3^rd NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION
                                                                       &

                                    1^st NATIONAL CLIENT COUNSELLING COMPETITION

                                                           April 05-07, 2019

April 05, 2019
Delhi Metropolitan Education, Noida

The third edition of National Moot Court and the first one-day National Client Counselling Competitions were organized by Delhi Metropolitan Education (DME) on the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th of April, 2019. These competitions providea platform to sharpen advocacy skills and public speaking skills for the lawyers of tomorrow. The first day saw the gracious presence of Advocate Naveen Kumar Jaggi as the Chief Guest of the Inaugural function, Justice Bhanwar Singh (Director General, DME), Prof. Ravi Kant Swami (Director, DME), Prof. N.K. Bahl (Dean, School of Law),and Prof. Bhavish Gupta (Head, School of Law) as the dignitaries at the opening.

DAY 1: April 05, 2019

“A lawyer must know everything about everything.”
– Advocate Jaggi

The event commenced with lighting of the lamp and seeking blessings of Goddess Saraswati at the Nelson Mandela Auditorium. The Chief Guest, Advocate Naveen Kumar Jaggi,was felicitated with his favourite flowers from Amsterdam along with a memento and shawl. It was followed bythe proceedings of the Client Counselling session for the finalists;Team 117, MNLU, Nagpur and Team 101, North Cap University from among other participants, namely North Cap University, Gurugram, VIPS, Delhi, Amity Law School Noida, Symbiosis Law School, Pune, Bennett University,MNLU Nagpur, USLLS, Amity Law School, Delhi etc. Team 117 was the first one to uphold the session. The client approached the counsel of the said team with her problem which was acknowledged by them with patience. Though the lawyers had few solutions in hand for the client, they missed certain crucial details only to be pointed out later by Advocate Jaggi. There were two rounds for each team. He remarked, “A lawyer must know everything about everything.” He highlighted the fact that there are two types of clients who approach a lawyer, one is genuine and the other deliberately misstates to gain benefits. It is for the lawyer to dig into the client’s mind and elicit facts. Team 117 failed to heed to the advise and repeated the mistakes. Next was Team 101 who made the same mistakes, again pointed out by the Chief Guest. They stood out and marked a difference only because they could grasp the ideas successfully and it was much appreciated. It led to the change of circumstances for the client as well as for the counsel on whichAdvocate Jaggi remarked, “One should outsmart the client, the layman.”

The counselling concluded with the Award Distribution ceremony. The North Cap University bagged the first prize and MNLU, Nagpur was the runner-up at the competition. The high point of the event was honoring Justice Bhanwar Singh, the Director General, with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chief Guest for his contribution to the law and an astounding career. “This award is being presented to you not because of your very warm and gracious hospitality but knowing well that how you are coming from the backyard of Delhi outskirts, how you arose from the ashes like a phoenix.”, Advocate Jaggi remarked. Justice Singh shared a heartfelt vote of thanks for this precious and unforgettable moment. He appreciated the hard work done by the Moot Court Committee to make this event a great success and creating a benchmark for such platforms in Delhi NCR. The event ended with everyone rising for the National Anthem.

DAY 2: April 06, 2019

The first day of the National Moot Court Competition concluded with the declaration of the winner of the 1^st Client Counselling Competition and the drawing of lots for National Moot Court. The second day saw the campus abuzz with participants from across the country:

1. Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University
2. Jagannath Engineering Management Technical Campus, Greater Noida
3. Amity Law School, Noida, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh
4. Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
5. Amity Law School Delhi
6. ManavRachna University, Faridabad
7. Symbiosis, Pune
8. Amity University, Lucknow
9. Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore
10. BanasthaliVidyapeeth
11. University School of Law and Legal Studies, GGSIPU
12. School of Law, Galgotias University
13. RGNLU
14. Sinhgad Law College, Pune
15. DamodaramSanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam
16. Chandigarh University, Mohali
17. Banaras Hindu University
18. School of Excellence in Law, Chennai
19. Army Institute of Law, Mohali
20. Sardar Patel Subharti Institute of Law, Meerut
21. Noida International University, Greater Noida
22. Sikkim Government Law College
23. Government Law College Mumbai
24. JamiaMilliaIslamia
25. Sharda University
26. UILS, Chandigarh
27. ICFAI Law School, Dehradun
28. Jai NarayanVyas University, Jodhpur
29. Indian Institute of Legal Studies, Darjeeling
30. Integral University, Lucknow
31. Aligarh Muslim University
32. JamiaHamdard
33. BharatiVidyapeethPune
34. University of Petroleum and Energy Science (UPES)
35. Maharashtra NLU, Nagpur
36. Law Centre-1, DU
37. KLE Law College Bengaluru
38. Gitarattan International Business School
39. Kurukshetra University
40. Lloyd Law College
41. Campus Law Centre, DU
42. University of Mumbai, Law Academy
43. Presidency University, Bengaluru
44. Ideal Institute of Management and Technology
45. MDU Centre for Professional and Allied Studies,Gurugram

It began with the settlement of teams in their respective court rooms for the Preliminary Sessions, Round 1, between 10:30-11:30am. The teams afterwards moved to their new court rooms and with a new set of judges. The teams had by now already set the tenor of the competition with their vehement arguments in Round 1. It gained momentum further and became enthralling in Round 2, which commenced around 11:45am. After some tempestuous arguments by the teams and counter-questioning by judges, Round 2 concluded at 12:45 pm. The teams recessed after that for lunch until results were declared for the rounds.

