“An immense honour”: Third-year law student Shanza Arif wins Brimacombe Moot

The annual Brimacombe Selection Round Moot took place September 14-16, signalling the start of a new mooting season in the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

In this year’s competition, third-year law student Shanza Arif finished in first place, while second-year student Michael Bradley took second.

“It was a really surreal feeling because there’s an incredible amount of mooting talent at our faculty,” says Arif, who won the Dean’s Cup in her first year and received an honourable mention at the Brimacombe last year. “It’s an immense honour to be selected as the winner out of so many strong mooters.”

Sixty-nine students participated in the Brimacombe competition, an internal moot that determines the students who will represent the faculty against other law schools at regional and national moot competitions for the upcoming season. They vied for 55 spots available on 16 mooting teams.

With such a tight competition, Bradley never had his sights set on placing in the top two.

“Finishing in second place was such a great surprise!” he says. “I had been so focused on wanting to be selected for a competitive moot team that I had actually forgotten that this was a competition in itself, so I was genuinely not expecting this.”

This year’s moot was in the area of property law, specifically focused on the topics of riparian rights and de facto expropriation. Students argued in front of a selection committee comprised of Chris Samuel, director of the Legal Research and Writing Program, and Professors Steven Penney and Eric Adams.

Honourable mentions in the competition went to Alysha Bailey, Azan Esmail, Emma Stirling, Sarah Ormandy, Tayler Tallent and Tyler Warchola.

“Overall, the committee was thrilled with the quality of mooting at the competition,” says Samuel. “Students were well-prepared and demonstrated excellent advocacy across the board. We were incredibly proud of how well the students did in the face of intense and difficult questioning from the panel.”

Both Arif and Bradley credit part of their success to the confidence they’ve gained from past mooting experiences, which allowed them to move beyond following a script for their arguments.

“Last year I was a little more attached to my prepared notes and a little more precious about my carefully crafted wording,” says Bradley. “This year I felt much more free to speak extemporaneously. I found myself listening more closely to the questioning from the adjudicators and responding in a way that felt much more conversational, which helped a lot.”

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to approach a moot (or a real court appearance) as a conversation between myself and the bench, rather than a performance,” says Arif, whose skills earned her fourth place overall and second-best factum at the Gale Cup last year. “Instead of fearing questions, I’ve begun to embrace them because I realize they’re a positive opportunity to engage the Court and convince them of my position.”

As they look to the season ahead – where Arif will compete in the Wilson Moot and Bradley in the Alberta Court of Appeal Moot – this year’s winners agree that the most enjoyable aspect of mooting is the chance to build an argument and develop expertise in a particular subject matter.

“I love that feeling when the argument finally clicks, and you gain a clear picture of how you’ll articulate it,” says Arif.

Stay tuned to our website and social media channels as we follow the results of upcoming moot competitions.