As always, U of T Law is proud of the accomplishments of its talented student mooters, and its negotiation and arbitration competition teams. Read on for the results of the 2017 moots and negotiation and arbitration competitions.
Gale Cup
Congratulations to Zachary Al-Khatib, Catherine Fan, Aidan Fishman, and Stephanie Lewis, who represented U of T in the Gale Cup and placed second in the Moot. Zachary and Catherine made it to the final round, and Catherine was awarded the McLachlin Prize for best female mooter. The problem was R v Fearon, which deals with the police’s right to search an accused person’s cell phone incident to arrest. The mooters were highly praised all around with one judge indicating that the two teams he saw (one of which was UofT) were the best two teams of mooters to have ever appeared before him and another judge telling our mooters they should not change one thing about their advocacy.
The team was very capably coached by adjunct faculty advisors Karen Bellinger (DLS) and Michael Dineen (Dawe Dineen) and student coaches Jessica Evans and Veenu Goswami.
Jessup International Law Moot Competition
Congratulations are due to Lewis Fainer, Emily Gerhard, Christopher Gibson, and Kerry Sun for a tenacious performance in the Jessup International Law Moot Competition. The mooters argued a tough public international law problem that involved a variety of issues: a dispute over the law governing shared transboundary water resources; the obligation on the respondent state to return a cultural artifact where that artifact was illicitly transported by a refugee into the respondent state on the grounds that the object needed saving from cultural persecution and possible iconoclastic destruction by the applicant state; and a demand for compensation by the respondent state for costs associated with taking in refugees from a situation caused by human rights violations in the applicant state.
The mooters would like to thank their fantastic faculty coaches, Maureen Whelton (Stevenson Whelton) and Professor Karen Knop, and their student coaches Mannu Chowdhury and Kartiga Thavaraj, for their support and encouragement.
Walsh Family Law Negotiation
Our Walsh Family Law Negotiation team won that national competition. Katie Conway, Samantha Eisen, Madeline Sawyer, and Sarah Sharp bested teams from all over Canada, negotiating multiple complicated problems across the day. They were brilliantly supported by adjunct faculty advisors Daniella Wald (Family Law Resolutions) and Deanna Sowter (Birenbaum Steinberg).
Canadian Client Counseling Competition
Jessy Van Kooten, Jeremie Lachance, Albert Kwan and Walter Chen were in the Canadian Client Counseling Competition, which was hosted here at the Faculty this year. Albert and Walter dramatically developed their teamwork, and demonstrated strong research and preparation on the day of the competition. Jessy and Jeremie maintained excellent composure and poise when facing difficult clients on the day of the competition. Despite being first year law students competing amongst upper year teams, Jessy and Jeremie qualified for the semi-finals, and impressed the judges with their command of various areas of law. Dora Chan and Vivian Lee, the team’s student coaches, are both incredibly proud of the team's hard work and dedication to the competition.
Mathews Dinsdale Labour Arbitration
Our team in the Mathews Dinsdale Labour Arbitration team, composed of Tamie Dolny and Emily Young, worked on a simulated grievance arbitration hearing concerning a problem revolving around emergent labour law issues that have little consensus amongst practitioners. The organizers lament the difficulty of selecting a winning team, pointing out that every year, the practitioners and adjudicators are amazed by the brilliance and preparedness of the competitors. The team was helped enormously by student coaches Kaley Duff and Hilary Ingle and adjunct faculty advisor Stephen Shore (Ogletree Deakins International LLP).
Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot
Congratulations to Mina Batyreva, Patricia Lahoud, Jesse Waslowski, and Elizabeth White, who won the Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot. They addressed a complicated problem that considered the use of the mark-to-market method in the computation of income under section 9 of the Income Tax Act and whether purchased options are properly classified as “inventory.”
They were expertly coached by Martha MacDonald (Torys) and Al-Nawaz Nanji (Osler) with support and further guidance from their student coaches, Andrew Maclachlan, Roger Smith, and Nabeel Thomas.
(L-R) Mina Batyreva, Jesse Waslowski, Elizabeth White, Patricia Lahoud, the Honourable Donald Bowman
Arnup Cup
Kudos to Sarah Rostrom and Solange Davis-Ramlochan, who represented U of T at the Arnup Cup this year. They both did an excellent job at the competition. Sarah took early control of the courtroom and did a brilliant cross of the Crown witness. She was poised, measured, asked all the right questions and was extremely tenacious. Solange also did a great cross and her closing submissions were superb. She organized the evidence beautifully and conveyed the defence position to the jury so convincingly and articulately. They both demonstrated absolutely superb advocacy skills. More importantly, they conducted themselves with tremendous dignity and class. They worked cooperatively with the other side in advance of the trial to narrow the issues and conducted the trial with the utmost politeness and civility, while still zealously advocating for their client. They represented U of T wonderfully.
