Students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) have participated in the maiden Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo moot court competition at the Dr. Daniel McKorley Moot Courtroom at GIMPA Law School.
UCC won two awards, taking the best Memorial for the Republic and the best Respondent Oralist awards.
Participating institutions for the three-day moot court competition were; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the Kings University College (KUC).
At the end of the preliminary stages, KNUST and GIMPA progressed to the finals. GIMPA with 499 points triumphed over KNUST who secured 498.
The panel for the competition was made up of Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, Justice Hafisata Amaleboba of the Koforidua Court of Appeal, and Justice John Mark Nuku Alifu of the Cape Coast High Court.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Justice, admonished the law faculties to incorporate consistent mooting in the legal study environment to equip the students with the practical skills for the proper application of theoretical study – a thread of thought with the full endorsement of the General Legal Council (GLC).
“There is a lot of theory in the schools and much less engagement in the physical mooting. As much as 1’m enjoying this competition and this outcome, I came here with a request to the universities that we should move the experience of school competitions and examinations to an everyday occurrence. The General Legal Council has to put pressure on you to incorporate the consistent discipline of moot court presentations in the universities,” the Chief Justice said.