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The Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot

Now in its fifth year, The Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot Competition provides students with an excellent opportunity to apply criminal law in a mooting context and gain insight into Chambers and the Criminal Bar prior to applying for pupillage.

About the Competition

The competition comprises two knock-out rounds judged by members of Chambers followed by a final judged by a member of the Judiciary. In previous years we have held the Final at the Old Bailey and at the UK Supreme Court.

Chambers encourages all students, regardless of their background, to consider a career at the Criminal Bar. Whilst the competition is focussed on mooting and developing research, drafting and advocacy skills, it also seeks to provide students with an opportunity to engage with members of the Bar and the Judiciary, and to learn about life both at 5 Paper Buildings and at the Criminal Bar more widely.

With this in mind, the first round is more than just a moot: we hold a daytime event on a Saturday in the autumn during which students compete in the first round of the moot, participate in an advocacy workshop and have an opportunity to hear from a member of our Tenancy and Pupillage Committee and a recent pupil about pupillage in Chambers and the pupillage application process. The day concludes with a drink reception, providing an opportunity to network with members of Chambers.

Entries to the competition are on a team basis. Each team must comprise two students from a single university or institution, both of whom meet the eligibility criteria set out below.

Entrants are judged on a team basis in the two knock-out rounds and individually in the final. The two individual competitors who obtain the highest scores in the final will each be awarded the opportunity to undertake a mini pupillage in Chambers.

All moot problems will be criminal law based. We appreciate that entrants will have varying levels of knowledge of criminal law and practice depending on their stage of academic study and we will be mindful of this throughout the competition. No prior knowledge of criminal law or procedure is required in order to participate in the competition.

Eligibility for the competition

Entries are on a team basis.

Each team must comprise two students from a single university or institution, both of whom:

  • are currently in their final year of the LLB or on the LLM, GDL or BPTC/BTC;
  • are yet to secure pupillage; and
  • have not previously entered or participated in the competition.

 

About Michael Corkery QC

Michael Corkery QC was a legendary figure at 5 Paper Buildings. He was a member of Chambers for 60 years, a longstanding Senior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey, and in silk he both prosecuted and defended in some of the most challenging and noteworthy cases at the criminal Bar. He would come back to Chambers after court and entertain young and old members of chambers alike with anecdotes from his ongoing and past cases. The many current members of Chambers who had the privilege of being led by him remember him as a wonderful advocate: holding the jury’s rapt attention, fearsome in cross-examination, and in complete control of the court (usually judge included). Michael died in 2018, and never lost his enthusiasm for the life of the advocate. We hope that the Michael Corkery QC Memorial Moot competition will be a fitting tribute to him.

The 2023/24 competition

The dates for the 2023/24 competition are as follows:

Round 1:       18 November 2023

Round 2:       early January 2024

Final round: Spring 2024

The first round will be held in person in London. The second round will be held remotely. The Final will be held at a court in London.

Entering a Team

If your university or institution wishes to register a team in this year’s competition, please provide the names and email addresses of the two students that will make up your team together with confirmation that they meet the eligibility criteria by email to  moot@5pb.co.uk. The deadline for all registrations is 25 October 2023.

Please note that we will only accept one team entry per university or institution and therefore prefer to be contacted by a member of faculty or the person responsible for the organisation of external moots rather than individual students.

Previous Winners

2019/20         James Ball (Nottingham Trent University)

                      Christina Courquin (University of Law)

 

2020/21          Paula Kelly (The Inns of Court College of Advocacy)

                       Eleanor Gwilym (Oxford Brookes University)

 

2021/22          Joseph Lord (The Inns of Court College of Advocacy)

                       Rory Fazan (Birkbeck, University of London)

 

2022/23          Isabelle Bienfait (University of Cambridge)

                       Mia Monahan (The Inns of Court College of Advocacy)

Privacy Notice

Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information collected, stored and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us in the event you need further information.

Who Are We?

5 Paper Buildings collects, uses and is responsible for personal information about you. When it does this, it is the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you need to contact 5 Paper Buildings about your data or the processing carried out, you can use the contact details at the end of this document.

What do we do with your information?

Information collected

When co-ordinating and running the Michael Corkery QC Criminal Law Moot Competition, 5 Paper Buildings collects some or all of the following personal information that you provide:

  1. personal details of those entering a team;
  2. personal details of the persons comprising the team;
  3. other personal data relevant to your involvement in the moot, and/or the involvement of the persons participating in the moot.

