The Grand Final of the inaugural Herbert Smith Freehills Disability Mooting Championship: Oxford v Cambridge will take place at 3 pm on 16^th November 2019 at the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, Worcester College, Oxford.

This exciting moot court competition aims to promote the study of disability and the law. The moot will be spread across two days, consisting of preliminary rounds, semi-finals and a grand final. Eighteen teams of two students, nine teams from Oxford and nine from Cambridge will take part. Each moot will last for an hour. Preliminary rounds will take place at Jesus and Exeter College, Oxford.

Dr Marie Tidball, Coordinator of the Oxford University Disability Law and Policy Project said:

‘We have been thrilled to work with the University of Cambridge and Herbert Smith Freehills to launch the first varsity edition of our successful Disability Mooting Championship. There are 13 million people with a disability in the UK but a discussion of our lived experiences in University courses is scarce. Therefore, this event is a really important way to promote the intellectual study of disability and its intersection with domestic and international law.’

The competition is open to all current matriculated and registered overseas students at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. The Winning Team in this competition will have the chance to win a cash prize of £500 and there is a cash prize of £300 for the Runner-up Team. The event is supported by the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. The Grand Final judges will include Professor Alison Young, the Sir David Williams Professor of Public Law at the University of Cambridge, Professor Anne Davies, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford and Tom Leech QC, head of Herbert Smith Freehills’ advocacy group.

A panel discussion will follow the Grand Final on the theme of Disability at the Intersections: A “hostile environment” for BAME people with disabilities? In light of the Windrush scandal, the UK government’s immigration policy has been labelled as perpetrating a “hostile environment”. Panellists will explore whether BAME people with disabilities face “double exclusion” in this context and, if so, how this should be addressed. Discussants will also consider what should be done to increase the inclusion and representation of BAME people with disabilities in public life, both domestically and on the global stage. Speakers will include Kamran Mallick, CEO of Disability Rights UK, Cllr Saghir Alam, Councillor and Disability Activist, Dr Shreya Atrey, Associate Professor of Human Rights at the University of Oxford, and Junie James, Director of the Afrikan and Afrikan Caribbean Kultural Heritage Initiative. It will be chaired by Blog Editor of the Oxford Human Rights Hub, Nomfundo Ramalekana.

Register here for the event.