The Plea in Mitigation Competition will be the largest single day plea in mitigation competition held nationally. Read below for information about this year’s competition and on how to sign up.
What is a plea in mitigation
A plea in mitigation is an argument made in court by the barrister or solicitor representing a Defendant that has pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of a criminal offence. The purpose of the plea in mitigation is to outline the mitigating factors in a case and therefore obtain the best possible sentence on behalf of their client. This is a type of advocacy undertaken regularly by criminal barristers and solicitors.
About the competition
The competition is open to:
– Law undergraduates and graduates;
– GDL students and graduates;
– Non-law students;
– Masters, BPTC and LPC students and graduates;
– Those yet to start their legal studies; and
– Those falling outside of the above parameters at the discretion of the organisers
Participants enter as individuals rather than teams and represent themselves and not their university. There is therefore no limit on the number of students that can enter from any given institution.
Submissions will be limited to 5 minutes per participant. The bundle will be sent to participants by no later than 6.00 pm on Friday 27th June 2025. By sending out the bundle the night before the competition, we are replicating the scenario in practice when a barrister or solicitor receives a later brief to appear in court the next day. The bundle will include all of the required materials, meaning no additional research is required. As this is a plea in mitigation competition, no drafting will be required. As there is no research or drafting, participants will be tested on their oral advocacy alone. The competition is judged by practising barristers and solicitors.
How it Works
The competition will take place on Zoom on Saturday 28th June 2025. The competition will run from 9am until 4pm. The entire competition will take place over the course of a single day.
Competition format
The target size for the competition is 200 participants. Everyone that signs up will take part in the competition. The competition will take place over the course of a single day. We will therefore go from having 200 competitors all the way to having a winner in a single day.
For the first round, the 200 competitors will be split into 20 groups of 10. Each group will have their own judge(s). One by one, each competitor in a group will perform the plea in mitigation in front of the judge(s). The judge(s) will determine the winner from each group. The winner from each group proceed to round 2, which will take place in the afternoon.
There will therefore be 20 participants progressing to round 2. These will be split into 5 groups of 4. They will each perform their plea in mitigation in round 2. Once again, each group will have its own judge(s). The judge(s) will decide the winner from each group. This means that 5 participants will proceed to the final.
In the final, the 5 competitors will perform their plea in mitigation one final time in front of a panel of judges. The winner and runner up will then be decided by the panel.
Prize
The winner will receive an iPad. The runner up of the competition will receive a £100.00 voucher.
Cost
The cost for entry to the competition is £36.00. The entry fee is non-refundable.
Sign up
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