Surana and Surana Moots

The Surana and Surana Moots known for its transparency and ethical conduct of conducting moot courts and other allied competitions for law students in India is among the oldest, largest, and most prestigious moot court project in India which has students from India & SAARC countries (for international moots)^[1] regularly participating. Since the mid-90's every year the law firm Surana and Surana International Attorneys have hosted, administered & sponsored over a hundred moot court competitions (the count is till 2013 and continuing) in partnership with India's leading law schools. This project is one of the largest of its kind in the world by any law firm. In the academic initiatives taken by corporates, Surana & Surana stands as a benchmark in the whole legal fraternity. Probably this is what it means to be called as the "Pioneers of moot court competitions in India".

Anant Kumar Mishra, Then Minister of Health, UP GOVT., Prof. Balraj Chauhan, Then VC - Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU), Dr. S Ravichandran, Head - Academic Initiatives, Surana & Surana at Surana & Surana Moot

History

The Surana and Surana Moots project was initiated by the founder of Surana and Surana International Attorneys, P.S.Surana.^[2] One day in the late 80's, Honb'le Justice Krishna Iyer during his stay with the Surana family, spoke at length about the need to nurture young advocates with good advocacy skills. He was also concerned about the fact that bright young law graduates were joining the corporate sector, thereby depriving the Bar of a steady flow of good talent. This prompted Mr. Surana to plan a well structured & transparent moot court competition platform for law students to develop skills in oral and written advocacy as well as legal research. The cases prepared for the competitions are based on either emerging or unsettled areas of law. This requires participants to come up with innovative arguments which in turn helps develop new jurisprudence. Members of the higher & lower judiciary have participated^[3] in these moots and have greatly appreciated the efforts^[4] of Surana & Surana in developing legal skills among generations of budding lawyers.

Types of Competition

Surana & Surana International Technology Law Moot Court Competition

Established in 2002.^[5] with the aim of training the participants in application of laws to challenges posed by the rapid technological advancements, this moot focuses on the developments in Public and Private International Law and has ingredients of international trade and operations of multi national corporations. Themes covered till date include Information Technology, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property, Space laws, Aviation, Nuclear proliferation, Communication, Cyber Crime and Broadcasting. Participants gain considerable expertise in the respective domains on which the issues are framed.

Surana & Surana National Technology Law Moot 2012 - Hon. Dr. Justice M. Rama Jois, Then Rajya Sabha Member, Former Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court, Former Governor Jharkhand & Bihar

Surana & Surana National Technology Law Moot 2008 - Sr. Advocate Shri Ram Jethmalani, Advocate Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, Padmashree S B Mujumdar, Founder, Symbiosis, Ms. Vidya Yerdevkar, Symbiosis, Prof. Shashikala Gurpur, Director SLS Pune, Prof. M S Raste, VC, Symbiosis International University, Dr. S. Ravichandran, Head - Academic Initiatives, Surana & Surana International Attorneys

Surana & Surana National Corporate Law Moot Court Competition

Established in 2002, to provide Indian law students an opportunity to develop expertise in the area of corporate laws like Companies Act, Taxation (domestic and international), Contracts, Foreign Exchange and Investments, Securities Regulations and Corporate Governance. The highlight of the competition is that it is also open to students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Institute of Company secretaries of India (ICSI).

Surana & Surana National Corporate Law Moot 2008 - Inaugural Ceremony, Army Institute of Law, Mohali, Punjab.

Surana & Surana National Corporate Law Moot 2010 - 1. Hon'ble Mr. Jusitice Hemant Laxman Gokhale, Chief Justice, Madras High Court 2. Hon'ble Col. Dr. G Thiruvasagam, Vice Chancellor, University of Madras 3. Shri R. Krishnamurthy, Former Advocate General of Tamil Nadu and Senior Advocate, Madras High Court 4. Dr. Balu, Dr. Vinod Surana, Managing Partner, Surana & Surana International Attorneys & Dr. David Ambrose

Surana & Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot Court Competition

Established in 2005,^[6] This competition was conceived as one of its kind, with the aim of promoting skills of trial advocacy. In its 10th successful year (2014), this national moot is by far the most appreciated moot for its innovation and structure. Popular demand led to the creation of three more editions of this unique moot [India North, India South, India North East & India West (from 2014–15) rounds.] This was the first moot ever to be held in the North Eastern region of India in 2012. This is a moot where the students of the host institution actively participate as witnesses for the oral rounds.

