Two teams of students from Osgoode Hall Law School took home the winning trophies at two high-profile moots last week.
A team of students from Osgoode Hall Law School took first place in the 2014 Laskin Moot in Fredericton Feb. 27 to March 1. The win marks the first time in the moot’s 29-year history that Osgoode has won first place.
In addition to the win, Osgoode students Joanna Enns, Natalie Livshitz, Maciej Lipinski, Jonathan Silver and Justin D’Aloisio, who were coached by Ewa Krajewska of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, won four other honours. Lipinski and Silver took the first-place pair award. Lipinski locked down the second-place oralist award and Silver took the fourth-place oralist award. The team took home the fourth-place factum award (combined factum scores).
The Laskin Moot is an annual national bilingual moot court competition in Canadian administrative and constitutional law. The competition is named in memory of the late Chief Justice Bora Laskin.
The problem posed in this year’s Laskin Moot was a judicial review of a decision by the minister of Canadian heritage and official languages to cut funding to a French-language theatre group in British Columbia.
Osgoode’s appellant team was composed of Lipinski and Silver. The respondent team consisted of Enns and Livshitz, with Livshitz mooting in French. D’Aloisio was the team’s researcher.
After strong performances by both Osgoode teams in the preliminary rounds, the appellant team was selected to advance in the competition. In the finals, Osgoode argued against the respondent team from Université Laval before a panel chaired by Justice Thomas Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada. Osgoode won the 2014 Laskin Moot based on the performances of both Osgoode pairs.
Each year, approximately 19 of Canada’s 23 law schools participate in the Laskin Moot. Each school sends a team of four student mooters who argue in pairs – two students representing the appellant and two representing the respondent.
On March 1 and 2, the Osgoode mooting team of Daniel Hamson and Alexander Payne won the 2014 Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) Cup held in London, Ont.
In addition, Payne won the best advocate title, while Hamson won an award for the best closing argument. Osgoode alumni Ryan Breedon and Monique Jilesen of Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP coached the team.
This year’s trial, which took place on Saturday, March 1, was presided over by the Justice Andrew Goodman.