Their coach, Jonathan Shime (Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Bergman) wrote that the event gave him goosebumps, “they did a fabulous job at the competition.” Malini Vijaykumar contributed to the team as student coach.
Winkler Class Actions Moot
Congratulations to Alexandra Matic, Gaby Schachter, Sarah Blanco, and Amani Rauff for their wonderful performance in the fourth annual Winkler Class Actions moot. U of T was awarded Best Defendant Factum, and Alexandra received the Justice Joan Lax Memorial award for top oralist in the moot. The problem involved a proposed class action represented by a small beef farmer against three banks for alleged manipulations of interest rates over a two-year period, on behalf of all persons in Canada engaged in the primary, secondary, and tertiary markets for beef products, as well as a potentially champertous third-party funding agreement.
The final round was judged by a distinguished panel composed of the Honourable Chief Justice Warren Winkler, the Honourable Justice Gladys Pardu, and the Honourable Justice Paul Perrell.
Student coaches Madison Hass, James Jennings, and Dillon Collett provided critical support to the team, along with faculty coaches Simon Stern and Michael Eizenga (Bennett Jones).
Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot
Accolades are due to the Faculty’s team in the Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot: Ryerson Neal, Edward Sullivan, Amir Eftekharpour and Maud Rozee—named the second best team in the moot. Amir won the Donald F. Sim award for best oralist, and Amir and Maud brought home the Gordon F. Henderson Award for the best respondent factum. Ryerson and Edward’s appellate factum received an honourable mention, as well.
The panel for the final round included Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côte.
These fantastic results were due, in large part, to the hard work of student coaches Stefan Case, Victoria Hale, Sam Keen, and Shane Thomas and the crackerjack coaching of Andy Shaughnessy (Tory’s) and Dominique Hussey (Bennett Jones).
Walsh Family Law Moot
Congratulations to Maude Woods, Daniel Smith, Angela Pagano, and Alexis Mulvenna, who won first place for U of T at the Walsh Family Law Moot on March11. This year’s moot involved the appeal of a 2016 decision of the Manitoba Court of Appeal. The mooters faced a challenging intersection of evidence and family law, dealing with questions of expert evidence, judicial notice, the scope of appellate review, and the law of mobility.
In addition to the team’s first-place win, Angela and Alexis won Best Respondent Factum and Daniel won second-place Best Oralist. The judges were impressed across the board by the team’s elegant presentation and their expert command of the material.
The team is extremely grateful for the unparalleled support provided by their coaches: Martha McCarthy, Sarah Young, and Deborah Perkins-Leitman of Martha McCarthy & Company LLP; Professor Carol Rogerson; and superstar student coaches Ashley Major, Stephanie Ovens, and Kimberley Weaver.
Kawaskimhon Moot
Congratulations, too, to Sinéad Charbonneau, Alexis Giannelia, Raeya Jackiw, Alissa Saieva and Douglas Varrette on their success at the Kawaskimhon Moot in Calgary. The moot problem was particularly challenging this year as the students had to consult on the form of proposed energy corridor legislation as well as negotiate consent to a new pipeline. The Kawaskimhon is a consensus moot, which means that there are not, strictly speaking, winners, losers, and individual awards. Despite being given the unenviable task of representing the Government of Canada in their negotiations, our students were well spoken, well prepared and collaborated effectively. In sum, they did an outstanding job representing our law school.
The team was very capably assisted by coaches Bryce Edwards (Olthuis Kleer Townshend) and Amanda Carling, the Faculty’s Indigenous Initiatives Manager.
Davies Corporate/Securities Moot
Warm congratulations to Doug Fenton, Jennifer Heaton, Eric Patenaude and Avram Spatz, who soundly won the Davies Corporate/Securities Moot on March 10-11. U of T tied with Dalhousie for best factum, and Doug was named as the #1 oralist. Avram was also named a top oralist.
