MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION

SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY

PRESENTS

VIDHIT:

The Crusade of the Jurisprudents

February, 2021

VENUE

MICROSOFT TEAMS
 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

I. INTRODUCTION

VIDHIT:,The Crusade of the Jurisprudents (hereinafter referred to as the “League”) is a flagship

event of The School of Law, Presidency University, Bengaluru and is scheduled to be held in
February 2021. The league will be conducted by The Moot Court Association, Presidency
University, Bengaluru.

DEFINITIONS
i. “League” means VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents.
ii. “Proposition” means the Moot Proposition of the League.
iii. “Mooting Round” means the oral submission by both the sides.
iv. “Client Counselling” means to advise the people who seek assistance in knowing the legal
implications of their actions.
v. “Trial” means practice before the Criminal Court.
vi. “Memorial” means the final written submission of each team.
vii. “Rule Book” means the document prescribing the guidelines for the league.
viii. “Committee” includes: All the members of Moot Court Association.
ix. “Team code” means the code which would be allotted to those teams qualifying the
memorial rounds, by the Association, after the registration form is received.

II. ELIGIBILITY

The League is open to any individual belonging to batches of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020,
School of Law, Presidency University, Bangalore.

III. PARTICIPATION

A. REGISTRATION
A link will be shared for individual registration.
League selection of the participants shall be on a first come first-served basis.
Registration shall be successful upon completion of all the formalities mentioned in the rules.
A group of five (5) Participants will be formed by The Moot Court Association committee on the
later stage of the registration.

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

IV. GENERAL

A. COMPETION PATTERN
1. Moot Court Competition
2. Client Counselling
3. Negotiation
4. Trial Advocacy
All the teams participating in the league need to take part in all the competitions by default. The
teams have to mandatorily submit their memorials of both Moot Court and Trial Advocacy
Competitions.
The last date of the memorial submission will be announced later.

B. TEAM COMPOSITION
Each participating team comprises of five (5) members. The team should comprise of one (1) team
leader and four (4) other members, choice of the team leader is on the discretion of organisation
committee.
For, Moot Court Competition – Three (3) participants from each team,
Client Counselling – Two (2) participants from each team,
Negotiation – Three (3) from each team, and
Trial Advocacy - Three (3) participants from each team.

NOTE: In case, if three (3) members are participating in the “Moot Court Competition”, the
same three (3) team members will not be allowed in the “Client Counselling Competition”
And in the Semi-final and Final rounds of Negotiation and Trial Advocacy, respectively, any
three (3) out of the five (5) can be a part.

Once the registration is completed, the team composition must remain the same throughout the
league. No observer is allowed to accompany any team.

C. TEAM CODE
All teams shall be given a team code by the Association on validation and the teams shall use their
designated team code for any further correspondence. <VTN >". For ex- “VT10”

D. OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
The official language of the league shall be English. All league rounds, memorials, and
compendiums must be in English.

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

E. DRESS CODE
The dress code for all participants throughout the league shall be white shirt, black blazer, black
trousers, black tie and black shoes for men and white shirt, black blazer, black trousers /skirt, black
shoes for women.

V. MEMORIAL

All pages of the Memorial must be formatted on paper of A4 size (both sides).
All pages of the Memorial must have margins on all sides of at least one inch i.e., two and a half
centimetres (2.5cm).
Arguments advanced shall not exceed more than fifteen (15) pages.
Memorial page limit shall not exceed thirty (30) pages. The cover page, table of contents, table of
abbreviations and index of authorities are excluded from the page limit. No end notes are to be
included in the Memorial.

A. CONTENTS

Each Memorial Must Contain the following sections:

• Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Index of Authorities
• Statement of Jurisdiction
• Statement of Facts
• Statement of Issues
• Summary of Arguments
• Arguments Advanced
• Prayer

B. COVER PAGE
The cover page must only include the following in justified alignment except mentioned otherwise,
• Team Code on the right-hand top corner
• Name of the forum being approached
• Case type and number
• Case name
• ‘Memorial on behalf of Plaintiff and Defendant’ OR ‘Memorial on behalf of Prosecution
and Defendant’

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MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

The colour scheme for the cover page of the Plaintiff / Prosecution memorials must be blue and of
the Defendant memorials must be red. Citations for the memorials are to be in the form of footnotes
only, endnotes are not permitted.

Footnotes must not contain substantive pleadings and should not be communicative. All footnotes
must adhere to the Bluebook Uniform Mode of Citation (20th edition).
The memorials must not contain annexures, photographs, sketches, exhibits or affidavits etc.
Any violation of the said provision will attract penalties.

C. FORMAT

The Memorial shall be formatted in accordance with the following specifications:

• Body Text Font Type: Times New Roman, Line Spacing: 2.0 lines, Font Size: 12,
Headings and Bullets- Font size: 14.

• Footnotes Font Type: Times New Roman, Line Spacing: 1.5 spaced, Font size: 10.

• The Bluebook Uniform Mode of Citation (20th Edition) or any other recognized uniform
method of citation must be strictly adhered to draft the memorials.

D. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The registered teams must send the soft copy of the memorials to mca@presidencyuniversity.in,
in accordance with the informed dates, which must be a .pdf file extension with the subject of the
email as "Memorial Submission-<VTN >". Eg: If your team code is VT10, the email subject would
be: Memorial Submission VT10.

The file name of the memorials shall be in the following format- <VTN> <Side represented>. Eg:
‘VT10 - Petitioner’

Late Submissions: For every hour of delay in memorial submission beyond the prescribed time 2 marks
shall be deducted. Any Memorial submitted 15 hours after the time prescribed above will not be
accepted.

NOTE: The above mention format is for the memorials of both Moot Court Round and Trial
Advocacy Round.

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

VI. CLARIFICATIONS

Any clarifications sought on the moot proposition needs to be addressed via email to
mca@presidencyuniversity.in .

VII. SCORING

• MEMORIAL

The Moot Court Association shall constitute a panel of judges with domain expertise, for the
evaluation of the memorials. Both memorials shall be evaluated separately on a scale of 0-100.
The criteria for evaluation are as follows:

S.NO. MARKING CRITERIA MARKS

1 Understanding of law & extent of research 20
2 Originality, articulateness & clarity in analysis 20 2

3 Ingenuity and Logical Reasoning 20

4 Lucidity and Writing Skills 10
5 Referencing 10
6 Grammar & legibility 10
7 Formatting and Presentation 10
TOTAL 100
C. ORAL SUBMISSION

Each Speaker shall be marked on a total of 100 marks by each Bench Judge.
The Average of both the speakers shall be taken for scoring the team.
The marking for Oral Submissions during the Mooting Rounds and the Trial Round shall be based
on the following parameters:

S.NO.. MARKING CRITERIA MARKS

1 Knowledge and Marshalling of Facts 20
2 Application of Legal Principles and Usage of Authorities 20
3 Integrity, logic, Reasoning and Clarity 20
4 Persuasiveness, Ingenuity and Response to Questions 10
5 Deference and Demeanour 10
6 Court Etiquette, Presentation Style and Time Management 20
TOTAL 100

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

VIII. LEAGUE FORMAT

1. The first rounds of the league consist of:

• Moot Court
• Client Counselling Round.
• Scoring of both the Memorials submitted by the participants.
2. Semi-Finale Round – Negotiation
3. Finale Round – Trial Advocacy. After which, the winner of the league will be announced.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS –
MOOT COURT

The preliminary rounds shall be conducted in three (3) stages. Each stage will be one preliminary
round where each team will represent either the Plaintiff / Defendant for that round. Sides will be
emailed to the participants a week prior competition. Each team will face a separate team and a
separate bench in both the preliminary rounds.

CLIENT COUNSELLING

All the teams will participate in this round. In this round, every team will be provided with their
respective client by The Moot Court Association. The Proposition and rules will be informed to
the participants via their respective emails.

MEMORIAL ROUND

The scores of the Memorials (Moot Court and Trial Advocacy) shall be added to the scores
obtained in the preliminary rounds and the client counselling round. This is the first elimination
round. After evaluation, the total scores obtained in the Preliminary Rounds ie, Moot Court, Client
Counselling and Memorial Round, top six (6) scoring team will qualify to the Semi-final round.

