Standing with the Hon. Mr. Justice Clément Gascon are (L-R) William van Engen, Jonathan Austin, Stacey Purser and Fraser Genuis.
Students have been travelling to Toronto since 1974, just to compete in one of Canada's most prestigious bilingual law-school mooting competitions. As a premier litigation event, students must argue a Supreme Court of Canada appeal, with some curveball facts thrown in once the team makes the final round. They face their peers from schools across the country in front of a panel of distinguished judiciary.
Coach and alumnus Nate Whitling, of Beresh Aloneissi O'Neill Hurley Barristers, gives much of the credit to the team as well as the strong support of Edmonton's legal community. "We had an outpouring of support from the criminal defence bar in Edmonton with local lawyers and faculty professors volunteering as judges."
The team believes these practice sessions in front of local lawyers and judges prepared them for the glamour of the Gale as well as life after law school. Facing a Supreme Court judge in the final round was thrilling for the participants, rather than distressing, due to the amount of preparation the team had accomplished.
In striving to remain "eminently reasonable" in their arguments, winner of Best Individual Oralist Fraser Genuis credited Coach Whitling with giving them enough practice rounds to know the difference between reasonable and " arguments which might sound, like, really great in your head but don't actually work if you talk about them with other people."
Stacey Purser agreed when Fraser said the Gale Cup was fun, and that she wasn't intimidated by the Hon. Mr. Justice Clément Gascon. "He was very good to speak in front of. I don't think many students can say they've spoken in front of a Supreme Court Justice by their second year or third year."
Both students were very proud of their achievements and thankful for the assistance of their coach, the help of faculty members like Professors Steven Penney and Peter Sankoff, and Edmonton's legal community. Fraser summed the experience up best when he said "I think part of the reason that our team did well is that we didn't really approach it like school, we approached it like it was an appeal and a huge part of it is that we worked as a team."