ICCA Advocacy Committee
What is the Advocacy Committee?
The ICCA Advocacy Committee is a student-led committee which organises mooting and extracurricular activities for the ICCA’s student body. Chaired by the Captain of Moots, the Committee helps enter ICCA teams to national and international mooting competitions, works with chambers to host internal moots and essay competitions, and proposes additional opportunities for our students to get involved with.
Both Part One and Part Two students are eligible to apply for a place on the Advocacy Committee and are contacted twice a year about the opportunity. If you are an enrolled ICCA student and would like to find out more about the Advocacy Committee, please do get in touch.
Below, you will find the current Advocacy Committee student membership, as well as recent activities and achievements from the Committee and our competing students.
Advocacy Committee student membership
Alex Lass – Captain of Moots
Oscar Minto
Ghulam Muhammad Adnan
Samuel Allibone
Luke Marsden
Chris Howland
Grace Jackson
Francesca Shellard
September 2024 – March 2025
Oscar Minto – Captain of Moots
Natalia Garbarek
Alex Lass
Ghulam Muhammad Adnan
Zoe Adlam
Samuel Allibone
Luke Marsden
Chris Howland
Grace Jackson
Joshua Hurst
September 2024 – March 2025
Joanne Doherty – Captain of Moots
Oscar Minto
Natalia Garbarek
Granville Cheng
Aneeka Dhaliwal
Tammy Ho
Samuel Grankin
March 2024 – September 2024
Arian Mansur – Captain of Moots
Joanne Doherty
Granville Cheng
Arjun Sharma
Nathan Tommis
Niamh Kenny
Vansh Arora
September 2023 – March 2024
Oliver Snelgrove – Captain of Moots
Granville Cheng
Madeleine Allison
Ciranne Barrass
Ethan Dickinson
Will Knatchbull
March 2023 – September 2023
Alice Defriend – Mistress of Moots
Elena Margetts
Joseph Harpur
Recent activities
The ICCA Moot Shield (IMS) 2025 – December 2025
On 12th December 2025, the ICCA Advocacy Committee launched its ICCA Moot Shield (IMS) competition for students to participate in.
The all-day event delivered two moot competitions – one focused on Family Law, the other Clinical Negligence. 15 pairs of students passed the written round and competed across both moots on the day.
To create the Family Law Moot problem, the Advocacy Committee collaborated with ICCA student Michael Miller. The moot was judged by Richard Balchin from Fenners Chambers alongside Advocacy Committee members Luke Mardsen and Oscar Minto.
The competition was won by Jasprit Cusworth and Jaden Beaurain (pictured right) whose names will be engraved on the ICCA Moot Shield and displayed in the ICCA office.
The problem used for the Clinical Negligence Moot was written by Advocacy Committee member, Oscar Minto. On the day, students took part in the quarter-final and semi-final rounds which were judged by Sam Allibone and Chris Howland, also on the Committee. Simeon Whitbourn & Francesca Shellard and Dominique Goddard & Michael Freeman will compete in the final round which be held at the UK Supreme Court in March and judged by Lord Richards of Camberwell.
Successfully organising and running the IMS is an incredible achievement for the Advocacy Committee and the competition is on track to become an annual event for ICCA students.
The Catherine Callaghan Moot (ALBA) 2025
In December 2025, ICCA student Chloe Gershon and her colleague at the Law Commission came 1st place the Catherine Callaghan Moot (ALBA).
Originally named the ALBA Moot, the annual competition is now dedicated to ALBA’s previous Vice-Chair Catherine Callaghan KC who was a “widely respected public lawyer and a cherished friend and colleague to many at the public law bar”.
After completing a skeleton argument and progressing through the oral rounds, Chloe and her colleague took part in the final at the UK Supreme Court. Chloe’s reflection on the final follows:
“We waited outside the courtroom before the teams progressing to the final were announced. I had little time to recover from the shock of having made it through before we were again before the judges – this time making submissions on behalf of Liberty. Though the panel of judges for the final consisted of a High Court judge, a Court of Appeal judge and a former CJEU judge, I somehow felt more relaxed during the final. Perhaps it was because of the additional two minutes we had to make our submissions.
After the final, we heard from Andreas Gledhill KC, who shared warm memories of the brilliant lawyer for whom the moot was named – Catherine Callaghan KC. It was then announced that we had won!”
The ICCA offers its congratulations for this amazing achievement of Chloe’s.
Advocacy Day – September 2025
On the 12th September 2025, the Advocacy Committee held its first Advocacy Day for the ICCA’s new and continuing students. The main focus of Advocacy Day was to provide ICCA students the opportunity to learn about general mooting and the competitions they can get involved in whilst studying with the ICCA, to take part in a speed mooting competition scored by practising barristers and a former High Court judge, and to gain feedback and advice from a panel of experienced individuals at the Bar.
The day was attended by over 45 ICCA students at Middle Temple and was run by the attending Advocacy Committee members.
The winners of the speed mooting competition of the day, based on Plea in Mitigation and created by the Advocacy Committee, were:
Joint 1st place – Rory Fazan and Dominique Goddard
2nd place – Daniel Smith
Oscar Minto, the Committee’s Captain of Moots at the time, voiced that the event was very well received and valued by the students in attendance, and that it was a great way for new students to meet some of their peers on the course.
The Nuremberg Moot – July 2025
This year, the ICCA’s Advocacy Committee supported 4 ICCA students – Giancarlo Putignano, Chandani Trivedi, Zachariah Brettel, and Ishaan Gangar (pictured) – who took part in the annual Nuremberg Moot.
The Nuremberg Moot is a renowned international mooting competition in which teams from across the globe argue a fictitious case before Judges acting as the International Criminal Court.
The team received guidance from Judge Beti Hohler of the International Criminal Court and progressed to the oral rounds of the competition which took place from the 23-26th July 2025 in Nuremberg, Germany . The team placed 26th out of the 104 teams who took part in the competition, putting the ICCA team in the top 25% of performances.
The team have provided the below statement:
“After a rigorous written application round, we were invited to participate in the oral rounds held at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice. We, the ICCA team composed of Zachariah Brettell, Ishaan Gangar, Giancarlo Putignano and Chandani Trivedi, pleaded our case before a bench of leading judges and experts in the field of international criminal law. Our experience was one filled with professional and personal growth as we were able to practice our advocacy skills as well as learn from each other. We also had opportunities to meet passionate and like-minded students from around the world and we explored Nuremberg’s historical sites.”.
Faculty of Advocates Moot – March 2025
The Advocacy Committee entered 4 ICCA students into the Faculty of Advocates Moot which took place in Edinburgh on the 31st March 2025. Juliet Smith, Finnian Robbinson, Eva D’Amato and Christopher Wiskin (pictured) competed against 5 other teams from across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England with a medical negligence case, and had the opportunity to individually receive feedback on their cross examination and examination-in-chief performances.
When asked about their experience, our students described the competition as not only a moot, but “a chance to practice and learn advocacy from some of Scotland’s top advocates”.
Sir Mota Singh QC Annual Moot Competition – March 2025
The Sir Mota Singh QC Annual Moot Competition is held by the Sikh’s in Law Association during the Hilary Term each year. This competition is held in honour of the late Sir Mota Singh QC, who was noted for being the United Kingdom’s first Asian judge when appointed in 1982.
This year, the Advocacy Committee entered two ICCA students, Aneeka Dhaliwal and Ayushi Kundu Bose, into the competition. The team made it to the semi- finals in March, and Aneeka Dhaliwal was awarded ‘Best Advocate’ for her advocacy during this round.
