In line with its tradition of giving real life experience and clinical legal training to its students,the University Institute of Legal Studies,Panjab University started with its third successive Surana and Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot Court Competition 2011 (India North) rounds. Now all eyes are on the final rounds which will be held in the morning session of September 18 in the Golden Jubilee Hall of Punjab University. The institute is hosting this moot court competition which will go a long way in enhancing the legal acumen,skills and aptitude for court craft of the budding lawyers of UILS. The day kick started with the preliminary rounds which were held in simultaneous six court room sessions and were judged by eminent lawyers and distinguished academicians. The judges gave a glimpse of their magnanimity by guiding the budding lawyers with the basic skills such as court etiquette,administration of oath to the witnesses,the formal way of addressing the court and presentation of arguments. Since the unique format of the moot requires the examination of the evidence on record and also examination and cross examination of witnesses,various procedural hurdles came in the way of the competitors. The validity of expert evidence and the concept of absolute liability especially in case of industrial disasters were the leitmotivs running through the entire session. On the basis of the performance of the teams in the preliminary rounds and their memorials,the top four teams made it to the semi-finals. The Judges were Akash Singh,Shikhir,Ivneet Walia,Sangeeta Taak,Baji Rao Rajwade,Heena Talwar,Rahul Sharma,Preetinder Ahluwalia,Gautam Dutt,Animesh Sharma,Anilpal Shergill,Kartikye,Dhruv Dayal,Pardeep Virk and Rajinder Kaur. The semi-finals were judged by APS Deol,Senior Advocate,R.S Grewal,Founder-Director UILS,Pallav Mongia,Advocate,Delhi High Court,Karambir Nalwa,Advocate Punjab and Haryana High Court. The semi finals were definitely harsher than the preliminary rounds but the contesting participants seemed to have improved in their subsequent performances.
