Merton/St Anne's win inaugural Blackstone Chambers Postgraduate Mooting Championship 2020-2021

The Grand Final of the inaugural University of Oxford Blackstone Chambers Postgraduate Mooting Championship 2020-21 took place virtually on Thursday 11 March 2021 between the team from Jesus College and the composite team from Merton College and St Anne's College.  

Previous rounds had covered a range of issues including those within Public International and Contract Law. The moot problem for this year’s Grand Final concerned an appeal to the Supreme Court, addressing whether the Respondent detainee was within the UK’s jurisdiction for the purpose of Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and whether the circumstances of the Respondent's detention were incompatible with Article 5(4) of the Convention.

Daniil Ukhorisky and Gareth Deane (Jesus) appeared on behalf of the Appellant, the Ministry of Defence, and Riya Bhatt (Merton) and James Baillie-Gray (St Anne's) appeared on behalf of the Respondent, the detainee.

The Grand Final was judged by members of Blackstone Chambers. Having retired to consider the arguments made before them, the judges returned to announce the Merton/St Anne's team the winners, commending all mooters on the quality of their submissions and advocacy. 

This was the inaugural competition, which saw 30 participants from 15 different Colleges take part. We look forward to seeing the competition continue to flourish in subsequent years.

Graduate Mooting Coordinator: Amy Gregg

Clerk: Mohamed Hussein Iman