Justice Frank Kapanda SC of the Malawi Supreme Court has applauded the Catholic University of Malawi for conducting the Moot Court Competition arguing that they help in molding upcoming lawyers for the legal industry in a country.
Speaking after presiding over the Final Round of the Moot Court 2022 Competition organized at the University under the Faculty of Law last Friday, Justice Kapanda said the Moot Court provides a practical experience of being a court of law to students who are studying for law programme.
“I would like to commend the faculty as well as the University for conducting these competitions and I desire that they should continue, they help a lot and there is a reason why they are called Moot Competition and not Mock trials” Said Kapanda.
He then advised law students at the university to be taking “seriously” the competition saying they help to have a practical feel of being in a court of law.
Concurring with Justice Kapanda, Dean of Faculty of Law at the University John Gift Mwankhwawa said Moot Court Competitions are key in molding professional lawyers for the legal market.
“It’s very important to be having these competitions because they replicate what they will be doing when they go to practice” Said Mwankhwawa.
He then commended this year’s Moot Competition arguing that the “quality” has gone up due to feedback that the faculty received from the 2021 Moot Court Competition.
“The quality has gone up as faculty as well students on their part because we learned a lot from last year’s competition, the feedback was quite good that we have improved and we will continue improving these competitions each year” Added Mwankhwawa.
The Dean then disclosed that the University through the faculty plans to hold the competitions with students from universities outside Malawi.
This year’s Moot Court Competition has witnessed Nicole Chombo and Michael Msophoka winning the competition while Noma Nhlane and Owen Mkandawire came out of the court session as second runners up.
The Catholic University of Malawi is the only private university that is offering a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) that is accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in Malawi.