SEMI-FINAL ROUND

The top SIX (6) teams selected by way of this Clause VIII shall qualify for the Semi-final Round
of Negotiation. Sides will be determined on the basis of scores i.e., the Top 1 team will be against
Top 6 team and so on.

FINAL ROUND

The top two (2) teams selected by way of this Clause VIII shall qualify for the final round of Trial
Advocacy.

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

IX. LEAGUE PROCEDURE

The order of oral pleadings shall be as follows:

1. Moot Court Round-
• Plaintiff Speaker 1
• Plaintiff Speaker 2
• Defendant Speaker 1
• Defendant Speaker 2
• Rebuttal by Plaintiff
• Sur-rebuttal by Defendant
2. Client Counselling Round
• Consultation with the Client
• Presentation before the Judge
3. Negotiation Round-
• Speaker 1 of Team 1
• Speaker 2 of Team 1
• Speaker 1 of Team 2
• Speaker 2 of Team 2
• Negotiation by the Speakers
4. Trial Advocacy Round-
• Opening Statement by Prosecution Counsel 1
• Opening Statement by Defense Counsel 1
• Examination-in-chief by Prosecution
• Cross – Examination Defense
• Examination-in-chief by Defense
• Cross – Examination Prosecution
• Closing Statement by Prosecution
• Closing Statement by Defense

If in case, the plaintiff/defendant do not raise any rebuttal, the sur-rebuttal is deemed to be
cancelled.

Submission of compendiums, case laws, authorities to the judges must mandatorily be done
through the court officer. All such materials must be verified by the Court Officer before the
commencement of the round.

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS –
A. MOOT COURT ROUND

Each preliminary round shall be for 60 minutes in total. Each team will be given a total time of 30
minutes comprising of oral pleadings, rebuttal / sur-rebuttal. Time management is at the discretion
of the team subject to a maximum of 18 minutes per speaker. The same must be communicated to
the designated Court Officer of the Court Hall prior to the commencement of each round.
Each preliminary round will be judged by two judges, each of whom shall score every speaker on
a scale of 0-100.

B. CLIENT COUNSELLING ROUND

All the ten (10) teams shall be the part of the round.

(a) Maximum Time Limit for the Session. Each team shall have a maximum of forty-five (45)
minutes to complete the session. This session must include both a consultation session with the
client and a post-consultation.

(b) The Consultation with the Client. Each team must conduct a consultation with the client
during which the teams are expected to elicit the relevant information, outline the problem, and
propose options for resolving the problem. Team members are entirely free to decide how they
will divide their work, but both teams must consult with the client as a team and their plan is
subject to judging. The teams may wish during their post-consultation presentation to explain why
they worked together in the way that they did.

(c) The Post-Consultation. Each team must also conduct a meaningful post-consultation
discussion between the attorneys after the client has left the room. During this post-consultation,
the teams may either talk to each other loudly enough to be overheard by the judges or dictate a
file memorandum on the interview or both. The post-consultation performance may summarize
the interview, indicate the scope of the legal work to be undertaken, and state the legal issues that
should be researched. Explanation of the position or attitude taken by the teams may be useful.

The teams may also feel that documentation is appropriate. For example, they may want to write
a letter to the client confirming their retention as attorneys, the fee arrangement, etc. It also
may be appropriate for the teams at the conclusion of this consultation to compose a letter to
opposing counsel or to the party with whom the client is having legal problems. Such a document
may be dictated at this time.

(d) Division of Time Between the Consultation and Post-Consultation; Timekeeping. The
team competitors will not be provided with timekeepers. They are responsible for keeping track
of their time. However, one of the court hall managers on each panel should be selected to keep
track of the time for the judges. Under no circumstance will a team be allowed more than forty-
five (45) minutes to complete the session, including both the consultation and the post-

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 The VIDHIT: The Crusade of the Jurisprudents
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

consultation. The timekeeper court hall manager shall stop students after forty-five (45) minutes
regardless of where students are in the consultation or post-consultation process. The decision of
the timekeeper court hall manager as to when the round should end is final. The timekeeper court
hall manager should use the Judges’ Timekeeping Sheet to record the time each session begins and
ends to assure that the timekeeping was accurate. In determining a team’s score, the judges shall
consider the way the team allocated its time and, if applicable, the team’s failure to include a
meaningful post-consultation session.

