McGill University win their first Osgoode Cup
Click here to watch the 2015 Osgoode Cup Finals
The Osgoode Cup is Canada’s National Undergraduate Mooting Competition and is dedicated to providing access to Justice and Advocacy. Mooting is an important component of a well-rounded legal education. ‘Mooting’ is a synthesis of public speaking and debate, where teams present an argument before a panel of judges and respond to questions from the Bench. The Osgoode Cup is intended to introduce undergraduate students to mooting, which is common in law school. Held for the first time in 2005, this year was the eleventh Osgoode Cup and took place at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Osgoode Cup gives University and College students hands-on experience in arguing an appeal in a case specially designed to challenge and develop their oral and written advocacy skills in preparation for Law School. Nothing compares to first-hand experience, and interacting with other like-minded students. Participants competed in pairs of two presenting before a panel of judges with regard to an appeal. As a case before appeal The Osgoode Cup is a ‘lawyer’s court’ without witnesses or juries where the facts are generally not in dispute but rather the focus is on legal issues.
This year we brought together almost 200 undergraduate students from across the country who are interested in law and oral advocacy and paired them with over 100 law students, professors, and legal practitioners. On top of having a good time with those on their own teams Mooters had the opportunity to meet and compete with other students from across Canada.
While The Osgoode Cup is often the first chance participants have to partake in an appellate advocacy competition, it is certainly not the last. We offer students insights into what lies ahead at law school, and the legal profession more generally. Many past participants are now Osgoode students or students at other law schools across the country and return to Judge at the Cup. For those applying to law school merely attending such an event shows an interest and commitment to law school as well as demonstrated interest in lawyering skills. Mooting experience is an asset when applying to law school. Law schools are always looking for applicants with mooting experience whom can be added to their first or upper year moot teams.
This year, 92 teams of two from 17 Colleges and Universities argued the appeal of R. v. Fearon and had to be prepared to make submissions for both the appellant and respondent in 4 rounds. R. v. Fearon is a compelling Supreme Court decision about whether the search of an individual’s cellphone incident to a lawful arrest is compliant with section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mooters were encouraged to explore and develop oral arguments on the intent of the common law power to search incident to arrest, policy concerns surrounding permitting or categorically prohibiting the search of cellphones and similar devices found on an arrested suspect, and whether a modification to the existing common law power could strike the right balance between the privacy interests of citizens and the law enforcement objectives of the state.
The Top 8 teams from Day 1 moved on to Day 2 and competed in the final elimination rounds.
Our 2015 Osgoode Cup Champions are:
Juliette Mueller & Scott Harman (McGill University)
2015 Finalists:
Clifton Yiu & Christopher Gould (Seneca College)
2015 Semi-finalists:
Aaron King & Emily McMurtry (Carleton University)
Cole O’Reilly & Michael Lee (Carleton University)
2015 Quarter-finalists:
Matthew Miklaucic & Lorne Kostove (Carleton University)
Roy Sengupta & David Willman (Carleton University)
Christina Liao & Felix Wu (Ivey Business School)
Avery Dawes & Keegan Adsett-Brown (Carleton University)
2015’s Top Advocate:
Clifton Yiu (Seneca College)
2015’s Distinguished Advocates (in no particular order):
Paige Diebel (Humber College)
Scott Harman (McGill University)
Emily McMurtry (Carleton University)
Christina Liao (Ivey Business School)
Aaron King (Carleton University)
Felix Wu (Ivey Business School)
Christopher Gould (Seneca College)
Keegan Adsett-Brown (Carleton University)
Chelsey Mori (Ivey Business School)
We would like to thank our dedicated team of volunteers, as well as the over 100 volunteer Lawyers, Law students, Professors, and Judges who came out to judge at the cup this year.
All the best and we hope to see you next year.
Sincerely,
Andrew Monkhouse
Toronto Employment Lawyer
www.monkhouselaw.com
Osgoode Cup Convenor – 2015
Barrister and Solicitor
Pairings: