Frequently Asked Questions
Below, you will find answers
to the most frequently asked questions about the AI.Moot Court.
Below, you will find answers
to the most frequently asked questions about the AI.Moot Court.
The AI.Moot Court is an academic competition in the form of a moot court open to students from the Faculties of Law and Faculties of Political Science and International Relations of various universities in Portugal. It aims to deepen students’ legal knowledge while applying Generative Artificial Intelligence tools in a legal context.
The competition is open to any student enrolled in bachelor's or master's degree in the Faculties of Law and Faculties of Political Sciences and International Relations of universities in Portugal. Teams may also include up to two students from other Faculties. Participants must be in at least their second year of a bachelor’s degree or pursuing a master’s degree.
Each Team consists of four to six members. During the oral pleadings, each Team will be divided into two sub-teams: one representing the applicant and the other sub-team representing the defendant. The composition of the sub-teams only needs to be communicated prior to the oral stages of the competition. Each sub-team is limited to two speakers. For Teams that have more than four members, the remaining members may serve a support role and serve as substitutes in exceptional circumstances.
- First Phase (Written Stage): All Teams submit written memoranda for both the applicant and defendant, and a special appendix, the “AI Evidence”, detailing their usage of AI tools. The Teams with the best scores move to the next phase.
- Second Phase (Oral Stage): Qualified Teams participate in the AI.Moot Court presenting their oral pleadings in online moot court sessions. Each Team’s total score in this phase is the sum of their score on the written memoranda and their score on the oral pleadings. The Teams with the best total scores move to the next and final phase.
- Final Phase (In-person Oral Stage): Knock-out rounds where the Teams participate in the moot court presenting their oral pleadings in person.
The entire Competition will be conducted in English, including the written memoranda and oral pleadings.
Teams must apply through the AI.Moot Court website.
The Team Leader should complete the application form and submit it by the specified deadline.
Following application, all members of each Team will individually receive an e-mail with instructions to register on the Platform before the specified deadline.
Following submission of the application, no changes are allowed to the composition of the Teams, except under exceptional circumstances and with prior approval from the Organisers. Each Team can register up to two Coaches following their application and before the registration deadline.
A maximum of two Coaches can be registered by each Team before the registration deadline. After that moment, the Team Leader must request the registration of their Coach(es) by e-mail (addressed to vdaaimootcourt@vda.pt).
Coaches can guide their Team through general discussions of the Case, provide suggestions on research resources and offer advice on public presentation techniques. However, Coaches are not allowed to directly participate in their Team’s oral pleadings.
Once registered, no changes are allowed to the coaching team, except under exceptional circumstances and with prior approval from the organisers.
The Competition will take place on the Platform during both the First and Second Phases. Each team member will receive a registration link to access the Platform. The Final Phase will be held at VdA’s office in Lisbon. The Organisers reserve the right to change the venue, provided that Teams are notified at least two weeks in advance.
The written memoranda must be prepared in line with the defined formatting rules and be submitted through the Platform by the set deadline.
The scoring criteria is defined in article 14 of the AI.Moot Court Rules.
Teams must maintain strict anonymity. Team members’ identities and their university should not be disclosed in the written or oral submissions. Any breaches can result in penalties or disqualification from the competition.
Plagiarism is strictly prohibited and, therefore, any Team found guilty of plagiarism may be disqualified.
The penalty criteria are defined in Article 14 of the AI.Moot Court Rules.
- The Winning Team will receive a monetary prize.
- The Team in second place will also receive a monetary prize.
- The Best Speaker will be awarded a summer internship at VdA.
- The Best Written Memoranda Team members will be awarded summer internships at VdA.
- The Best AI Evidence Team will be awarded a hands-on AI Explorer Workshop by YouLearn Academy.
- Please note that these awards are not cumulative.
- Other non-monetary prizes may also be awarded by the sponsors.
To access the Platform you must register first. Follow the instructions in the email you received after the Team application on this website. If you are already registered, to access the Platform you should use this link: app.teachfloor.com/vda/courses.
We suggest that you save it in your browser, because it is your access to the Competition.
The First Phase of the AI.Moot Court runs from 24 February to 22 March 2026. During this period, Teams must submit their written pleadings for both parties of the case. There will be no mandatory evaluation sessions, but support workshops will be held.
Yes. Teams may use external AI tools for legal research, document analysis, drafting templates and texts, document translation among other purposes. The use of AI is encouraged to promote digital literacy among legal professionals. See Rules - Article 8 "External Assistance, Use of Artificial Intelligence, and Plagiarism" for more information.
The Platform will be available before the official start of the First Phase, on 24 February. However, functionalities related to the drafting and submission of written pleadings will only be accessible after that date. During the First and Second phases, workshops will be held to assist participants, including prompt engineering and legal drafting.
Detailed guidelines will be provided at the beginning of the written phase, specifying the evaluation criteria for the pleadings, including the AI component. The use of AI must be referenced in the list of references (see Rules - Article 10 "Written Memoranda").
The final deadline for submitting written pleadings is until 23:59 on 22 March 2026. Oral pleadings are scheduled for the second half of April, with the Second Phase taking place on 27 and 28 April 2026, and the Final Phase (in-person oral pleadings) is scheduled for 8 May 2026.
Each Team may have between 4 and 6 members. In each oral stage session, only two speakers should present arguments, as per Article 11(1) "Structure of the Oral Pleadings." Time allocation (20 minutes for the initial intervention and 3 minutes for rebuttal/sur-rebuttal) is the responsibility of the Team (see Rules - Article 12 "Speaking Time").
Yes, there will be a deadline for submitting clarification requests, which will be available in the AI.Moot Court Website (see Rules - Article 7 "Case and Requests for Clarification"). Each Team may submit up to five clarification requests regarding the facts of the case.
