Law students rewarded with top prizes during virtual mooting season

From left to right: Tesia Doblanko, Don Padget and Joshua Koop, Alberta Court of Appeal Constitutional Team

With another mooting season coming to a close, students at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law have distinguished themselves with several notable successes.

In February, the U of A won the MacIntyre Trial Moot with the team of Bonita Arbeau and Lauren Chomyn, coached by Don MacCannell and Steve Smith. Chomyn also won the individual award for best opening statement. The team then advanced to represent Western Canada at the national Sopinka Cup competition on March 19 and 20, where they placed second-overall and Arbeau won best closing statement.

U of A saw great success at the Laskin Moot in February, where the appellant team of Aidan Paul and Zachary Wilson made the finals, mooting before Justice Suzanne Côté of the Supreme Court of Canada. The pair took home third-place overall, and the team, including Connor Vaandering and James Allan, was awarded fourth-place for their factums. Professor Phil Bryden coached the team.

On March 12, Guillaume Fogarty-Greenshaw and Madison Durham won the second Western Canada Family Law Negotiation Competition. Coached by Riley Gallant, the entire team was composed of Fogarty-Greenshaw, Durham, Liria Nair and Tristan Patterson.

Students representing the U of A at the Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Law Moot shone on March 12 and 13. The Faculty was represented by Kienna Shkopich-Hunter, Jordyn Woycheshin, Alexa LaPlante and Teresa Holmes at this non-competitive, consensus-based moot. The team was coached by Troy Chalifoux and Professor Darcy Lindberg.

For the second year in a row, U of A had a clean sweep at the Alberta Court of Appeal Moot, winning the civil, constitutional and criminal rounds on March 13. Lisa Kawasaki and Akash Purewal represented the civil team, which was coached by Kyle Kawanami. The constitutional team was composed of Tesia Doblanko and Joshua Koop and coached by Don Padget and Andrew Foster. Katherine Fraser coached the criminal team, made up of Elizabeth England and Rielle Gagnon.

At the Bennett Jones Health Law Moot, the team of Kassandra Devolin, Zach Dietrich, Gillianne Hardy-Legault, and Kaitlynd Hiller took home first-place for their exceptional performance on March 20. Hiller was also awarded best oralist. Emily Hole and Tayler Meagher coached the team.

At the Michel Bastarache Moot on March 19 and 20, students rose to the occasion, winning the Prix Bastarache for demonstrating the spirit of fair play, dedication to French language and camaraderie among each other. Coached by Morgan McClelland, the team was composed of Eric Decorby, Adrienne Faulkner, Rayleigh Minhyu Lee and Andrew Kim.

At the end of March, U of A students at the Adam F. Fanaki Competition Law Moot took home second-place for their appellant factum, awarded to Christopher McLaughlin-Chernecki, Raunaq Arora, Zachary Gee and Justine Fay. The students were coached by Danielle Chu and Chelsea Rubin.

U of A students posted impressive finishes at the Canadian qualifying tournament of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot, winning third-place for the appellant factum, awarded to Alexandra Warkentin and Case Littlewood. The rest of the team included Denis Ram, Doris Vucijak, and Anastasia Yevtushenko, and the team was coached by Professor Péter Szigeti.

In the international rounds of the Jessup Moot, the team has excelled, moving on to the advanced rounds of the competition. With mooting still underway, the team currently stands as one of the top 168 teams of 574 total competing teams from around the world.