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Advocacy

Whatever career our students opt to pursue on graduation, an ability to speak confidently in public, to articulate complex points with clarity and put forward persuasive oral arguments are likely to be essential skills. CEPLER’s extensive extra-curricular advocacy offering gives students the opportunity to develop all these and more.

Students in the moot room

CEPLER provides a broad extra-curricular advocacy programme open to all undergraduate and postgraduate law students, which is delivered by experienced academics and practising legal advocates. Students can gain practical experience in a range of different advocacy and rhetorical skills through competitions and workshops.

Our programme is led by experienced academics and practising advocates. Students are able to gain practical experience in a range of different types of advocacy and rhetorical skills, such as mooting, negotiation, client interviewing and debating.

Competitions

Making use of our state-of-the-art mock courtroom facilities, students participate in practical advocacy skills training sessions and then go on to compete in four internal competitions in mooting, debating, negotiation and client interviewing. These competitions are often judged by experienced solicitors and barristers who volunteer their time to share their experience and insight with our students. Our mooting competitions are sponsored by St Philips Chambers and No. 5 Chambers.

Each year CEPLER also puts forward teams of students to represent Birmingham Law School in several national or international advocacy competitions.

In recent years our students have competed in the following external competitions:

  • Gateley Sports Law Negotiation Competition
  • LSE Featherstone Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Moot
  • National Client Interviewing Competition
  • ELSA Helga Pederson Moot Court Competition in Strasbourg (2024 Winners)
  • EUniWell Moot Court Competition in Nantes (2026 Winners)

In addition, CEPLER runs an annual written advocacy competition in partnership with St Ives Chambers.

Workshops

CEPLER hosts a number of legal advocacy training workshops each year, delivered by guest practitioners from local chambers and law firms who work as solicitor-advocates, barristers and judges. These workshops cover civil and criminal advocacy skills as well as alternative dispute resolution, introducing students to different types of advocacy and providing an opportunity to speak with practitioners about a career in legal practice.

CEPLER also provides civic advocacy workshops which introduce students to how legal advocacy skills are transferable to other types of advocacy-based careers, delivered by academic staff and legal practitioners with experience in the non-profit sector.