Results of the 2020 Virtual FinTech Moot!
Yesterday afternoon marked the end of the inaugural Youth Law Virtual FinTech Moot. After excellent performances from all competitors I am thrilled to announce Varsha Kanitkar as the competition’s winner, as well as Beth Chalcraft who came in a very close second!
Over the course of the competition between the 11th and 15th of July, myself and my fellow judges were fortunate enough to hear some truly outstanding moots. The competition took place over five knockout rounds, with round one taking place on Saturday the 11th. From this, 16 competitors were selected to take place in round two on the morning of Monday the 13th, with a further 8 making it to Monday’s afternoon session for round three. The winning four from round three mooted again on the morning of Wednesday the 15th for the semi-finals, with the final two going forward to the finals on Wednesday afternoon.
Considering competitors only had a week and a half to prepare for both appellant and respondent, the quality of the skeleton arguments and submissions were excellent. The question itself focused on an area of fundamental contract law set against a FinTech background, and as such provided what I hope was a unique challenge to the students taking part. The question used in the competition is available here, (for distribution and usage, please email contact@youthlaw.co.uk).
At every stage of the competition the decisions to decide who should progress were far from easy, with the quality of advocacy and argument being very high across the board. The final itself was no exception. Judged by trainee solicitors Henry Bedford and Bradley Weller of Hogan Lovells London, Beth and Varsha were examined on the strength of their knowledge and understanding of contract law principles such as variation of contract and consideration, as well as their ability to navigate technical concepts such as commercial relationships, practical benefit and no oral modification clauses. The judicial discussion and deliberation went on for some time, however, in the end, the judges decided that Varsha would be crowned winner of the competition. A video of the final is currently being edited and will be uploaded as soon as is possible.
Please find below the full results of the competition:
Winner:
Varsha Kanitkar
Runner-Up:
Beth Chalcraft
Semi-Finalists:
Andrew Le Tissier
Simran Sangherra
Quarter-Finalists:
Charlotte Wood
Georgina Lucy
Jessica Muurman
Lucy Bill
This competition could not have gone ahead without the incredible help of some very generous individuals. I would firstly like to thank John Dove, organiser of the national Speed Mooting competition, for his invaluable advice and for taking the time to help with my questions. I would also like to thank the University of Exeter’s Dr Tim Dodsworth for allowing me to use parts of his problem question in this competition’s scenario.
Furthermore, I am hugely grateful for the many student judges who generously offered their valuable time to help judge the competition — Alfie Carlisle (Exeter), Chloe Moran (Edge Hill), Sneha Ramkelawon (Exeter), Toby Whitfield (Exeter) and Lucy Cole (LucyDoesLaw) (Exeter).
Also, I would like to express how grateful I am to Henry Bedford and Bradley Weller of Hogan Lovells LLP for taking the time out of their busy working days to judge the final of the competition. I would also like to thank Hogan Lovells’ Michelle Ruddle and Caitlin Philander for helping orchestrate this.
As a final note, I would like to thank all competitors who took part, everyone clearly put in an immense amount of work, and I can only express my sincerest gratitude for all efforts and interest in this competition. Thank you also to everyone who registered their initial interest in the competition but did not manage to take part in round one, all interest was hugely appreciated.
