Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar, is hosting the XXVI All India Inter-University Moot Court Competition for Law Students, sponsored by the Bar Council of India, from January 8 to 10, 2010. The moot court competition is organised annually by the Bar Council of India in collaboration with one of the Universties in the country. 32 teams from law schools all over India will be contending for the Rs. 1000/- per month scholarship which will be given to the First Rank holder of each round of the competition.

Professor of Corporate Law at GNLU, Dayananda Murthy, Coordinator of the moot court competition, said "I cannot say who the favourites of the competition are, but going by the past 4 years, you can say NLSIU Bangalore, NLU Jodhpur and NLIU Bhopal." Mr Murthy also added that the judges of the competition were likely to be judges of the Gujarat High Court.

The moot is based on a 'knock-out' format. There will be 4 rounds of competition with a separate moot problem for each round. The teams will be organised on the basis of lots drawn and grouped in pairs to determine what teams contest against each other and which side each team will argue.

The competition will be inaugurated on January 8 by the Chief Justice of Jharkand, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra. The first round of the competition will begin on January 9 at 9:30 a.m. with 9 court halls running simultaneously. The quarter finals will be held in 8 court halls concurrently on the same day. On January 10, the top 4 teams will face each other in the semi-finals, and the final rounds will be held in the evening at Hotel Cambay. The Judges presiding over the final round will be Justices Akil Kureshi and Ravi R. Tripathi of the Gujarat High Court, Mr Sudhir Nanavati, Vice-President of the Gujarat Law Society and 2 members of the Bar Council of India.

The Bar Council Moot is amongst the most prestigious national moots, and is considered by mooters to be the toughest mooting challenge in the country.

The national rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition are also to be held this month. The North India Rounds will be held at Ram Manohar Lohia University from January 15 to 17, while the South India Rounds will take place at the Department of Legal Studies, University of Madras from January 29 to 31.