Laurier’s first victory, Keynote speaker Marie Henein shares her expertise
The year was the 20th Anniversary of the Osgoode Cup!
On this special occasion, we were joined by many previous competitors, including past Osgoode Cup champions! This year, we had 108 registered teams, 113 judges, and 17
schools represented across Canada. With a vast pool of legal talent on the bench, the theme of this year was to highlight past victors of the Osgoode Cup who have ended up having incredibly successful careers. Win or lose, mooting veteran or first-time competitor, the Osgoode Cup brings us together and launches us forward by unlocking the advocates within us.
Our competitors mooted R v Zacharias, a Supreme Court case about whether police conduct after an initial traffic stop breached the accused’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and if so, whether the evidence collected as a result of that police conduct should
be excluded from trial. Mooters and judges alike were forced to grapple with the difficult question of how an initial Charter breach impacts subsequent conduct, even if that conduct is by-
the-book.
The tournament’s Keynote Speaker was Marie Henein, criminal law legend and name partner of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP. She offered her expertise and shared her wisdom on the tools of successful advocacy.
We are also joined by Mr. Zacharias’ counsel from trial all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada: Rob Dhanu. He also served as the Chief Justice on the final panel of the Osgoode Cup. We also hosted Trevor Farrow, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, Christopher Kalantzis, the Trial Crown in R v Zacharias; and Katrina Crocker, Associate at Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP, and the winner of the 2013 Osgoode Cup.
On Saturday, March 9th, 108 teams (215 individual mooters) competed in four preliminary rounds with the top 16 teams moving on to Sunday’s knockout round. The quality of the
advocacy this year was astonishing. In the end, in their first ever win, Wilfred Laurier’s Johnathan Kagal & Rehana Lalani ended McMaster University’s 3-year win streak and took
home the Osgoode Cup national championship in a hard-fought final against Serena Allidina & Jenny Trang from the University of Guelph Humber.
Rounding out the Semi-Finals were University of Toronto and York University teams, while the McMaster University team made it to the Quarter-Finals. In the Round of 16, the University of Western Ontario and Concordia University all made it through and fought hard on Day 2!
We look forward to seeing who will take home the cup in the upcoming year!
The 2024 Osgoode Cup would like to thank our judges, competitors, Board of Directors, and our 2023 Student Steering Committee. We also thank our generous sponsors including Monkhouse Law; Alam Law Firm; Lenczner Slaght; Miller Thomson and BeMo Consulting.
Round of 16