On Monday 11 March 2013, two teams represented Cambridge at the Oxford French Law Moot/Concours de plaidoiries en droit français. Both teams made it to the semi-final, the one eliminating the other, and setting the scene for a final against University College London, at which UCL won. Congratulations to the Cambridge competitors, Lilit Nagapetyan, Jessica Pham, Philippe Boisvert and Guillaume Laganiere, to the research assistants Charlotte Kelly and Mikaël Schinazi, and to the coaches, Henri Decoeur and Clément Wierre.
In this competition the teams prepare arguments on both sides of a problem which is released two or so months in advance. At the start of each moot a coin is tossed to decide who, in that moot, appeals, and who responds. This year, the problem turned on a contractual clause of loyalty in an employment contract.
The competition is international, in 2013 four countries were represented: England, Germany, Spain and Italy (respectively, Oxford, King's College London, University College London, Birmingham, Warwick, Cambridge, Cologne, Complutense Madrid and Florence). Participants cannot have studied significantly in France, with some of the competitors having French as a first language but many having learnt it as a second (or fourth) language.
The two Cambridge teams were selected from an open call to law students, and were comprised of 3 LL.M. students and one second year undergraduate. After initially winning their respective pools in the morning, the two Cambridge teams went head to head in a very close semi-final. Phillippe and Guillaume narrowly beat their peers and went on to argue in front of a full panel, including the President of the Social Chamber of the cour de Cassation in France as well as other senior judges, academics and practitioners. Congratulations to all who took part, especially to the winning team from UCL: Micol Flegenheimer and Lara Levet.
This foray to Oxford marked Cambridge's re-entry to the competition after a short absence, and it is hoped that a team will be entered next year as well. For further information, please contact the team mentor, Dr Matt Dyson (mnd21@cam.ac.uk).