Children’s Rights Moot Court 2027 by Leiden Law School [Online; preliminary rounds week of 24 May 2027]

The biannual Children’s Rights Moot Court (CRM) Competition is run by Leiden Law School and offers students around the world an opportunity to engage with pressing issues in international children’s rights law. It is a fully online competition spanning four days, with preliminary rounds, quarter-finals, semi-finals and a grand final. Teams are judged by experienced legal experts who provide insights and feedback.

Previous CRMs have been praised for being transformative experiences for students. Participants can enhance their legal reasoning and advocacy skills and network with fellow students and professionals. Because the competition is entirely online, teams from all corners of the globe can take part without the restrictions of travel costs and visas.

The competition is open to all university teams, with two to four students per team. It is ideal for bachelor’s and master’s students in law. Non-law students may be eligible if they possess sufficient legal knowledge to meet the challenge. The competition is for emerging talent, so prior professional court experience is not required.

Teams argue a fictitious case involving a dispute between a state and a child or group of children, brought before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Third Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure (OPIC). Each team must represent the Applicant (the child) and the Respondent (the state) respectively, both in writing and through oral arguments.

Leiden Law School’s Department of Child Law assigns a duly qualified person to draft the case for each edition. The theme of the 2027 case is Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment. The case will be made available no later than 30 November 2026.

The Rules of Procedure provide detailed guidelines for team composition, registration, case publication, submission of memorials and presenting oral arguments. They outline the scoring structure, penalties for violations and the evaluation process used by an international panel of judges. The Rules of Procedure will be made available no later than 30 November 2026.

Each team prepares an Applicant’s memorial and a Respondent’s memorial. Each memorial must not exceed 10,000 words. Teams receive the opponent’s memorials via email on Wednesday 12 May 2027.

• Each university team pleads four times: twice as Applicant and twice as Respondent. A team will not face the same team twice during the preliminary rounds.
• Each team has forty-five (45) minutes to plead, including questions from the Judges and any rebuttal or surrebuttal. Up to ten (10) minutes may be reserved for rebuttal or surrebuttal.
• Two oralists represent each team, and no oralist may speak for more than twenty-five (25) minutes in total.
• At the discretion of the Judges, a team may be granted up to five (5) additional minutes.

The order of oral arguments in one Moot Court session is:

• Applicant: Counsel 1
• Applicant: Counsel 2
• Respondent: Counsel 1
• Respondent: Counsel 2
• Rebuttal (Applicant Counsel 1 or 2)
• Surrebuttal (Respondent Counsel 1 or 2)

There is no registration fee to participate in this competition. The registration deadline for teams is Monday 1 February 2027. Further information is available on the Children’s Rights Moot Court page of Leiden University linked with this post.

• Wednesday 11 November 2026: Information Session by Leiden Law School
• No later than 30 November 2026: Announcement of the Moot Court Case and the Rules of Procedure 2027
• Monday 1 February 2027: Registration deadline for teams
• Monday 15 February 2027: Submission of nominations for the International Panel of Evaluation
• Week of 15 February 2027: Student Masterclass
• Week of 1 March 2027: Judges and Evaluators training
• Monday 22 March 2027: Submission of Applicant and Respondent memorials
• Wednesday 12 May 2027: Teams receive the opponent’s memorials via email
• Week of 24 May 2027: Preliminary Rounds
• Week of 31 May 2027: Final Rounds

For all questions relating to the CRM 2027, contact the Moot Court Administrators by email at CRMootCourt@bakermckenzie.com.