Competitive Moot Program
Moot Court Competitions are a tradition among Canadian law schools. They present students with the opportunity to hone their advocacy in an environment that closely replicates a real-life court room.
Participation in a competitive moot is a major opportunity to develop your skills, confidence and knowledge. Mooting offers one-on-one intensive coaching and evaluation by peers, faculty, senior lawyers and the judiciary. Final rounds of the national competitions are often judged by Supreme Court of Canada Justices. The work is tough but extremely satisfying. The competitive aspect brings out the best in participants and is a powerful networking opportunity - especially for students interested in specific practice areas. It is also a means to demonstrate the excellence of our students and our law school. Our moot success is a significant source of prestige for the University of Alberta.
The majority of competitions take the form of a traditional appellate case. Subject matter ranges from securities law to health law to constitutional and human rights law. In addition to the traditional appellate formats, there are other competitions that teach skills in areas like client counselling, criminal trial advocacy, consensus-building, and dispute-resolution.
Participation in a competitive moot is worth three academic credits. The program is open to second- and third-year law students. Students must apply to join a team. Participants are selected based on interest, qualification and available space. For most moots, competition in the Brimacombe Moot is a prerequisite. Ensure you review the Moot Manual before completing your Competitive Moots Application Form to see which selection process applies..
Attend the Moot Information Session in the fall, or speak to the coach specific to the moot.
You may apply to several teams, but are chosen only for one.
The application deadline for the Competitive Moot Program is shortly following the information session. Check the application form for submission details.
Registration for Law 598: Moot Court Competition occurs after selection.
Students who have mooted in the previous year are encouraged to apply again for a new moot. Except in exceptional circumstances, students cannot participate in the same moot twice. The Vice-Dean makes the final decision of whether a student can participate in the same moot twice. Permission must be given in advance of the selection process.
The Brimacombe Selection Round is held every September. The competition is open to 2L and 3L students applying to join a competitive moot team.
You can find the problem and sample factums for the Selection Round in the "Materials for the Brimacombe" sidebar.
Teams for the following moots are selected through the Brimacombe:
Alberta Court of Appeal (2Ls only)
Bennett Jones Health Law
Canadian Competition Law Moot
Davies Corporate/Securities Moot
Clinton J. Ford (3Ls only)
Donald G. H. Bowman Tax Moot
Harold Fox IP Moot
Gale Cup
Laskin Moot
Michel Bastarache French Language Moot
Philip C Jessup International Law Moot
Wilson Moot
The winner and runner-up of the Brimacombe Moot are immortalized on the U of A Brimacombe trophy.
The competition is supervised by Brimacombe judges: Professors Peter Sankoff, Jennifer Raso, and Chris Samuel, who set the question and act as final authority respecting all questions relating to the conduct of the competition.
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Application forms are available for download in the "How to Apply" tab. Completed applications may be emailed to moots@ualberta.ca.
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Participants will be informed of the exact time scheduled for their moot presentation.
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Each participant will present six minutes of oral argument. This includes time spent responding to questions from the judges. Additional written submissions are not accepted.
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Participants shall work individually and are responsible for developing their own oral argument.
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The Round will be held in the Eldon D. Foote Moot Court Room at the Faculty of Law.
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Participants shall arrive at least 10 minutes before their scheduled presentation time. Because of the large number of students and very tight timelines, failure to be present when called upon will result in the participant's removal from consideration for the competitive moot program.
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Participants will be gowned during their presentation (robes will be provided).
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Participants shall not observe any other presentation until their presentation is complete.
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On the day of the competition, participants waiting their turn will wait outside the Moot Court Room until summoned to appear.
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There is no course credit for participation in the Brimacombe.
2019
Leah Strand, First, Team
Dylan Hanwell, First, Team
Nate Gartke, First, Team
Leah Strand, Best Mooter of the Final Round
2022
Coached by Barry Zalmanowitz: Olivia Pietras, Kyle Ramsey, Nicholas Siennicki and Jacky Xu
2022
Civil
Coached by Kyle Kawanami: Elise Parker and Jeremy Thomas
Constitutional
Coached by Don Padget and Andrew Foster: Varun Kapoor and Derek Zhenxinyu Zhang
Criminal
Coached by Heather Gagnier: Brandon Blenkarn and Azan Esmail
2022
Coached by Emily Hole and Tayler Meagher: Christina Basler, Connor Dunphy-Brace, Anja Nel and Stephen Reith
2022
Coached by Danielle Mousseau and Farrel Shadlyn: Emilio Filomeno and Jessica Gill
2022
Coached by Danielle Mousseau and Farrel Shadlyn: Emilio Filomeno and Jessica Gill
2022
Coached by Morgan Deacon and Vikas Chadha: Jonathan Brisebois, Tao Browne, Spencer Klug, Joshua Koop and Stephen Wynnyk
2022
Coached by Ashvin Singh and James Yaskowich: Zachary Gee, Akash Purewal, Mark Stevens and Lisa Wang
2022
Coached by Kerri Facchinutti and Katherine Fraser: Shanza Arif, Cateline Joly, Haya Masri and Annie Redmond
2022
Coached by Jenna Handford: Richard Clark, Tesia Doblanko, Rohan Gupta and Owen Smith
2022
Coached by Anna Priemaza: Thomas Feth, Breanna Frape, Elias Jimenez Gonzalez and Kyla Ronneberg
2022
Coached by Péter Szigeti: Case Littlewood, Gaya Peringod, Suzanne Ross, Sruthi Tadepalli and James Wallbridge
2022
Coached by Alex Bernard: Bianca Carson, Bridget Inocencio, Kate Jackson and Danielle Schmidt
2022
Coached by Troy Chalifoux, Hadley Friedland and Koren Lightning-Earle: Casey Caines, Hero Laird, Lisa Manners and Amanda Wagar
2022
Coached by Jon Martin and Rob Drummond: Raunaq Arora, Chloe Braget, Chantal Larocque and Jakarta Mackie
2022
Coached by Don MacCannell and Steve Smith: Samir Esmail and Julie Grivel
2022
Coached by Megan Dawson: Hailey Hauck, Lisa Kawasaki, Christopher McLaughlin-Chernecki and Allison Rodvang
2019
Elizabeth Duke
Justine Fallu
Karina Franke
Manraj Preet Sidhu
2022
Coached by John Carpenter and Kristan McLeod: Chris Klok and Emily Phillipos
2022
Coached by Paul Maas: Anya Manukyan and Sarah Ormandy
2022
Coached by Maddison Croden: Kassandra Devolin, Justine Fay, Kelsey Fortier and Rielle Gagnon
Bennett Jones Cup in Health Law Advocacy
sponsored by
Davies Corporate/Securities Law Moot
sponsored by
Gale Cup Moot
sponsored by
Wilson Moot
sponsored by
Former University of Alberta chancellor Douglas Stollery, QC, '76 LLB
Alberta Court of Appeal Moot
sponsored by
Justices of the Alberta Court of Appeal
Competitive Moot Program
sponsored by
University of Alberta Faculty of Law Class of 2019
Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot
sponsored by
Support enabled by a generous donation from Moodys Tax Law LLP
Mathews Dinsdale National Labour Arbitration Moot
sponsored by