Surana & Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot Court Competition - North East India Rounds 2013 - Justice A C Upadyay, Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, Justice P G Aggarwal

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Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot (India Qualifying rounds – North & South)

The India regional rounds of this most prestigious International Law Moot,^[7] Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition has been Co-sponsored, Co-hosted and administered by Surana & Surana since the 1990s in partnership with various prestigious law schools across India.^[8] This moot covers the entire gamut of Public International Law that includes the latest developments worldwide. Judges from the higher judiciary, legal experts, and professors of International law, practising advocates who had earlier participated/won Jessup competition are invited to judge the competition.

The top two teams from each of the regional rounds represent India in the International Rounds at Washington. In the event of a single national round, one team for every ten teams registered will be selected to represent India, with a cap of 4 teams at maximum.

National Law School of India University, Bangalore has won the International rounds in 2005 and in 2013.

Philip C. Jessup International Law Surana & Surana India National Rounds 2009 - Prof. P S Jaswal, G K Chathrath, Justice G S Singhvi, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Justice Markandey Katju, Justice J S Thakur, Sobti, Mr. P S Surana, Founder & Partner, Surana & Surana International Attorneys

Philip C. Jessup International Law Surana & Surana India National Rounds - The Hon'ble High Court judges who judged the various rounds are Justice J.S. Khehar, Justice K.S. Garewal, Justice M.M. Kumar, Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice S.S. Saron, Justice Rajive Bhalla, Justice Vinod K. Sharma, Justice TPS Mann, Justice M.M.S. Bedi, Justice R.K. Garg, Justice R.K. Jain, Justice Rajan Gupta

Philip C. Jessup International Law Surana & Surana India National Rounds 2008 - Dr. Hansraj Bhardwaj, Then Hon. Minister for Law, Prof. K K Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, GGSIPU, Vinod K Jain, Registrar, GGSIPU, Prof. Nomita Aggarwal, Prof. Suman Gupta, Dean, USLLS

Philip C. Jessup International Law Surana & Surana India National Rounds - Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Judge, Supreme Court of India Hon’ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Mr. Justice G.S. Singhvi, Judge, Supreme Court of India Hon’ble Mr. Justice T.S. Thakur, Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.L. Gupta (Retd.), Chief Justice, Kerala High Court, Dr. Manoj Sinha, Director, Indian Institute of International Law, Dr. C Jayaraj, Former Director General of Indian Institute of International Law

Stetson International Environmental Moot (India Qualifying rounds – North & South)

The India regional rounds of this most prestigious international environmental law moot by Stetson University College of Law has been Co-sponsored, Co-hosted & administered by Surana & Surana in partnership with leading Indian law schools since the late 1990s.

NUJS Kolkata won the International Rounds in 2005^[9] and NLU Jodhpur in the year 2013.

Stetson International Environmental Moot Surana & Surana India Qualifying Rounds 2008 Finals 1. Hon'ble Mr. Justice A K Patnaik, Chief Justice, High Court of Madhya Pradesh 2. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajit Singh, Judge, High Court of Madhya Pradesh 3. Prof. Dr. David Ambrose, University of Madras, Chennai 3. Dr. Luther Rangreji, Senior Legal Officer, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi

Surana & Surana International Minority Rights Moot

Conceived to create awareness on the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and to facilitate the evolution of minority rights through the jurisprudential analysis of the existing law and consequential emergence of new law.

This moot was organised from 2005-06 to 2010-11 in association with Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Educational Society, Pune and AKK New Law Academy, Pune. This moot's theme offers the opportunity for comparative study of the Constitutions and Laws of different countries in the area of minority rights thereby giving participants insights into international jurisprudence on minority rights.

Surana & Surana International Tort Law Moot

This moot was conceived with the purpose of creating awareness on the Law of Torts in a systematic and scientific manner. Participation provides exposure to tort law practice & facilitates the evolution of tort law through comparative study and analysis of existing laws and consequential emergence of new laws in the world. This moot was organized in 2012-13 in association with Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Educational Society, Pune and AKK New Law Academy, Pune.

ICSI Moot

In light of the then proposed National Company Law Tribunal (finally set up under the 2013 Companies Act) this moot was initiated in partnership with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India to provide students of the Company Secretary course in nuances of Indian legal system and to hone their advocacy skills. It aimed to provide a real-life experience cum training in doing cutting-edge research, presenting ground breaking arguments (oral and written) and contributing to the development of corporate law jurisprudence. The moot helped achieve the above objectives with about 100 teams participating in the 5 years of its tenure between 2005-06 to 2010-11.

References

Sources and External Resources

• Official Website of Surana and Surana Moots