Information collected from other sources.

5 Paper Buildings will not ordinarily collect information from any other sources.

How we use your personal information: Purposes

5 Paper Buildings may use your personal information and/or the personal information of those participating in the moot for the following purposes:

  1. To process team entries for the moot competition;
  2. To coordinate the competition – including to provide information relating to the competition and providing submissions to opposing teams, in order that the competition can run smoothly;
  3. To publicise the names of the winners of the competition;
  4. To keep records and carry out office administration;
  5. To track patterns and trends in team entries;
  6. To respond to potential complaints or make complaints;
  7. As required or permitted by law.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and why

If you have entered a team to the moot competition, your personal information has to be provided to enable 5 Paper Buildings to process team entries and coordinate the competition.

If you are participating in the moot competition, your personal information has to be provided to enable 5 Paper Buildings to coordinate and run the competition.

The legal basis for processing your personal information

5 Paper Buildings relies on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal information:

  • If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then we may process your information for the purposes set out above to the extent to which you have consented to us doing so.
  • Processing is necessary for us to coordinate and run the competition.
  • We rely on our legitimate interest and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the Purposes set out above.
  • In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that we can comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

Who will we share your personal information with?

It may be necessary to share your information with the following:

  • The barristers coordinating the moot competition;
  • The barristers involved in judging the competition;
  • data processors, such as Chambers staff, IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers;
  • the staff in chambers;
  • the mini-pupillage coordinator or any other person involved in arranging and/or providing the prize for the competition;
  • in the event of complaints, the Head of Chambers, other members of Chambers who deal with complaints, the Bar Standards Board, and the Legal Ombudsman as necessary;
  • business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies, e.g. the Bar Council;
  • the general public in relation to the winners of the competition.

In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without our consent or yours.

We may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.

Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

This privacy notice is of general application and as such it is not possible to state whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the EEA in any particular case or for a reference. However, if you reside outside the EEA then it may be necessary to transfer some of your data to that country outside of the EEA for that purpose. If you are in a country outside the EEA then it is inevitable that information will be transferred to those countries. If this applies to you and you wish additional precautions to be taken in respect of your information, please indicate this when providing initial instructions.

Some countries and organisations outside the EEA have been assessed by the European Commission and their data protection laws and procedures found to show adequate protection. The list can be found here. Most do not. If your information has to be transferred outside the EEA, then it may not have the same protections and you may not have the same rights as you would within the EEA.

5 Paper Buildings may transfer your personal information to the following which are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA):

If you would like any further information, please use the contact details at the end of this document.

How long will we store your personal data?

We will normally store all your information for 12 months from the conclusion of the moot competition in which you enter a team and/or you participate.

The moot competition co-ordinator will store some of your information indefinitely. This is in case of complaints, for checking there are no repeat entries in future competitions, and for sharing with members of any pupillage panel and/or the mini-pupillage coordinator. However, this is likely to be limited to your name, email address and the date of your involvement in the moot. This will not include any highly sensitive material.

Consent

5 Paper Buildings is relying on your consent to process your information as set out above. You provided this consent by making an application for a mini-pupillage at 5 Paper Buildings

You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time, but this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity we have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where we also rely on other bases for processing your information, you may not be able to prevent processing of your data.

If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact the clerks to chambers using the contact details below.

Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:

  • Ask for access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
  • Ask for correction of mistakes in your data or to complete missing information we hold on you;
  • Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
  • Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, e.g. a Word file;
  • Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
  • Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict my processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Request not to be the subject to automated decision-making which produces legal effects that concern you or affects you in a significant way.

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual's rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

  • Use the contact details at the end of this document;
  • we may need to ask you to provide other information so that you can be identified;
  • Please provide a contact address so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity;
  • Provide proof of your identity and address;
  • State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.

The mini-pupillage coordinator will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.

How to make a complaint?

The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners’ Office if you are in the UK, or with the supervisory authority of the Member State where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Future Processing

5 Paper Buildings do not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on the website.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 10 September 2020.

This privacy practices will be continually under review and may change from time to time. When it does, it will be placed on the website.

Contact Details

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact the moot coordinator, Miriam Smith, or Chambers Data Protection lead, Andrew Johnson.

The best way to contact us is to write to us at 5 Paper Buildings, London, EC4Y 7HB.