Welcome to the Competitions Portfolio!
The Competitions Portfolio is responsible for organising and running both skills competitions and mooting competitions at both internal and intervarsity levels. Within the LSS, our competitions allow for students to get involved and learn skills invaluable for their law careers. We also engage with competitions with different universities and external competitions to allow students to gain exposure and network.
For queries about Competitions, please contact our Vice-Presidents (Competitions), Georgia Mitchell and Youngone Oh, at vpc1@utslss.com and/or vpc2@utslss.com.
Skills Competitions
The Competition Portfolio runs the Opens Skills Competitions in the Autumn Session, which is available to students who have competed in the Junior Competition or are in their 3rd year and above of studying Law. Students are able to participate in client interview, negotiation, witness examination, and/or written skills. This is a valuable opportunity for any Law student, regardless of experience.
The Junior Competitions run in the Spring Session and is open to students in their first or second year of law and who have never competed before.
Students can also get involved as volunteer clients in Client Interview or as a volunteer witness in Witness Examination. This is an amazing opportunity for students to pick up valuable skills from experienced competitors. Volunteering in these competitions is also a great way to work towards other initiatives, including the Brennan Program and the UTS SOUL Awards.
Client Interview
Building positive working relationships with clients is an essential legal skill. Competitors conduct a 30-minute interview with a hypothetical client that addresses a unique legal issue. They are required to extract all relevant facts through carefully posed questions, raise ethical dilemmas, and provide preliminary legal and non-legal advice.
Check back here for details regarding the 2025 Junior and Open Competitions!
Negotiations
Negotiations provides students with an opportunity to master important alternative dispute-resolution skills. Teams are provided with hypothetical common and secret facts which they must utilise to come to a mutually beneficial outcome which balances their client’s objectives with the other parties interests.
Check back here for details regarding the 2025 Junior and Open Competitions!
Witness Examination
Witness Examination is an individual competition where students develop their advocacy skills by examining and cross-examining witnesses. Competitors work to construct a convincing case while simultaneously discrediting their opposing counsel’s case, whilst exercising their knowledge of both criminal and evidence law.
Check back here for details regarding the 2025 Junior and Open Competitions!
Written Skills
The Competition Portfolio runs two written skills competitions, including Affidavit Drafting and Paper Presentation. These written skills competitions are an invaluable opportunity to develop your legal writing skills and receive feedback from a UTS Academic.
Check back here for details regarding the 2025 Junior and Open Competitions!
Intervarsity Skills
The UTS LSS hosts and participates in numerous intervarsity skills competitions. These competitions provide opportunities for experienced competitors to represent the LSS at a local, state or national level in numerous competitions including the Nicholas Cowdery AO KC Criminal Law Moot, the UTS LSS x MULS Bilateral Contract Moot, the National Women’s Moot, Intervarsity Negotiations, the Margaret Cunneen SC Witness Examination Competition, and the Legal Technology Moot.
Check back here for details regarding the 2025 Competitions!
Mooting
The Competitions Portfolio runs moots throughout the academic year ranging on a variety of topics and specialty law areas. Mooting is a perfect mix of debating and mock trial that involves presenting legal arguments on novel points of law. Mooting is a fantastic opportunity to work in a team of two or three to formulate both written and oral submissions surrounding a comprehensive problem question.
Mooting is beneficial for improving your written, research and presentation skills. There are five subject moots throughout the year that take place across the weekend, and two junior moots in the second semester.
Internal
The UTS LSS provides subject specific mooting competitions where you get to demonstrate your legal knowledge, whilst competing against friends and future colleagues as well as creating new friendships. No matter your level of experience there is a competition for everyone, as there are two dedicated junior competitions available.
List of Open Moots available in 2025
Opens Criminal Law Moot
Torts Moot
Contract Law Moot
Commercial Law Moot
Constitutional Law Moot
List of Junior Moots available in 2025
Junior Criminal Law Moot
Junior Mooting Competition
Check back here for more details regarding the 2025 Moots!
Mooting Development Program
This program was introduced for the first time in 2022, designed to equip students with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to successfully compete in mooting competitions. Open to everybody, whether an experienced mooter looking to further refine and develop their advocacy skills, or a prospective mooter keen on giving it a crack, this program was highly successful in achieving its goals and will continue to be run in 2025 once each semester.
Check back here for more details regarding this program in 2025!
Intervarsity
For the more experienced competitors, there are various opportunities to showcase your skills on an intervarsity level against other universities State and Australia wide. Bilateral mooting competitions take the form of a one round winner takes all competition against another university. Conversely, multilateral competitions take the form of preliminary rounds where the top universities progress to the semi-finals and ultimately the grand final.
List of Intervarsity Moots available in 2025
Nicholas Cowdery AO KC Criminal Law Moot (against SULS/Sydney University)
UTS LSS x MULS/Macquarie University Bilateral Contract Law Moot
Ashurst IVC Legal Technology Moot (Hosted by UTS LSS)
Check back here for details regarding 2025 Moots!
Competitor Selection Policy
Selections for all of our Intervarsity Moots and Skills Competitions, including the ALSA Conference, are governed by our UTS LSS Competitor Selection Policy. If you would like to know more about how selections are made, or if you have any concerns about selection for any of our Intervarsity competitions, we encourage you to read this policy and raise any concerns with the Vice-Presidents (Competitions), Georgia Mitchell and Youngone Oh, at vpc1@utslss.com and/or vpc2@utslss.com.
Competitions Guide
Our inaugural UTS LSS Competitions Guide is your all-in-one resource designed to help you navigate the UTS LSS’ legal skills and mooting competitions, with key dates, guidance on how to get involved and advice from past winners. Whether you’re looking to hone your advocacy skills or explore new opportunities outside of your studies, this guide is the perfect starting point!
Click here to read: Competitions Guide 2025