General Rounds

47. There shall be two general rounds of the Competition. Each team shall argue once in each general round.
48. Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies), the first and the second general rounds will be held on the afternoon and the evening respectively of Thursday, 3rd March 2011. The Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies) will give due notice to the contact persons for participating institutions of the venue of the first and second general rounds.

Semi-Final and Final Rounds

49. There shall be a semi-final round of the Competition. Three teams each with highest average scores in general rounds (calculation pursuant to Rule 66) from the Prosecutor and Defendant side shall argue once in the semi-final round.
50. Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies), the semi-final and final rounds will be held in the morning and afternoon of Saturday, 5th March 2011 at a venue to be announced. 

Rules Applicable to the General Rounds, Semi Final Round and the Final Round

51. As set out in Rule 40, a team's oral hearings in the general rounds are limited to the arguments presented in the team's memorial. Any change in the direction of the arguments presented in the team's memorial during the oral hearings of general rounds may be subject to a deduction of marks, unless the change during the oral hearings reflects developments in the law after the date of submission of the memorial pursuant to Rule 35.
52. Each team shall consist of a first counsel and a second counsel, as designated by the team or by its relevant participating institution.
53. In the event that a team fails to appear for a scheduled oral hearing, the round of the Competition in concern will proceed as an ex parte hearing in the following order:
    1. A court clerk will confirm the presence of both teams.
    2. If one team is absent, the court clerk will inform the judges and notify the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies).
    3. Once the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies) has been notified, the court clerk will then call the moot number pertaining to the absent team two times inside and two times outside the court room with an interval of 30 seconds each.
    4. If the team whose number is called fails to appear, the court clerk will announce to the court that there is no appearance by the team called.
    5. The oral hearing will then proceed as an ex parte hearing.
    6. The opposing team that presents in the court will receive scores pursuant to Rules 73 through 79.
54. In the event that only one counsel of a team presents for a scheduled oral hearing, the court clerk will notify the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies). Once the Secretary/Assistant Secretary(ies) has been notified, the court clerk will announce the start of the oral hearing. The oral hearing will proceed on the following basis:
    1. The counsel of the team appearing alone shall speak in the oral hearing and receive an individual score from the judges pursuant to Rule 75. This score shall be assessed for the award of the Best Mooter pursuant to Rule 83. If this is a counsel of the Prosecutor team, he or she will speak first, or if from the Defendant team will then speak after the Prosecutor team in the order pursuant to Rule 63.
    2. Rebuttal or surrebuttal, however, will not be proceeded under this rule.
    3. The team with only one counsel will forfeit all scores as a team for that round of the Competition.
    4. The opposing team with both counsel present will be heard and scored normally by the judges and receive scores as a team for that round of the Competition.
55. Each team shall, in any circumstance, keep its own name of university confidential.  Disclosure may subject the counsel concerned to a deduction of a fixed mark of 20 from the total score out of 200 from the individual’s overall score, and in turn affect the team’s score out of the total of 400 in each of the oral hearings, pursuant to Rule 75.
56. Each team shall speak for no more than 40 minutes. The first counsel and the second counsel for each team shall each speak individually for a minimum of 15 minutes.
57. Each team may reserve up to 10 minutes for rebuttal (in the case of a Prosecutor team) or surrebuttal (in the case of a Defendant team).
58. The scope of the Prosecutor’s rebuttal is limited to responding to the Defendant's oral hearings, and the scope of the Defendant's surrebuttal is limited to responding to the Prosecutor's rebuttal.
59. Each team shall indicate at the beginning of its oral argument, how long each counsel will speak and how much time it intends to reserve for rebuttal or surrebuttal.
60. Either the first counsel or the second counsel may address the court in rebuttal or surrebuttal. For the avoidance of doubt, the time reserved for rebuttal or surrebuttal is not included in the minimum time for each counsel to speak as specified in Rule 56.
61. The court may, in its discretion, extend the time for each counsel for good cause, provided that the maximum extension of time granted to any counsel shall not exceed 5 minutes.
62. Time shall be kept by a court clerk, who will warn counsel by appropriate means when they have:
    1. 5 minutes left;
    2. 1 minute left;
    3. to conclude their address forthwith.
63. The order of the oral presentations shall be:
    1. Prosecutor's first counsel;
    2. Prosecutor's second counsel;
    3. Defendant's first counsel;
    4. Defendant's second counsel;
    5. Rebuttal, if any (Prosecutor’s first or second counsel);
    6. Surrebuttal, if any (Defendant’s first or second counsel).
64. Every courtesy shall be given to oralists during oral hearings. Communication at the counsel table shall be in writing to prevent disruption, and teams and spectators shall avoid all unnecessary noise or other inappropriate behavior which distracts from the argument in progress.
65. Team members seated at the counsel table shall not be permitted to communicate with spectators, or with any other external person except the judges. Without limiting the foregoing, with respect to teams that have a researcher, counsel shall not be permitted to communicate with the researcher during the oral hearings and the researcher shall not be permitted to sit with counsel at the counsel table.

Semi-finalist Teams

66. The three Prosecutor teams and the three Defendant teams with the highest average score out of 500 after the completion of the general rounds will meet in the semi-final round. Each team’s average score out of 500 shall be determined by combining its memorial score out of 100 with the average of its two oral hearing scores out of 400 awarded in the general rounds, pursuant to Rules 73 through 79 below.
67. In the event that, after the completion of the general rounds, more than three Prosecutor teams or more than three Defendant teams have scores so that two or more of them have tied for eligibility for the semi-final round, then the Prosecutor or Defendant team to proceed to the semi-final round shall be the team from those which have the highest average score out of 400 for its oral hearings in the general rounds. In the further event that such teams are also tied in their average score out of 400 for oral hearings in the general rounds, the team which will proceed to the semi-final round shall be the team whose first counsel has the highest average score out of 200 for his or her oral hearings in the general rounds. Where more than two teams have tied, the Organizing Committee Chairman or his/her representative shall discuss with the respective judges and the decision after discussion shall be final.

 
Finalist Teams

68. The Prosecutor team and the Defendant team with the highest aggregate score out of 400 after the completion of the semi-final rounds will meet in the final round. Each team’s score out of 400 shall be purely calculated based on the aggregate oral hearing scores out of 400 awarded in the semi-final round, pursuant to Rules 75 through 79 below.
69. In the event that, after the completion of the semi-final round, any two Prosecutor teams or two Defendant teams tie for the highest score out of 400, the Prosecutor or Defendant team which will proceed to the final round shall be the team which memorial has the highest average score out of 100. In the further event that both such teams are also tied in their average score out of 100 for their memorials, the team which will proceed to the final round shall be the team whose first counsel has the highest average score out of 200 for his or her oral hearings in the semi-final round. If there is further tie, the Organizing Committee Chairman or his/her representative shall discuss with the respective judges and their decision after discussion shall be final.
70. The Organizing Committee shall apply the same rule as mentioned in Rule 69 according to its principle to tied case in the final round.