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Time required for moot-for-credit/clinics


QueensDenning

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QueensDenning
  • Articling Student

I'm lucky enough to have been accepted to the clinic I applied to for 2L at Queen's. I've heard that they are very time intensive. I've also heard that the recruit, which I will also be participating in, is very time intensive. I'm also interested in doing a moot for credit next year (side question - is there any difference between a moot for credit and a "competitive moot") which I have heard is, again, time intensive. The administration sent out a global "caution" against doing other time intensive activities while participating in the clinic. 

I'm wondering whether anyone has experience doing a moot for credit/clinic/OCI's in the same year, and whether they found it manageable time-wise. 

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QMT20
  • Lawyer

I didn't do a clinic in 2L but I found the combination of a competitive moot and recruit to be pretty burdensome. The recruit isn't really time consuming in the sense that you have a lot of tasks to do. It's more time consuming in the sense that it takes your focus off school when you nervously wait for ITCs and most people end up being behind on readings as a result. Moots can vary in their level of time commitment. All of the for credit moots are competitive moots. But some of the national moots like the Gale, the Laskin, the Wilson, and the Davies just have higher expectations of the mooters. You'll end up writing more drafts for your factum, doing more practice rounds, and be expected to spend a lot of time over your winter break and early in the semester (as well as skip class) to meet your moot obligations. 

I've heard the time commitments for clinics vary across the clinics. The people I knew who did the prison clinic spent up to 25 hours a week on clinic work. There were definitely other people who did the clinics that took it easy, but this may have been reflected in the grade they received for the clinic as well. 

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QueensDenning
  • Articling Student
3 minutes ago, QMT20 said:

I didn't do a clinic in 2L but I found the combination of a competitive moot and recruit to be pretty burdensome. The recruit isn't really time consuming in the sense that you have a lot of tasks to do. It's more time consuming in the sense that it takes your focus off school when you nervously wait for ITCs and most people end up being behind on readings as a result. Moots can vary in their level of time commitment. All of the for credit moots are competitive moots. But some of the national moots like the Gale, the Laskin, the Wilson, and the Davies just have higher expectations of the mooters. You'll end up writing more drafts for your factum, doing more practice rounds, and be expected to spend a lot of time over your winter break and early in the semester (as well as skip class) to meet your moot obligations. 

I've heard the time commitments for clinics vary across the clinics. The people I knew who did the prison clinic spent up to 25 hours a week on clinic work. There were definitely other people who did the clinics that took it easy, but this may have been reflected in the grade they received for the clinic as well. 

Would you say the moot was a good experience? And do you think it is better to do in 2L rather than 3L? A little background on my situation: At queen's this year, a few of the legal research and writing TA's didn't have their shit together returned marks weeks late for every one of our assessments (extending deadlines for the next assessments as a result). So in the end, our oral advocacy component of the class was cut out. So I have no idea really what a moot is like. And now i'm going to be applying to OCI's without really knowing whether I want to go into litigation or transactional work, as I have an interest in both but feel that I might do a moot and end up wanting to run from litigation.

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everythingbagel
  • Lawyer

Disclaimer: I don't go to Queens so things may be somewhat different (although these things seem to be pretty consistent across schools).

I did a clinic, OCIs, and a national moot this year. It was definitely stressful at times, but also doable. Thankfully, my schedules lined up such that my clinic work was pretty much dormant while OCIs and the moot were happening, but if I had been hit with a busy period within those ~3ish weeks, I would have really struggled. However, since the recruitment schedule is back to normal this year, you won't run into this issue, assuming your moot is in Feb/March (which I believe most are). My moot prep did not really ramp up until the end of November/beginning of December, so it's unlikely that the moot will be taking too much/any of your time while OCIs are happening. Mooting also only took up a significant amount of my time (that is, more than other classes) the week before the factum was due and the two leading up to the competition. If I had just had mooting and a clinic to worry about (and not the recruit as well), I think it would definitely be manageable, especially since the moot was for credit, aka I was only taking two other courses. I would recommend talking to upper years who have taken your clinic in the past (there's a chance some of them may have mooted as well) and asking about how time intensive that one is in particular - they really can range by a lot.

I would also say that I personally found mooting to be a great experience. I was unsure what type of career I wanted to pursue and was absolutely terrified at the idea of arguing in front of judges, but mooting really solidified that I'm interested in litigation and gave me much more confidence. This may be less relevant for you, given the timing, but I also think it helped my interviewing skills, as I was used to being on the spot and grilled with questions every week. 

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