The team argued a complex dispute concerning the court approval of an arrangement transaction despite the objections of two significant shareholders. In the final round, Doug and Eric represented the team in front of a remarkably distinguished bench: The Honourable Justice Andromache Karakatsanis of the Supreme Court of Canada, retired Supreme Court of Canada Justices Ian Binnie and Morris Fish, The Honourable Justice Robert Sharpe of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and Mr. Grant Vingoe, Vice-Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission. The mooters were praised both for their outstanding oral advocacy and their deep knowledge of highly complex issues.
The Davies mooters are grateful to their coaches: Andrew Matheson and Matthew Cumming from McCarthy Tétrault; Professor Anita Anand; and student coaches Simon Cameron, Adam Edgerley and Dov Kagan.
Laskin Moot
Further congratulations to Jessica Kras, Riaz Sayani-Mulji, Tanzeel Hakak and Erin Wattie for a great performance at this year’s Laskin Moot, which was hosted in Ottawa. The team’s effort exceeded all reasonable expectations. Our team wrote the #2 Factum, and Jessica was listed among the top oralists. This year, the problem concerned the Medical Assisted Dying Review Tribunal. The Tribunal was created by the federal government in the wake of Carter. The government, concerned that a complete bar on medically assisted suicide for those without reasonable foreseeability of death, created the Tribunal to assess applications for medically assisted suicide from those without terminal illnesses. After the applicant lost capacity mid-hearing, the challenge was continued in his name by his partner.
Sarah Corman (Corman Feiner) and Will MacLarkey (MAG) were the faculty coaches. Their dedication to the Laskin team continues to be greatly appreciated. Wes Hopkin, Benjamin Reedijk, Michael Morgenthau, and Geneviève Ryan were the hard-working student coaches.
Wilson Moot
The U of T team won first place when the Wilson Moot celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, finishing first in the lead-up rounds and in the final against McGill University. The team also received a second place for its factum. Mooter, Katrina Longo won first place oralist. The team consisted of Maryam Shahid and Wes Dutcher-Walls, for the Appellants in the official problem, and Katrina Longo and Jacob Gehlen for the Respondents. The problem was extremely complex involving administrative law and the balancing of equality rights and religious freedom in a high school setting, perhaps foreshadowing the Trinity Western and Law Society cases that have been granted leave to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada, judged the final round with the Honourable Justice Marie-Josée Hogue of the Quebec Court of Appeal and the Honourable Justice Julie A. Thorburn of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Cheryl Milne, Executive Director of the Asper Centre, Joseph Cheng, counsel with the Department of Justice, Canada and Professor Lorraine Weinrib were the faculty advisors. The student coaches were Winston Gee, Sarah Bittman, Geetha Philipupillai and Giorgio Traini.
Callaghan Moot
Congratulations to the students who excelled in the Callaghan Moot, which took place at Osgoode Hall. Benjamin Pan and Benjamin Shakinovsky, arguing for the Appellants, won the Moot. In the Final round they argued against the best performing Respondent team, Tina Saban and Diane Shnier. Factum awards went to Benjamin Pan and Benjamin Shakinovsky (Appellants) and Patrick Harris and Gabrielle Thompson (Respondents). First, second, and third place oralist prizes went to Benjamin Pan, Jennifer Che, and Aaron Haight, respectively. Congratulations to all the Callaghan Mooters on a job well done.
Mounting the Callaghan Moot is a huge team effort. The essence of the Callaghan is students who mooted last year and worked hard on this year’s iteration of the Moot: Chief Justices Zachary Al-Khatib, Spencer Bass, Madeeha Hashmi, Laura Petryshen,and Erika Woolgar. Doug Fenton, Monica Kozycz, Emma Romano, and Logan St. John-Smith provided coaching to the mooters. These students all worked closely with Professor Hamish Stewart.
The Callaghan is unique in how the bar and judiciary interact with the mooters, including extensive mentoring. The Callaghan Moot would not be possible without the generous funding provided by John Callaghan (Gowling) and Frank Callaghan (Borden, Ladner, Gervais) and the support of the judiciary and the bar.
Isaac Diversity Moot
It was (another) fine showing for U of T at the Chief Justice Isaac Diversity Moot. Mannu Chowdhury and Theresa Donkor were named number one among appellate teams, and Anna Spieser and Jonathan Yantzi were number two among respondent teams. The teams placed third and fifth, respectively, for their written submissions. They were ably coached by faculty advisor Joseph Cheng, and student coaches Sarah Rostom, Solange-Davis Ramlochan, and Chetan Muram. Mannu won the Spirit of the Moot prize, awarded to the mooter who best exemplified the ideals Chief Justice Isaac, displaying a passion for advancing diversity and social justice.
