This year’s uOttawa Oxford Moot team was amongst 60 teams from across the world to apply via written submissions in December. Based on the written submissions, 24 schools were chosen to compete in the oral round of the competition. On April 14-16, teams from around the world gathered in Oxford to compete for top prizes. Amongst these teams were three representatives from Canadian law schools including uOttawa, the University of Toronto (UofT), and the University of British Columbia (UBC).
This year’s uOttawa team maintained a perfect track record through the preliminary rounds, competing against some of the world’s best law schools, like University of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s oldest, the always-excellent Hong Kong University, China’s elite Tsinghua University, and defending champions the University of New South Wales. The team’s success continued into the quarter-final round, where it finished just slightly ahead of the University of Cambridge. At the semi-final round, the team again displayed mooting excellence, overcoming the perennial powerhouse National University of Singapore.
In a hard-fought Grand Final against City, University of London, uOttawa was honored to moot in front of an esteemed panel of judges consisting of Lord Kitchin of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, and Lord Justice Floyd and Mr. Justice Carr of the England and Wales Court of Appeal.
The team brings home a second-place title after three days of excellent mooting and months of preparation. Jessica Pugliese, a third-year JD candidate, received a top speaking prize as third best mooter.
The team could not have had this opportunity to represent both Ottawa and Canada without the generous support provided by our supporters, including our team’s long-standing lead sponsor, Ridout & Maybee LLP. The team is especially grateful to the community of uOttawa IP mooting alumni that was integral to this year’s preparation, including this year’s and past year’s Harold G. Fox IP moot and Oxford moot alumni. Now established in their careers, uOttawa IP moot alumni in Ottawa and Toronto organized a pre-moot tour in Canada’s leading IP litigation firms – Aird & Berlis LLP, Belmore Neidrauer LLP, Bereskin & Parr LLP, Blakes,Gilbert’s, Gowling WLG, Smart & Biggar, WeirFoulds LLP. This outstanding alumni community and their firms provided the students with an opportunity to grow from invaluable mentorship. A legal writing session with Justice Stratas at the Federal Court of Appeal and a prep session with Justice Gauthier in the Supreme Court of Canada building were highlights of this year’s training. Our team was also thrilled to return home to congratulations from Ottawa mayor Jim Watson!
Way to go !
— Jim Watson (@JimWatsonOttawa) March 18, 2019
Through the IP Advocacy Program, which serves to cultivate connections and mentorship opportunities for uOttawa students all while providing top-notch advocacy training, the team is fortunate to benefit from the leadership of Professor Jeremy de Beer and other faculty members, including Katie Szilagyi, former moot champion and now uOttawa doctoral student, and Professor Anthony Daimsis.
Congratulations to our fellow Canadian participants, and a special shout-out to our friends at UBC for taking home a top prize for written submissions. The support and comradery between uOttawa, UBC, and UofT consistently demonstrated the quality of Canadian legal education to the rest of the world.