Moot mode
Argue it out loud, against the case they actually pleaded.
Argue aloud against the other side’s actual pleaded case, at any hour.
Hey George takes the other side and argues back hard, citing authority, pressing weaknesses and refusing to concede easily, then drops out of character and says where that would have gone badly.
The design choice that matters
Their case, not a case
A chatbot will take the other side of anything. That is not preparation — it is a debate with a stranger who has not read the papers.
Moot mode argues from the matter record: the opposing party’s actual pleaded position, their authorities and their factual case, rather than from general knowledge.
That is the difference between rehearsal and a conversation.
Answering affidavit — ¶ 1–96
Respondent’s heads — ¶ 1–34
Their authorities — six, with treatment
The four opponents
Four opponents, and you pick the pressure
Opposing counsel, the bench, an appellate panel or a cross-examination drill, at a pressure you set.
Opposing counsel
Runs the other side’s pleaded case, cites their authorities with paragraph references, and presses every concession you give.
The bench
Interrogates. Tests jurisdiction and standing before the merits, asks the uncomfortable question, and interrupts.
Appellate panel
Hostile and fast, assuming complete familiarity. For when you are past explaining the facts.
Cross-examination drill
Plays your witness, or plays the opponent cross-examining yours.
The part that is actually worth it
The debrief, out of character
A debrief that ranks the questions you could not answer.
Ranked by what they would have cost rather than by when they came up, beside the concessions given that were not needed, the authorities the other side can raise that have no answer yet, and the weakest submission rewritten against what was actually said.
Everything the debrief concludes is written back to the file as proposal cards, so the practice done on Sunday night is in the matter on Monday morning.
“On what basis did she sign a reconciliation for a debt she says she had no knowledge of?”
Goes to the heart of issue 1. The subject changed to capacity; the bench will not let that stand.
Why it has no real substitute
Sparring has always needed a willing colleague with a free evening
Sparring needs a willing, competent colleague with free time — precisely the scarce resource in any practice.
Available at any hour, infinitely patient, never bored, and having read the papers more carefully than the colleague would have.
Try it on a matter you are preparing now
Bring a set of heads and half an hour. The debrief at the end is the part worth judging it on.