Eight teams qualified for the Quarter Final Round,viz. Teams 111, 123, 134, 110, 131 and 103.

The Quarter Final Round was chaired by Dr. Sachin Rastogi & Dr. Rakesh Handa, Dr. Ramesh Kumar & Prashant Umrao, Sumit Agarwal & Ankit Rai, Abhijit & Nilendra Pratap Singh in Court Room nos.  2, 3, 5 and 7 respectively. The Quarter Final Round started at 2:30pm. At this stage, the house witnessed heated yet intellectually stimulating arguments made by the teams. Meanwhile, the enthusiasm of the judges could also be seen as they started counter questioning with every substantial vindication. After rounds of rationalization, the Quarter Final Round came to an end around 3:30 pm followed by the announcement of results, giving an opportunity to four meritorious teams to qualify for semi-finals to be conducted on the following day.

DAY 3: April 07, 2019
THE FINALE

After a meticulous regulation of Court room sessions and tactful mooting done by a total of forty-five teams from various states of India, the much awaited day of the Finale begun with the Semi-final Round from 11 am. Only four teams qualified to this level; Team 107, Symbiosis, Pune; Team 111, University School of Law and Legal Studies, GGSIPU; Team 116, Chandigarh University, Mohali and Team 136, Law Centre-1, DU. Followed by an intense Semi-final Round, Team 107 and Team 111 were leading the scoreboard and made it to the Final Round.

The Final Round commenced at 2 pm in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the institution, graced by the presence of Justice Alok Mathur as the Chief Guest, Justice V. Eswaraiah as the Guest of Honour and Director General (DME) Justice Bhanwar Singh. The rules and regulations were explained to the teams. Team 111 were the cousel of petitioners for the case and Team 107 were the counsel of respondents. As both the teams were ready to put forth their pressing issues, they asserted their views, stating many landmark cases and judgements, referring to many articles and sections of the Constitution and Acts. It became a very interesting and engaging moot court session. Both the teams were resolute, keeping their best foot forward. During the rebuttal round, cross arguments and submissions were done. The Bench even asked both the counsels perplexing questions but they held their ground persistently. The final round came to an end after two hours of constant unswerving deliberations. Prof. Ravi Kant Swami, Director (DME) and Prof. N.K. Bahl, (Dean, School of Law, DME) felicitated the judges of the semi-final round, Mr. Ashwani Dubey, Mr. M.Z. Alam, Mr. Kushal and Mr. Rajesh with mementos. Further, the knowledge partners of the event, Mr. Kunwar Singh and Mr. Rajesh were also felicitated. The event’s splendour attained the highest level with the arrival of the Guest of Honour, Advocate Monica Arora, who was felicitated by The Chairman, Mr. Vipin Sahni. She addressed the audience with great enthusiasm and spoke about the right to freedom of speech in India and also how it is misused on various occasions with untoward consequences.

The event proceeded towards the announcement of final results. The dignitaries honoured the winners: the Best Researcher Award- Kadam Nikitha, Team 119, Army Institute of Law, Mohali; the Best Speaker Award- the speakers of Team 111, Muskan Gupta and Teesta Mishra, University School of Law and Legal Studies, GGSIPU; the Best Memorial Award- Team 122, Sikkim Government Law College. Everyone was now on pins and needles, waiting to hear the final result. It was a close call, a tough choice to make as admitted by the judges. Team 107, Symbiosis, Pune were declared the winner of the third National Moot Court Competition at Delhi Metropolitan Education and Team 111 were the runner-up of this competition.

This saga came to an end with the vote of thanks delivered by the Faculty Convener of Moot Court Society, Mr. Mukesh Kalwani. He especially mentioned his core committee members for their tenacious will and hard work, Ms. AbhilashaLapra (Co-Convener), Ms. Priyansha Badoni (Co-Convener), Ms. Sakshi Agarwal (Treasurer), Mr. Padmesh Kataria (Advisor) and Mr. Kush Kalra (Advisor). He also extended his thanks to the Students’ core team, naming each of them individually for the support they gave to the entire process and event: Rishabh Mehta (Convener), Vallabha Gulati (Co-Convener), Anand Awasthi (General Secretary), Harshit Bhatia (Joint Secretary), Alekshendra Sharma (Joint Secretary), Prachi Bhati (Deputy Secretary), Gayatri Swani (Deputy Secretary), Vinay Joshi (Treasurer), Athar Raza (Advisor), Mudit Dewan (Advisor), Siddharth Bhardwaj (Advisor), and Anshuman Gupta (Advisor). With that, everyone stood up for the National Anthem, and dispersed after celebrating the successful organization of the event.