18 March 2019
News | UK - Dispute Resolution
Gide returned to Oxford on 11 March to participate in the eleventh Oxford University French Law Moot (“Concours de plaidoiries en droit français”).
Gide takes great pride in sponsoring this event, which is also supported by the Association Henri Capitant des amis de la culture juridique française and the Société de Législation Comparée.
The event brings together teams of “Mooters” from some of the world's leading universities to debate a question of French law. The competition is organised by Oxford University’s Institute of European and Comparative Law.
Saadia Bhatty, Counsel at Gide London and judge of the final, commented: "As in previous years, Gide was thrilled to participate in judging the Oxford moot. We were in awe of the quality of the submissions on French law and in French, from students from universities around the world. Gide is proud to support this unique cross-cultural event. We are very much looking forward to the next edition."
The 2019 teams represented the Universities of Birmingham, Boston, Bristol, Cairo, Cologne, Complutense Madrid/Cornell, Essex, Florence, Galatasaray, Humboldt, Oxford and Warwick, as well as King’s College London, Queen Mary London, Trinity College Dublin and University College London.
The Moot Problem, which always manages to be at once challenging and entertaining, this year related to some exploding bottles of Champagne at a Parisian hairdressers on a particularly hot summer's day.
The finalists, from King's College London and the University of Oxford, presented their arguments to a judging panel presided by Jean-Guy Huglo, a Dean at the French Supreme Court, and including Saadia Bhatty from Gide.
The judges complimented the teams for their intelligent and well-structured arguments, for the subtlety of their analysis and for the authority of their delivery.
The level of both teams was deemed to be very, very high, however, it was the team from the University of Oxford, the home team, which triumphed.
The winners from the University of Oxford were: Lukas Gwozdz and George Twinn.
The runners up from King's College London were: Margaretha Weigel and Alice Dunglas.
We are sure that the finalists, as well as the participants from the other teams, will go on to have very successful legal careers and Gide wishes them all the very best for the future.