HYPOTHESIS CASE COMPETITION (2026)

UNITY ASSOCIATION HYPOTHETIC CASE COMPETITION RULES

1. DEFINITION AND SUBJECT MATTER

The Unanimity Association Moot Court Competition (“the Competition”) is a competition organized by the Unanimity Association to improve the legal knowledge, analytical skills, and argumentation abilities of law school students. The Competition will be held at least once a year.

The competition is open to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-year undergraduate law students and is based on teams solving hypothetical legal case scenarios. The competition is designed to address hypothetical disputes prepared by the Unanimous Association within the framework of relevant legal legislation. The aim is to improve young lawyers’ legal analysis, communication, and oral defense skills, and to contribute to the creation of a network within the legal community.

2. ORGANIZATION

The competition is organized by the Unanimity Association, and all processes are managed by the association. The competition will be conducted in accordance with these rules and other documents that will be announced on the official website of the Unanimity Association (oybir.org).

Competition venue: Ibn Haldun University Başakşehir Campus.

3. APPLICATION

Applications must be submitted online by April 19, 2026, a date to be announced on the official website of the Unification Association. Registration is completed by filling out the application form and uploading the required documents. Registration confirmation will be sent via email by the Unification Association. Participation in our competition is free. Accommodation, travel, and other expenses will be covered by the participants.

4. PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

Only undergraduate students in their second, third, or fourth year of law school in Turkey can participate in the competition. Teams must consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of four students. Students from different universities can form mixed teams. Multiple teams from the same university are allowed. Team members must be fully and accurately listed on the registration form. Any changes to team members must be reported immediately to the Oybirliği Association. Once the pairings are made, no changes to team members are permitted, and no substitute contestants can participate. Students who lose their student status during the competition are ineligible to participate.

5. DISPUTE SUBJECT TO THE COMPETITION

Competing teams are given a hypothetical dispute to prepare for. Based on this hypothetical dispute text, teams will prepare their petitions containing skeletal arguments in both the prosecution and defense roles. The top 8 teams will be unanimously selected from among the applicants and will undergo oral hearings. Teams will compete in pairs and through an elimination process.

6. PETITIONS

6.1. Petition Content

The arguments in the petitions must be based on the factual circumstances of the dispute, relevant laws, doctrine, and judicial decisions.

6.2. Shape Rules

• Applications should be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, with 1.5 line spacing; footnotes should be 10-point.
• A 2.5 cm page margin should be left on all pages of the petitions.
• Except for the cover page, all pages of the petition should be written justifiably.
• The cover page should include the names of the team and its members; the name of the university should be mentioned if possible.
• The main arguments should be limited to a maximum of 2000 words each for both the statement of claim and the statement of reply.
• It should be prepared in Word or PDF format.
• Delivery
• Applications must be uploaded to the relevant section on the application form by 23:59 on April 19, 2026.

7. HEARINGS

Program

• Teams submit their petitions in advance, which contain the framework arguments for the hypothetical dispute.
• The 8 teams that qualify for the finals based on the preliminary evaluation by the referees will be notified to the teams on April 26, 2025.
• Oral defenses will be presented between May 4th and May 7th, 2026, in the Mock Trial Hall at the Ibn Haldun University Başakşehir Campus.
• The date and session in which teams will compete, whether they will be the claimant or defender, and the teams they will face are determined by draw.
• The quarter-final competitions will be held on May 4th and 5th, 2026, with morning and afternoon sessions. The winning teams from the quarter-finals will advance to the semi-finals, where their opponents will be determined by draw.
• The semi-final competitions will be held on May 6, 2026, with morning and afternoon sessions. Teams that qualify for the final and third-place matches will be determined at this stage.
• On May 7, 2026, the third-place match will be held in the morning session, and the final match will be held in the afternoon session.

Hearings

• Each team has 15 minutes of verbal defense time.
• In court hearings, at least three team members must provide five-minute oral defenses, which will be considered in the scoring.
• Following the oral arguments, the judges will give contestants from both teams a balanced speaking time of 20 minutes in total, asking them questions regarding the hypothetical dispute.
• Son 10 dakikalık dilimde ise her bir tarafa 5’er dakikalık olmak üzere her bir takım için karşı takıma soru sorma ve cevap verme hakkı tanınır ve sözlü duruşmalar tamamlanır.
• Additional time may be requested from the arbitrators at any stage of the oral hearing. Arbitrators treat the parties fairly in granting additional time.

Scoring

• Scoring is done on a contestant-by-contest basis, and at the end of the competition, the judges record the score they awarded to each contestant according to the mock trial competition jury evaluation form. The total score of contestants in the same team constitutes the team score. Winning teams are determined separately for each session based on team scores. The judges determine the winning team by majority vote.

Scoring for Oral Hearing (100 points):

• • Posture and representation (20 points)
  • Mastery of factual information (20 points)
  • Legal justifications (20 points)
  • Presentation skills and persuasion (20 points)
  • Answering the referee’s questions (20 points)

Scoring for Petitions (out of 100 points):

• • Şekil kurallarına riayet edilmesi (20 puan)
  • İddia ve savunmalara yer verilmesi (20 puan)
  • Dil kullanımı ve akıcılık (20 puan)
  • Hukuki gerekçelendirme (20 puan)
  • Maddi vakıalara dayanma ve Mantıksal tutarlılık (20 puan)

8. ÖDÜLLER

8.1. Takım Ödülleri

Yarışmalar sonucunda finalde hakemler tarafından oyçokluğu ile birinci ve ikinci takımlar seçilir. En yüksek puanı alan yarı finalist üçüncü olur. İlk üçe giren takımlara aşağıdaki ödüller verilir:

1. Takım: 100.000 TL

2. Takım: 60.000 TL

3. Takım: 40.000 TL

Final aşamasına hak kazanmakla birlikte yarışmaya katılmayan takımlara ödül verilmez. Tüm katılımcılara katılım sertifikası verilecektir.

9. DİĞER HÜKÜMLER

• Telif Hakkı: Dilekçelerin telif hakları Oybirliği Derneği’ne aittir.
• Kişisel Veriler: Katılımcı verileri, yalnızca organizasyon amacıyla kullanılır ve üçüncü kişilerle paylaşılmaz.
• İntihal: İntihal tespitinde takım diskalifiye edilir.