requirements. The court clerk was fellow SU student Simon Mitchell. The judge was SU Law School lecturer Keith Puttick, a former Unified Appeals Tribunal judge and a co-author of Civil Appeals. Keith in his feedback said the performances by both teams had been really impressive and he ‘scored’ the SU team as ahead on points given the quality of their legal arguments, use of authority, legislative schemes and pre-hearing research using on-line systems like Lexis Library and Westlaw. SU will now go through to the next round of the national competition.