(e) Use of Materials and Props. During the consultation and post-consultation, the team may use
books, notes, and other materials. The team may also use office props (computers, Dictaphones,
files, desktop furnishings, etc.).
The top six (6) teams selected by way of this Clause VIII shall qualify for the semi-final round of
Negotiation.

(f) Client Not to Be Present. Clients should not be present during the post-consultation period or
the critique.

(g) CLIENTS.

(i) Selection of Clients. The League organizer is responsible for selecting persons to play the role
of the client for each of the sessions.
(ii) Orientation for Clients. The Organisation is strongly encouraged to conduct an orientation
for the clients in advance of the date of League. Each client will be supplied with a pdf containing
the consultation situation and a detailed confidential memorandum concerning the client’s
background and concerns.
(iii) Client Briefing. The Organizer Committee will provide a Client Briefing prior to the Rounds.

(h) Judges’ Briefing. The Organizing Committee will provide a Judges’ Briefing prior to the
Rounds.

The advancement of the top Six (6) teams to the Semi Final Round, is on the following grounds:
• 3 Wins
• In case of a tie, the aggregate raw points minus the memorial marks shall be considered for the
tie breaker.

Memorial marks shall be added to the scores of the preliminary and the client counselling rounds.
SEMI-FINAL ROUND – NEGOTIATION ROUND

The nature of the league shall be that of a Commercial Negotiation, involving 3 participants from
each participating team, 3 Counsellor. The Clients will be provided by the Organisation.

Further, it is mandatory for each participant to play the roles of Counsellor. The time- limit shall
be 60 minutes.

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MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

The proposition and other rules related to Negotiation shall be sent to the participants via email.

The top two (2) teams selected by way of this Clause VIII shall qualify for the final round of Trial
Advocacy.

FINAL ROUND – TRIAL ADVOCACY ROUND

• Each Team shall get a maximum of 45 minutes in each Round.

• Each team is required to examine all the witnesses during the final round.

Opening Statement by Prosecution 02 minutes

Opening Statement by Defense 02 minutes

Chief Examination of all Prosecution Witnesses 16 minutes

Cross Examination of all Prosecution Witnesses 20 minutes

Chief Examination of all Defense Witnesses 16 minutes

Cross Examination of all Defense Witnesses 20 minutes

Closing Statement by Prosecution 07 minutes

Closing Statement by Defense 07 minutes

a) The Organisers shall provide the teams with witnesses for all the rounds. Teams shall be
allowed to brief their witnesses for 30 minutes before the Preliminary Rounds and Quarter-
final Rounds and for 40 minutes before the Semi-final Rounds and Final Round
respectively.
b) The witnesses are deemed to be under an Oath, and the teams may not administer the same
before examining. They shall be in the Court Room during the Opening Statement and the
Examinations but may be seated with the Speakers of their respective team at the time of
the Closing Argument.
c) The order of speakers and the examination and statements they would present, is to be
intimated by the teams to the Court Officers before the commencement of the rounds and

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MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

