Law students from across Canada show their sports law passion
The NHL hockey lockout may be driving some fans crazy, but it didn't stop a large group of keen law students from showing their passions for hockey and sports law, as they participated in the first ever Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada (HACC) at the Faculty of Law on Oct. 5-6, 2012. The HACC was a salary arbitration competition modeled on the procedures used in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The inaugural event drew 16 teams from eight law schools from across Canada. The teams were required to submit three briefs beforehand, one for each of the competition's problems/cases, and oral arguments were held during the event.
Law students: Nick Rossi, Chris Travascio, Adrian Battiston. Not pictured: Mike DeFaria
Third-year law student Nick Rossi spearheaded the competition, which had a decidedly Canadian twist. “The idea for the HACC originated from Tulane Law School's National Baseball Arbitration Competition. I completed my first year of law school at Tulane and was involved in organizing that year's competition. Because of the importance of hockey in Canada, our competition focuses on hockey rather than baseball.”
Sports lawyers from around Toronto volunteered their time as guest arbitrators for the 27 hearings in the competition. Notable guest arbitrators included Coulter Osborne, Gord Kirke and Dave Poulin, VP of Hockey Operations for the Maple Leafs.
“The idea for the HACC originated from Tulane Law School's National Baseball Arbitration Competition. I completed my first year of law school at Tulane and was involved in organizing that year's competition. Because of the importance of hockey in Canada, our competition focuses on hockey rather than baseball.” --Nick Rossi
As a law school moot competition, the HACC's goal was to give law students the opportunity to sharpen their advocacy skills in a sports law setting.
The HACC organization was no easy feat, says Rossi (“I spent my entire summer and the beginning of the school year, from early May to the day before the competition, planning the event”) but he is grateful for assistance from his Sports & Entertainment Law colleague, Mike DeFaria (VP of Sports & Entertainment Law Society) and law student MIke Alvaro, of Windsor Law School.
Competition results can be found here. U of T had one team, with a win/loss record of 1-2 in the oral arguments and a second-place finish in its division. It did not advance to the semi-finals.
After the competition, the event concluded with a speaker panel, where many guest arbitrators, such as Clifford Hart, of Miller Thomson, Rahim Suleiman, of Heenan Blaikie, and Gord Kirke discussed hot topics currently impacting the NHL, mostly focusing on salary arbitration in sports.
Says Rossi: “We are very grateful to everyone who participated in this event: the teams, schools, bailiffs (U of T students) and guest arbitrators. The competition will continue next year under new leadership, and will be bigger and better. We have created a Canadian tradition with U of T Faculty of Law at the centre of it all.”
