The blogs are alive… with the sound of mutiny…
The music to Teddy Bears Picnic and, curiously, The Sound of Music came into my mind as I settled down to write… and, I was pleased to note, that…. Josephine Bloggs added….
“…’cause that’s the way the Pre-sid-ent has his piiiiiiiiicnic!”
Comment by Josephine Bloggs on Accidental law Student
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LAW BLOGGERS V EL PRESIDENTE
I write from my Staterooms in West London… of villainy, outrage, and ambition….
“O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!”
Hamlet (I, v, 106)
At a Law School… ’somewhere in England’ – a Mooting Competition has caught the imagination of law bloggers, students and… Charon.
The facts, from the many reports I have read, are as follows:
1. A mooting competition was held at a Law School in England. The President of the Mooting Society (’El Presidente’) was eliminated from the moot competiton at the quarter-final stage (’his first internal moot’ See: Blog Reports [2007] )
2. While there is some evidence that ‘The society’s usual course of action was not to replace mooters who dropped out but to continue with however many participants remained’, El Presidente re-entered himself into the semi-final of the competition to replace people who had dropped out, went on to win the semi-final and, subsequently, The Final. El President, thereby, won the ‘entire competition’ and, I quote from the report: ‘having participated in a mere three out of five moots of which only two were successful, and the first of which had disqualified him from the competition altogether.’ (I am grateful to Accidental Law Student for his precise raportage)
3. El Presidente : ‘immodestly drank a champagne toast to his own ‘victory’ from the silver winner’s trophy of this year’s internal mooting competition.” per Josephine Bloggs
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I spent a most enjoyable hour last night reading the various accounts of this extraordinary event.
For my part, the bloggers who are objecting to the behaviour of El Presidente have a point. It is ridiculous that a competitor, eliminated from a quarter-final, should re-appear in the semi-final and then go on to win the Final. (Mind you… it has to be said, if the England Cricket Team had been able to pull a similar stunt off in the cricket World Cup… it is likely that I would overlook such a solecism !)
Fellow blogger, Corporate Blawg UK, weighs in with a comment: “Yeah – he sounds like a weasily cheating b*star*d who deserves to be properly screwed (but without the full facts it is hard to tell for certain). The professional caveat in brackets is noted by Charon!) See: Comment
Josephine Bloggs took a robust view: “Seems to be rather lot of jiggery pokery altogether”
London Law student goes straight to the point: “Not for the first time, the internal mooting competition has thrown up a distinctly bad smell.”
Follow the links I have given above and you will find out even more. (BTW: If the facts are as represented in the various source blogs there is no defamation.)
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Was it the fact that El Presidente won the Final after pulling a quite astonishing stunt, drank champagne out of the ‘Winner’s Trophy’ or just broke the rules? … who knows… ?
Excellent stuff… I have only this to add… a message to El Presidente:
“Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit – To boldly go where no mooter has gone before”
Have a good weekend… one and all… and I just happen to have a bottle of vino rosso to drink!
(Vinum bellum iucunumque est, sed animo corporeque caret – It’s a nice little wine, but it lacks character and depth)
Everything seems to be disapearing.
Really? Where to? Tell me more….
[…] and opprobrium ended my week… with the extraordinary news of an abuse of process (covered below) in a mooting competition at a leading law school ‘somewhere in […]
This wouldn’t be City University by any chance would it? We mooted against them in ESU and they had what can only be called a distinct “home team advantage”.
Internal Moot, I believe
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Name and shame!
I think it would be fair to say that in internal moots at City there is a definite effect from being a regular mooter.
[…] which was soon picked up on this blog and by fellow student JB. And now the near-legendary Charon QC has just expressed an interest in […]