RGU students present legal arguments at moot in Supreme Court

Students from Robert Gordon University Law School had the opportunity to present legal arguments in the highest court in the UK after being given permission to hold their internal Moot Final in the Supreme Court in London.

RGU successfully applied to a Supreme Court scheme which has been set up to give a select number of university students this opportunity.

The opportunity to participate and to moot before Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, was open to RGU students studying LLB, BA and Management and Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and also to students studying for the LLB online.

The students who scored highest in a moot competition were chosen. Three, Dan McManus, Nikki Sully and Heather Evans, are studying for their LLB online while the fourth, Rory Milkova, is a 3rd LLB student on campus. Georgia Carey, a final year on-campus student, was selected as clerk.

Only matters of national importance reach the Supreme Court so RGU lecturer David Christie created a complex legal problem for the final which included penalty clauses, liquidated damages, third party rights – and Santa Claus.

The Moot Final was held in the main courtroom at the Supreme Court where Justices had given their view on Article 50 Brexit debate a few months earlier.

The winning team, after a hard fought moot, was Rory Milkova and Heather Evans. All the finalists were presented with prizes by Lord Kerr.

Ken Mackinnon, head of the Law School, said: “We are delighted that our students had this opportunity to demonstrate their skills before a Supreme Court Justice. In the Law School we encourage all students to develop the skills they may use in their future legal careers and this event was an excellent way to do that at the highest level.”