Harris Manchester win the Maitland Chambers Intercollegiate Mooting Championship 2023

On Wednesday 22 February, Harris Manchester College beat New College in the Grand Final of the University of Oxford Maitland Chambers Inter-Collegiate Mooting Competition (Cuppers) 2023. Isaac Hordiyuk and Bertie Broomfield mooted for Harris Manchester, while Sara Nikolli and Kuberan Hansrajh Kumaresan represented New College. Harris Manchester had also been represented by Nicholas Stone and Lucy Fuller in previous rounds. The judges of the moot were three barristers from Maitland Chambers: Gregory Banner KC, Andrew Westwood KC and Watson Pringle. The venue was the Upper Library of Christ Church College.

The moot problem, which covered constitutional and administrative law, involved an appeal to the Supreme Court against an imaginary government which sought to restrict claims against public bodies. The mooters’ arguments concerned principles of statutory interpretation, Parliamentary privilege, judicial review, Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. The judges noted the high standard of the moot and congratulated both teams for their oral submissions. The judges found Harris Manchester’s responses to judicial interventions to be particularly impressive.