From March 17-18, UAlberta Law's Calvin Patterson and Sunny Mann competed in Ottawa at the 2017 Sopinka Cup - also recognized as Canada's largest trial moot, with teams from across the country competing after qualifying during their respective regional rounds.
For the second time, the University of Alberta advanced to the Sopinka Cup finals - we won the competition in 2016 - following a third-place showing at the UAlberta Law-hosted MacIntyre Western Canada Trial Cup Moot.
Mann and Patterson more than capably represented UAlberta Law against a highly competitive field. In the end, first place went to the University of Saskatchewan, with Osgoode Hall placing second and McGill third.
Our coaches Alexandra Seaman and Donald MacCannell reported that numerous assessors came up to Mann and Patterson at the awards reception on Saturday evening to compliment them on their exceptional advocacy skills and clear understanding of advanced evidentiary issues.
It was a weekend of unforgettable experiences. The team was fortunate to attend a reception hosted by the Supreme Court Justices on Friday evening and also received a behind-the-scenes tour of the Supreme Court of Canada.
The team is incredibly grateful for all the support they received from the Edmonton legal community, including judges, practicing lawyers, and students. They ran a total of 26 practices with more than 47 volunteers acting as witnesses, opposing counsel, guest coaches, and translators.
The team would also like to thank the lawyers and judges who kindly volunteered to sit as presiding judges over the course of many practices, including Judge Richardson, Judge Stevens, Judge Depoe, Kent Teskey, Lauren Garcia, Ravi Prithipaul, Greg Rice, Marissa Tordoff, Chris Samuel, Steve Smith, and Morgan McClelland.
Last but certainly not least, Mann, Patterson, and their MacIntyre teammates Jeff Bengry and Emilie-Clare Draper were effusive in praise for their coaches. Here is just a sample:
"I can honestly say that participating in the MacIntyre/Sopinka Cup has been the most incredible learning experience in law school for us and it was this incredible because of Don and Alex. Their dedication to the moot was unflinching... There were weeks where Alex and Don were spending over 20 hours a week running moot trials with us... It was particularly pleasant to find that Alex and Don cared more about our learning the law of evidence and the ethics of trial advocacy than us regurgitating a dramatic opening or closing statement. It was ultimately their commitment to teach us the law and ethics of trial advocacy that made the experience as great as it was."
Thank you, Don and Alex, and congratulations, Calvin and Sunny!