Talk about hitting a home run the first time up to bat.
That was the experience of the Schulich School of Law students who participated for the first time in the Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Law Moot — and took home the win.
Mooting is an extracurricular activity at many law schools, including Dal’s, in which students take part in simulated court proceedings, usually involving drafting legal factums and participating in appellate-style oral advocacy.
The Fox Moot team consisted of law students Gabrielle (Gabby) Lemoine, Juliette Ryan, Laura Nyman, and Mackenzie Jamieson, who competed in Toronto on Feb. 23 and 24. The competition, organized by the law firm DLA Piper, was held at the Federal Court of Canada. Now in its 10th year, this is the premier national IP law moot competition, but it was the first year that Dal has participated.
“The entire team performed incredibly well and all received very positive comments from panelists,” says Schulich School of Law Professor Jonathon Penney, the team’s coach and faculty supervisor. “Not only that, they conducted themselves as utmost professionals throughout the competition. In the three preliminary rounds, we competed against teams from University of Ottawa, Western, Queen's, UVic and Osgoode.”
An impressive showing
The team’s exceptional performance was also rewarded with hardware: appellants Gabby Lemoine and Juliette Ryan took home the top prize, the Harold G. Fox Memorial Cup for Best Mooting Team. To do so, they advanced from the preliminary rounds to semi-finals where they defeated Ottawa Law, then went on to defeat a team from the University of Toronto in the final round.
Lemoine also took home the prize for the best overall mooter, the Donald F. Sim Award for Best Oral Advocate. While Nyman and Jamieson didn’t win hardware, they too mooted exceptionally.
In the final round, Lemoine and Ryan had the honour of appearing before a distinguished panel consisting of Hon. Justice Suzanne Côté of the Supreme Court of Canada, Hon. Justice Gloria Epstein of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Johanne Gauthier of the Federal Court of Appeal, Sir Richard Arnold of the British High Court of Justice and Hon. Justice Michael Manson of the Federal Court. Their semi-final panel consisted of Hon. Justices David Brown of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Michael Penny of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Simon Fothergill of the Federal Court.
Making Dal proud
Stewart McKelvey sponsored the moot for the first time, which also provided support for Dal to participate. “The first-place finish on a first-time showing is to be celebrated,” says Daniela Bassan, head of the IP Practice Group at Stewart McKelvey and a panelist at the moot. “I congratulate the students and their coach on their achievement. I would also recognize the hard work and accomplishments of all participants in this year’s moot.”
“Despite this being our first time participating in the moot, we took the top prizes home and it was truly deserved,” says Penney. “The team put in a lot of hard work and preparation for the competition, and the mooters did themselves, the law school and Dal proud.”