The moot brought together leading researchers and practitioners for a series of expert talks and panel discussions.
The Paula Sparks World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights took place from March 10th–12th at Birmingham Law School, hosted by the Multispecies Collective.
The Sparks Moot is the world’s first global competition in legal advocacy and policy negotiation focused on animal rights, accompanied by a series of specialised training programmes. It brings together traditional legal and policy frameworks with contemporary animal rights issues, equipping future practitioners with the skills needed to promote balanced protections for all life. Through its competitions and training courses, the initiative fosters expertise in both policy negotiation and legal advocacy.
The event combined policy negotiation exercises and courtroom-style mooting competitions with a programme of expert lectures and panel discussions. It brought together leading academics and practitioners from across the fields of law, policy, and animal protection. Key themes explored included international and constitutional law, comparative animal law, social policy, animal ethics, and animal science.
Speakers at the moot included Anees Ahmed, Chief of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, Karla Andrade Quevedo, Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, and Professor David Bilchitz, former Acting Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Anees Ahmed, Chief of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan
Professor Iyan Offor, founder of the Multispecies Collective, said of the moot: “Mooting competitions are one of the ways in which aspiring legal professionals can gain training in creative and progressive thinking about the interpretation, application and evolution of the law. This is a crucial skill for those thinking about how law can respond to some of today’s most pressing societal issues like public, planetary, and animal health.”
The Sparks Moot was hosted at the University through the Multispecies Collective’s events, which invite partners to collaborate with its researchers in delivering large-scale initiatives on campus. Its arrival follows the Collective’s relaunch on March 5th, marking Birmingham Law School as its new host institution.
Assistant Professor in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development
Biographical and contract information for Iyan Offor, Assistant Professor at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham.
