CAPE-level law students from across the Eastern Caribbean will compete in the fifth annual Fortis Advocatus Moot Court Competition this week in Antigua and Barbuda, with the event expanding to include regional participation for the first time.
The competition, which simulates court proceedings through hypothetical mock trials, has grown significantly since its inception.
This year’s event welcomes teams from St Vincent and Grenada alongside four teams representing Antigua and Barbuda.
“This year is our fifth year, and we have been intentionally focusing on expansion,” said attorney-at-law Andrena Athill, one of the directors of the Antigua and Barbuda National Mooting Association.
“The association placed our focus on ensuring that students will be trained on the inner workings of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. So in that vein we wanted to ensure that other participants from the OECS would be able to sharpen their skills and knowledge as well.”
The competition began last year with qualifying rounds where teams submitted written legal arguments known as memorials.
The highest-scoring written submissions from Antigua and Barbuda advanced to this week’s semifinal rounds.
Teams from Grenada’s TA Marryshow Community College and St Vincent Community College will arrive Wednesday to join the competition.
All participants will gather at the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda for the semifinals on Thursday, starting at 9am.
“The semifinal round now is an opportunity for all of the teams who will be representing either appellant or respondent in this criminal appeal, which is a hypothetical case, to make their oral submissions before the court,” Athill explained. “Previously, to qualify they would have had to make their written memorials. This time they’re going to be judged on their oral advocacy.”
The semifinals will feature a panel of judges evaluating teams based on specific scoring parameters. The highest-scoring appellant team and highest-scoring respondent team will advance to Friday’s finals.
Athill emphasized the educational value of the competition for aspiring legal professionals.
“It really gives them the opportunity to hone their legal skills, their research, their writing, their analytical skills,” she said. “All of the student participants who have gone on before have come back and said that their outlook on the legal field and their ability to address legal issues as law students have been dramatically and drastically improved.”
Past participants have gone on to succeed in other regional competitions.
“One of our past students, Deborah Bryant – her team, who represented the Cave Hill campus – would have won the CCJ Moot Court Competition just recently,” Athill noted. “Others have gone on to make Dean’s lists, and they have really been able to excel, and they have credited parts of that to the preparations that they have received from this particular Moot Court competition.”
In March, Deborah Bryan (Senior Counsel), Alala Moore (Junior Counsel), and Khyle Harrisingh (Researcher), outperformed the seven other participating teams in the XV Annual Caribbean Court of Justice International Law Moot competition in Trinidad, which tested participants’ knowledge of international and CARICOM law, focusing on the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
The student participants in this year’s Fortis Advocatus competition are Antigua State College’s Jessica Samuel, Oceanique Joseph, Leanna Browne, Timothy Mathurin, Emya Geness, Ciecie Lewis, Jewel Crump, and Keymanni Edwards.
Grenada’s T.A. Marryshow Community College will be represented by Kamran St Cyr, Elouise Mitchell-Gooding, Adhara Soleil Salfarlie, and Abia Telesford.
St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College will be represented by Chad Keizer and Adia Daniel.
Winners of the competition will receive internships at law firms in their respective countries along with cash prizes.
“We have an esteemed panel of judges – justices of the High Court, senior counsel, the acting DPP – who will really be able to interact with the students on a very high level,” Athill said.
The mooting association is directed by a committee of attorneys including Athill, Kemar Roberts, Jeniece St Romain, and Curtis Cornelius.
The public is invited to attend the competition free of charge, subject to courtroom capacity, to witness tomorrow’s legal minds in action.
