Competitive mooting is an optional programme which involves students cooperating in pairs to present legal argument either for the appellant or for the respondent in a fictitious appeal case. The competitive mooting programme is open to all students who have already completed one moot, commencing early March. This competition is an excellent opportunity for students to improve their mooting skills and to appear before local practitioners. Moots are judged by law practitioners, faculty members and points are awarded for presentation, legal argument, understanding of the law and ability to answer questions.
Both team members present an oral argument and the top four individuals are chosen to compete for the Penlington Hammond Trophy. This moot is usually held in the High Court before a High Court Judge. The outstanding individual mooter in the Penlington Hammond Moot is awarded the David Wilson Mooting Prize. The finalists in the Penlington Hammond Moot are also eligible to represent Te Piringa - Faculty of Law at the National Law Students' Association conferences, (NZLSA) and the Australian Law Students' Association (ALSA). A team of two competes in NZLSA and a team of three travels to ALSA
There is also a family law moot competition, the Twaddle Trophy, that runs parallel to the general moot competition. Winners of this competition are eligible to compete in The National Family Law Competition hosted by Otago Law School in September of each year and sponsored by The New Zealand Law Foundation.
A practical negotiation exercise is set each year in the compulsory third year Dispute Resolution class. All Dispute Resolution students are automatically entered in the negotiation competition which is also open to students who have already completed the Dispute Resolution paper in a previous year. The Competition comprises students negotiating in pairs against another team, with the winning team being eligible to represent Te Piringa - Faculty of Law in the NZLSA and ALSA competitions.
Third year Dispute Resolution students automatically enter this competition by completing the compulsory client interviewing practical assessment. The competition is also open to students who have previously completed the Dispute Resolution course. Client interviewers compete in pairs, interviewing a client actor and are assessed against criteria such as the student's ability to learn the client's goals and expectations and their analysis of the client's problem.
The Witness Examination Programme is run in conjunction with the Law 4 Law of Evidence paper, but is also open to other students. This programme seeks to develop the skills and techniques used by courtroom lawyers in the essential areas of examination-in-chief and cross-examination. The competition final is held at the Hamilton District Court. The winning participant then represents Te Piringa - Faculty of Law at the ALSA Witness Examination competition in July, and also the NZLSA Witness Examination competition in August.
In 1999 Te Whakahiapo initiated the Te Whakahiapo Māori Moots. The moots are held annually to give students the opportunity to enhance their mooting skills on issues pertinent to Māori. Two overall outstanding participants go on to represent Te Piringa - Faculty of Law at the annual Te Hunga Roia Māori Moots (the Māori Law Society of New Zealand). A trophy for overall outstanding mooter was donated by McCaw Lewis Chapman, and a trophy for the most promising mooter was donated by the Ngapo Whānau of Tokoroa. Mooting teams are made up of a taukana (senior) and a teina (junior) law student.
In addition, there is a National Māori Mooting Competition, where students from Waikato have been very successful.
The Auckland High Court Sentencing Competition is an excellent opportunity for law students at the University of Auckland and the University of Waikato to learn how the sentencing process works and develop their advocacy skills. In the competition, students make submissions on the appropriate sentence for a fictional offender.
Competitors are given a lively fact scenario and allocated a role as counsel for either the prosecution or the offender. They make submissions to the Judge, and persuade him or her to impose the sentence on the offender that they think is appropriate, as well as advantageous to their client.
The competition consists of a preliminary, semi-final, and final round. The preliminary round will involve 28 competitors from Auckland and 8 from Waikato. There will be eight competitors in the semi-final held in Auckland, two of whom will proceed to the final.