Unam law students hone mooting, advocacy skills

The University of Namibia’s Law Association of Mooting and Advocacy aspires to create a platform within which law students may gain exposure to legal practice. The association will provide law students with a valuable opportunity to hone both their written and oral advocacy skills in this competitive field.

Naboth De Celestino and Nangolo Dorthea

The faculty of law at the University of Namibia (Unam) attracts students with a variety of interests, strengths and goals. It is the clear avenue for the select few students who hope to one day stand before a judge and argue their case, be it as a prosecutor, as an advocate or a legal practitioner.

The nexus of these paths is the requirement of skill, talent and dedication to the art of advocacy. It is unfortunate that currently the only exposure to practical experience availed to students of Unam’s law faculty is that of one or two moot court competitions per year and the legal aid class, which only takes place in final year.

It is precisely this current lack of practical experience that inspired us as students to pioneer the Law Association of Mooting and Advocacy. It is an association of students working together to learn and compete in the hopes of becoming better acquainted with the challenges of practicing law as well as the required proficiency to be excellent practitioners in the court systems and beyond through regularly holding mooting and advocacy workshops and competitions.

The Law Association of Mooting and Advocacy was established in 2020, having trained over 30 legal scholars. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, activities were limited to one training session.

The association’s target audience is law students, ranging from alternative dispute resolution to bachelors of law LLB (honours) degree students from all years. This is further inclusive of distance students as long as they are under the Unam law faculty umbrella.

Gaining exposure

The Law Association of Mooting and Advocacy aspires to create a platform within which law students may gain exposure to legal practice by providing first-hand practical insight into mooting, developing oratory and written skills and providing a forum for passionate debate. This process will prepare them for professional, real-life trial advocacy, as the aspiration is to develop efficient legal practitioners who have the skillset required to spearhead social development and bring change in society through qualitative advocacy.

The association will provide Unam law students with a valuable opportunity to hone both their written and oral advocacy skills in this competitive field. This will help in the overall development of students as good and proficient lawyers, and participating in our training will make students familiar with the art of being effective legal practitioners in a real courtroom. Thus, our objectives are as follows: We seek to help students in enhancing their research and writing, public speaking and argumentation skills; help familiarise students with court room decorum; give students a platform to understand the aspects involved in weighing arguments properly; enhance critical thinking skills, and give our members an opportunity to network not only with professionals, but with other law students from different universities and countries through competitions and workshops.

There is no doubt that the Law Association of Mooting and Advocacy will accomplish its objectives and contribute to the pool of ethical and well-trained legal practitioners in Namibia under the governance of its constitution and executive members. At the moment, the association has an African human rights moot court competition lined up for June, and is looking forward to its official launch and subsequent resumption of training sessions and tournaments.