WORLD MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2009:

GUIDELINES ON WRITING MEMORIALS

The preliminary round of the World Moot Court Competition will be judged
based on the written memorials submitted by teams. Each team must
submit memorials for both the Applicant and the Respondent. What is
most important when working on this is that each participant finds a
method of researching and writing the memorials that is best suited to
that individual and to the team, and that will lead to a document that is
completed on time and of a good standard. The following are some
guidelines on getting started with the research and writing process.

 GETTING STARTED

The most difficult part is usually figuring out where to start. Begin by
familiarising yourself with the facts and the prayers of the hypothetical
case to be argued. Read this over a few times until you have a firm grasp
of what’s going on. Depending on the complexity of the issues, it may be
helpful for you to make short summaries, diagrams and timelines to
simplify the facts for yourself. Once you’re familiar with the facts and the
prayers, you’ll be able to identify the basic key issues and violations of
rights for each of the prayers.

 PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Now that you’ve got the basic issues that must be addressed, you can
start with the preliminary research. The best place to start is by reading
through all the treaties that the facts tell you have been signed or ratified
by the state parties. These are the most relevant sources of law, and it’s
important to understand the legal basis of the argument that you will be
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making. Make a note of what the treaties say about the particular rights
that have been violated, the extent to which the right is protected, and
whether the wording of the treaty is peremptory (eg. States shall...; States
must...) or discretionary (eg. States may...).

It may also be a good idea to look through textbooks on the general

principles of international law. Topics such as sources of law; the
distinction between standing, admissibility and jurisdiction; and any
general information on the rights that have been violated will be useful to
read through.

 RESEARCH REPORT

It is advisable for teams to draw up a preliminary research report at an

early stage in the preparation. Both team members should complete a
report on all the issues, for both the Applicant and the Respondent. It
need not be longer than a few pages, and may be based simply on a
combination of the basic research that has been done and general
common sense and logic that may apply regardless of whether you have
authority to support it. The purpose of this research report is to provide
for a broad range of ideas on what issues to canvass in the memorials,
and to ensure that the teams agree on what the key issues are. It may
also help the team decide on how to allocate the work between the team
members, as one person may be particularly interested in a particular
issue.

 RESEARCHING THE PROBLEM

The team should divide the work between the team members, and one
member will prepare memorials for both the Applicant and the
Respondent on the particular issue. When researching, consider the
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sources of law that the Court will apply, and whether it is binding or
persuasive. The following are useful when researching: general comments
and commentaries to the treaties that have been signed by the states;
textbooks on the particular issues and rights that have been violated;
textbooks on the general principles of law and the case law of the
international courts and tribunals; articles from databases such as
Westlaw and Heinonline; general information on the topic from search
engines such as Google. Also look at the footnotes used in the documents
– these may refer you to resources which you have not yet found.

Remember that you’re preparing argument for both the Applicant and the
Respondent, so you need to keep in mind both sides.

 WRITING THE MEMORIALS

It may be difficult to decide at what point to stop researching and actually

start writing the memorials. However, don’t feel like you have to have
completed all your research by the time you start writing. When you feel
comfortable enough with the information, begin writing the memorials but
make a note as you go along of which arguments will still need more
authority. This way you integrate the research and writing process that
should lead to memorials which have a strong legal basis. Make sure that
all your arguments are supported with facts from the case and legal
authority.

Creating a good structure for your arguments is essential. Memorials don’t

have as rigid a format as required by heads of argument submitted in a
domestic court. Teams can decide on what will suit them best. Make your
structure clear by using headings and subheadings, and bear in mind
which arguments are being argued in addition to the others and which are

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being argued in the alternative. It is usually most effective to begin your
memorials with your strongest arguments.

Try to ensure that each prayer is of an equivalent length – do not spend

too much of the word count on one prayer, and neglect one of the others.
Remember also that the prayers may be structured in such a way that you
have to prove your first argument in order to succeed on the subsequent
prayers.

 EDITING THE MEMORIALS

Don’t underestimate how long it will take to edit the memorials. Read the
rules carefully to ensure that you comply with all the technical
requirements. It may be helpful for the team to decide together on certain
things at the outset, such as the numbering, abbreviations to be used,
and the way in which references will be made in the footnotes. This will
result in the document looking standardised, and will save you from
wasting time later by having to make these changes. If you’ve used
electronic editing tools such as ‘track changes’, make sure that you’ve
checked over the document and deleted all of these before you submit
the document.

 REGULAR MEETINGS AS A TEAM

Even though each team member is responsible for a particular issue, it is

still essential that the team meets regularly to read over and discuss what
the other has written. Draw up a schedule as a team for when different
aspects of the work must be completed. Meeting as a team is useful for
helping with the development of the argument, and for the purpose of
editing.

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It is also useful to practise presenting the argument orally and having the
other team members question you on particular issues. This is the best
way to establish whether there are problems with the argument and gaps
which need to be fixed. It is also a good way to ensure that the team is
familiar with all the issues, and that one team member is not arguing a
point which contradicts something said by the other team member.

 MEETING THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Again, make sure that you are familiar with all the rules relevant to the
memorials and the submission – you don’t want to be penalised for
something that could easily have been avoided. There is always a feeling
that there’s something more you can add in or research before submitting
the memorials, but it is important to leave enough time to put in the
finishing touches and still submit the memorials on time. Try not to leave
it for the last minute as there may be unforeseen problems such as
technical difficulties. Aim to be done with the final draft the day before
memorials are due, so that the day of the deadline can be spent doing a
final read through, fixing the formatting, and checking for spelling and
grammatical errors, making sure that the document (including the
footnotes) is standardised, and the bibliography if required is completed.

 CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING ANALOGY:

[Adapted from S Flowers “Madman, architect, carpenter, judge: Roles and

the writing process” (1979) 44 Proceedings of the Conference of College
Teachers of English pages 7-20]

There are four phases in the research and writing process: the madman 
the architect  the carpenter  the judge

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 In the madman-phase, the person tries to find as much research as
possible on the particular topic. Try to focus on what you think is
relevant, but don’t restrict your search too much so as to exclude
information on points which you may not have considered. Read the
information you have and make a note of what will be relevant to your
arguments.

 In the architect-phase, you plan the argument that you’re going to be

making. Now that you have the resources that you’re going to be
using, design and construct your memorials. It is very important to plan
your argument before you start writing, to ensure that the arguments
have a good flow and construction.

 In the carpenter-phase, you physically create the document. Working

from your structure with the resources that you have at your disposal,
start typing your memorials. Bear in mind that once you’ve started
typing, you may find that you need further authority for some
arguments, or that you need to re-work your structure. Be flexible with
this, and try and integrate the different phases where necessary.

 In the judge-phase, it is necessary to consider what you’ve written and

review the memorials. Analyse the arguments carefully, and critically
evaluate what you’ve written, whether you’ve conveyed the point that
you wanted to make, and whether you’ve addressed the problem. Ask
for guidance from others who are familiar with the particular topic of
the law on the areas in which you aren’t certain. You may need to
repeat one or more of the preceding steps, but it will be worthwhile in
the end.

Good luck for the competition!

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