Clubs & Competitions

This competition gives students the opportunity to present a plea in mitigation on behalf of an historical or fictional character under timed conditions. Previous cases used include Guy Fawkes (conspiracy to cause an explosion), Lady Macbeth (soliciting a murder) and Goldilocks (burglary and criminal damage).

The competition was held on Wednesday 11 December 2024, with 11 students taking part. Congratulations to the winner of this year’s competition Giorgio Rand, who won with his defence of Pontius Pilate (Perverting the course of justice by handing Jesus over to the mob. John 18:28).

This competition is to find the best mooting team from each of the Bar Course providers. Preliminary selection rounds will be held for Lincoln’s Inn students at the BPTC Providers, using a speed-mooting system. The two highest scoring students will go through to represent their Provider in the final rounds, when the teams compete against each other to decide the winning team.

The IPMC Final was held on Saturday 08 June 2024. Congratulations to the winners Gwen Edmunds and William Moppett who were representing The Inns of Court College of Advocacy! Well done to all who took part and a special recognition to our runners up Samuel Lane and Joshua Turner who were representing City, University of London.

The 2025 competition will be held on Saturday 07 June.

This is an internal debating competition to find the best debating team in the Inn. Team selection will be held at the final Debating Club meeting of the year. Participants must have been selected at this Debating Club Workshop in order to progress to the final. The motion will be announced on the day and the final follow the format of a “British Parliamentary Debate”.

The 2023/24 Debate Shield Final Competition was held on Tuesday 30 April 2024. Congratulations to the winners Niamh Kenny and Katie Stephens!

The 2025 Debate Shield Final will be held on Wednesday 21 May 2025.

This is a competition to award the Sir Louis Gluckstein Prize for the best junior advocate at the Inn. It is open to current Bar Course students and those up to one year Call. Competitors are asked to prepare two exercises, a mixture of criminal, civil and family, and will be allocated randomly. The competition will consist of an initial round from which the judges will select up to eight participants to compete in the final.

This year’s competition was held on Saturday 10 May 2025. Congratulations to the winner of this year’s competition Alysen Miller! Well done to all who took part and a special recognition to our runner up and 3rd place competitors, Tatiana Hewitt and Robert White.

The Inn’s annual Student Law Journal invites students to submit essays for any legal area of interest.

All entries will be reviewed by a panel of Benchers and Barristers who will select the top 10 entries to be included in the journal. After selection, the journal will be published online with hard copies being stored in the Inn’s library.

In addition to inclusion within the law journal, there are two named essay prizes available:

Lord Millett Equity Essay Prize

The Lord Millett Equity Essay Prize is awarded to the student with the best essay on the subject of equity in the law.

The Lord Millett Equity Essay Prize is made possible by a generous legacy left to the Inn by The Rt Hon Lord Millett, who was Treasurer of the Inn in 2004.  In agreement with his family, we have established the essay prize in the field of equity, of which Lord Millett was the outstanding exponent of his time.

Lincoln’s Inn Essay Prize

The Lincoln’s Inn Essay Prize is awarded to the student with the best overall essay on any other legal subject.

Students are permitted to enter essays for both prizes should they wish to. Please note that students cannot submit the same essay for both prizes.

In addition to these prizes, there will also be a prize for overall 2nd and 3rd place.

Prizes

Prizes are available in the following categories:

1.     Lincoln’s Inn Essay Prize: £500 & Lincoln’s Inn Pen

2.     Lord Millett Equity Essay Prize: £500 & Lincoln’s Inn Pen

3.     Overall 2nd place: £50 & Lincoln’s Inn Pen

4.     Overall 3rd place: Lincoln’s Inn Pen

Submissions for the 2026 Student Law Journal will open in October 2025.

To read the full competition rules, click here.

Essays must be submitted with a completed Submission & Plagiarism Declaration.  Click here to download the form.

You can read the 2025 Student Law Journal here.