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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Kent team consisted of Canadian final year law students Sarah Smith and Yaman Midani, Japanese final year law student Yuyu Hosokawa and second year home student Oliver Contreras. They were trained by Dr Richard Warren<\/a>, Lecturer and Immigration Law Adviser, Kent Law Clinic.<\/p>\n \u2018As students with a keen interest in immigration and asylum law\u2019, explains Sarah, \u2018we regularly attended Richard Warren\u2019s immigration meetings at the Kent Law Clinic<\/a> and when he offered an opportunity to sign up for a moot, we jumped at it. We spent the year having trial moots, and written submissions, where it finally whittled down to us 4. Over the spring and autumn we would attend workshops with Richard and Darren Weir<\/a> and in December we submitted our written submissions to the competition. We were pleased to advance to the oral rounds in Antwerp.\u2018<\/p>\n Richard Warren explains that \u2018the team worked very hard to learn international refugee law, with most of them not having studied the subject as part of their law degree. It was great to see them develop their confidence in such a short space of time. The final focused on arguments for and against removal to a third country with echoes of the UK\u2019s Rwanda scheme, and so the issues that the teams were grappling with were highly relevant to current events.\u2019 Speaking about the experience, Sarah adds that \u2018on arrival in Antwerp, we were warmly greeted by the University of Antwerp organizing committee. We met other students and prepared nervously. When the time came to moot, we stood up and did our practised oral submissions. That evening we watched the semi-finals and had a fancy dinner at the university (built in 1516!). We received very positive feedback – we had confident, almost excellent presentations, and above average legal argumentation and preparation. It was an honour to receive individualized feedback from Immigration and asylum judges from around the world.<\/p>\n We also got to watch a judges\u2019 panel where they discussed the issues in immigration and asylum law, and see the finalists moot.<\/p>\n The highlight of the experience was undoubtedly meeting bright students and experienced judges from around the world, including India, Singapore, the Netherlands, Estonia\u2026 and exploring Antwerp and Brussels. That was worth more than any trophy! After a successful first moot, and now with confidence to grow and continue, I would say it was an amazing experience. I encourage all students considering immigration law, or mooting, or a career at the bar, or simply looking for experience in public speaking and an opportunity to meet students from all over the world, to try any opportunity the University of Kent offers. You won\u2019t regret it!\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>Each team had to plead a fictitious case between a State and a migrant before a judicial body. The case concerned a young Afghan woman, who applied for asylum in the Grand Duchy of Taurasia, a fictitious country, after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n