A Graduate of the School for Scandal

Well well. The blogging world is a-buzzing and a-bustling with gossip about the latest Mooting Scandal, and it seems there is something of a mutiny in the ranks. And rightly so.

Over recent weeks the President of the Mooting Society has shown a willingness to put personal interest before his presidential duties which were, as I (and, it seems, others) understood them, largely administrative and promotional. By employment of what can only really be described as skulduggery moste foule, el Presidente wangled his way through various moots both legitimately and illegitimately such that on Tuesday evening the accused himself immodestly drank a champagne toast to his own 'victory' from the silver winner's trophy of this year's internal mooting competition.

His behaviour has understandably generated considerable opprobrium. Susie Law School rightly points out that were it not for him, the Mooting Society and associated competitions may not have gone ahead, although I understand that even the establishment of the Society itself was not entirely without boisterous elbowing and the putting of several noses out of joint. One wonders if our esteemed President will take a similar attitude to pupillage applications and, following an unsuccessful interview, turn up in wig and gown on the steps of Chambers the following October regardless.

Josephine doesn't like gossip. Nor does she like underhandedness or chicanery. But if there’s one thing she really dislikes it’s an inability in a person to recognise that improperly-acquired success is not really success at all. It's grubby, unsophisticated cheating, and it makes a mockery of all those who acknowledge that some rules are not made to be broken.