Ebun Adeniran has won the final of the inaugural Boys & Maughan Solicitors Civil Advocacy Competition, which took place in the University of Kent’s Law School Mooting Chamber on 18 January 2018.

Ebun is in her final year of study at the University and demonstrated considerable composure and persuasiveness before a mock Court of Appeal with Lord Justices Champ, Austin and Laleng sitting.

Matt Champ, a non-practising barrister and Chartered Litigator and Advocate at Boys & Maughan, organised the competition. Jonathan Austin is a recently retired District Judge who was on the Kent Circuit and Per Laleng is a former personal injury barrister who now lectures at Kent University’s Law School and is its Director of Mooting.

Matt Champ explained: “We started the competition last November with a couple of heats and the standard was excellent, so expectations of the final were high. It was difficult to choose a winner. Ebun’s opponent was Stanislaw Braminski and both mooted exceptionally well. They had clearly thoroughly researched their topics and remained resilient under pressure. When you consider the fact that when they started this competition they had no idea about civil procedure, having never studied it, seeing them do well is a testament not only to them but also the University.”

Each student had 15 minutes to address the court and an opportunity for a five minute reply. The facts of the case involved a breach of contract matter that had been struck out for failing to comply with an order. This led to an appeal, the mooting scenario, centring on an application for relief from sanctions where the claimant argued that the circuit judge was wrong to let the defendant back in.

Matt continued, “With the fierce competition for pupillages and training contracts, mooting is an essential experience, particularly for students who want to become barristers or solicitor advocates.

“In addition to the courtroom experience we arranged for a number of our experienced lawyers and recruitment decision makers to be present, so the students could network, pitch for jobs and seek careers advice.”

Ebun Adeniran was presented with a cheque for £100 and the competition trophy. Next year’s competition is already in the planning stages and will commence in November.