The competition will be hosted and run by The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales and will be known as THE WEEKLY LAW REPORTS Mooting Competition.

The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales (The ICLR) is a registered charity set up in 1865 by the legal profession for the legal profession. The majority of our reporters are barristers although we do have a growing number of solicitors who have joined us in the past couple of years. Our reporters are required to be present in court for every case they report and the reports are subsequently sent to the judges concerned prior to publication. Wherever possible The Law Reports should be cited in preference to other reports, as they are the most authoritative and the official reports to the courts.

Practice Direction (Judgments: Form and Citation) (Supreme Court) [2001] 1 WLR 194

Citation of judgment in court

3.1 For the avoidance of doubt, it should be emphasised that both the High Court and the Court of Appeal require that where a case has been reported in the official Law Reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales it must be cited from that source.

As a legal publishing company we only publish law reports. This is our specialist area and the reason for our existence. Our job is to decide which cases are relevant to UK law and to decide which cases change or develop our law in some way. These are the only cases we will report. Therefore if a case has been selected by the ICLR to be reported – you know immediately that it is important.

The main objective of this competition is to encourage the advocacy skills of future practitioners by encouraging the use of case law by students within a practical environment.

Precedent set through cases heard in the House of Lords, Privy Council and the High Courts is second only to legislation in our legal system. It is therefore vital that the practitioners of tomorrow are familiar with and understand how to use law reports in their legal careers. It is also becoming increasingly important that all students, not just those with the intention of pursuing a career at the bar, develop advocacy skills and confidence in their ability to argue legal points in a courtroom environment.