can be altered only with the permission of the Organisers. The order of Speaker 1 and
Speaker 2 may be reversed by the teams, in their oral rounds only with the permission of
the Organisers before start of the respective Round.
d) The order of examination is as follows:
i. Examination-in-chief of Prosecution Witness No. 1 by the Prosecution.
ii. Cross examination of Prosecution Witness No. 1 by the Defense. Likewise, for all the
remaining Prosecution Witnesses.
iii. Examination-in-chief of Defense Witness No. 1 by the Defense.
iv. Cross examination of Defense Witness No. 1 by the Prosecution. Likewise, for all the
remaining Defense Witnesses.
e) The teams may examine all or the minimum prescribed number of the witnesses, within
the time allotted to them. No additional evidence or witness may be produced or examined
apart from what has been provided by the Organisers.
f) If Team ‘A’ (Prosecution) against Team ‘B’ (Defense) fails to examine the prescribed
minimum number of Prosecution witnesses in the allotted time, the Judges shall score only
according to the witnesses examined and Team ‘A’ shall be restricted to deliver their
closing arguments only on the oral evidence of the witnesses examined during the Trial.
The Prosecution shall not conduct Examination-in-chief of any of the Defense witnesses
and vice-versa, irrespective of the total time left for the examinations.
g) The time allocated for any of the phases of the Trial, if not utilised, shall not be utilised for
any other phase of the Trial, i.e, if Team ‘A’ (Prosecution) has utilised only two (2) minutes
in their Opening statement, cannot utilise the remaining one (1) minute in any other phase,
such as Examination-in-chief of Prosecution witnesses or Cross examination of the
Defense witnesses.
h) There shall be no re-examination of any of the witnesses from both Prosecution and
Defense.
i) If a team submits/refers/files a compendium of cases or cases in-person or any application
before the Court, then another copy of the same shall be compulsorily served/given to the
opposite party along with the copy to the Bench. Contravention of the same may lead to
non-admission of the said document by the Bench.
j) The time allocated for each phases of the Trial shall not be paused during the objections
raised, the objection argument, the Court questions to the witnesses in either of their
examinations, and the questions posed to the Counsels in both Opening Statement and
Closing Arguments. For every extra minute taken by a team, in any phase of the Trial, a
0.5 mark shall be deducted from the total marks by each Judge.

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MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

X. SCOUTING

Teams shall not be allowed to observe the oral submission of any other team. It is strictly
prohibited. Any such attempt shall be subjected to disqualification.
The researcher shall sit with their respective teams during the oral pleadings. Witnessing any
incident of Scouting by the participants may result in Immediate Disqualification of the team from
progressing the League.

XI. AWARDS

The following awards shall be given at the valedictory ceremony of the league:
A. WINNERS
B. RUNNERS-UP
C. BEST MEMORIAL (MOOT COURT)
D. BEST MEMORIAL (TRIAL ADVOCACY)
E. BEST COUNSELLER
F. BEST SPEAKER

All those teams qualified for the negotiation round shall be awarded with a merit certificate.

XII. ONLINE PLATFORM RULES

1. The participants must ensure that they have a strong internet connection with good audio
and video facilities. They must use laptops or PC for the oral rounds. The use of cell phones
is prohibited.
2. The background of the participants on video shall be plain and shall not contain any
symbols or any representations.
3. The participants (speakers and researchers) must ensure that any noise or audio other than
the voice of the participant should not disturb the other participants during the online oral
rounds. It is advisable to plan and prepare for the online oral rounds in advance accordingly.
4. Participants shall be permitted to use the screen sharing feature for making their
submissions. Participants are required to use the latest version of Firefox or Google
Chrome. Participants are not permitted to use Safari.
5. It is mandatory for the participants to keep their video cameras on at all times during the
competition.
6. At the time when one participant is speaking, others are expected to keep their microphones
on mute.
7. The participants must not start the session before the host.
8. The Meeting ID and Link to each session shall be shared with the participants before each
round.

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MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
February, 2021

XIII. MISCELLANEOUS

The copyright over the memorials submitted for participation in the league shall be deemed to have
been assigned to Moot Court Association, School of Law, Presidency University, Bengaluru and
as a consequence shall vest fully and completely with the Moot Court Association, School of Law,
Presidency University, Bengaluru. The Participants shall certify in writing the originality of
materials contained therein and shall be responsible for any claim or dispute arising out of the
further use and exhibition of these materials.
The moot court league is based on a purely fictitious proposition, whereby the characters and the
incidents or the course of events in the proposition are completely imaginary and the same has no
relation to any person living or dead or any post/present real-life incident. The moot court
competition is made solely for the purpose of training law students in developing an analytical
bent of mind and serving the Bar and the Bench to the best of their abilities.

The Committee reserves the right to take appropriate action for any unethical, unprofessional,
immoral conduct and uncalled for behaviour of the participants at the league venue and
accommodation.

The Committee highly recommends that teams make their own arrangements for internet access.
No internet access shall be provided.

If any situation arises which is not contemplated by the Rules, the decision of the Committee shall
remain final and binding.

The Committee reserves the right to vary, alter, modify and/or repeal any provision of these rules
if so required.

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