Both the 1st and 2nd place prizes for best speaker, and the award for best mooter in a non-graduating year, were also captured by uOttawa. These most recent accolades further enhance uOttawa’s national and international reputation for mooting excellence in general, and in IP law specifically.
The team of five law students coached by Professor Jeremy de Beer—Peter Aadoson, Tracey Doyle, Laura MacDonald, Patrick Levesque, and Fred Wu—were treated to a unique experience sponsored by some of Canada’s leading IP law firms, including the event’s organizing host, Dimock Stratton and its volunteers. The law school’s special thanks go out also to Ridout & Maybee, a longstanding supporter of uOttawa’s IP mooters, and the lawyers from BLG, Smart & Biggar, Gowlings and others who volunteered time to watch the team practice.
Peter Aadoson and Tracey Doyle ranked as the 1st placed Appellant team following preliminary rounds argued in front of federal and provincial court judges as well as some of Canada’s elite IP litigators. In the “all-Ottawa” semi-final, they faced the Respondent team of Fred Wu and Laura MacDonald. Justices Epstein and Brown of the Ontario Court of Appeal, and Justice Phelan of the Federal Court, praised both teams as “utterly outstanding.” Ultimately, however, only one was able to advance to the finals. Fred Wu and Laura MacDonald were winners on this occasion, where they moved on to meet the team from the University of Toronto.
En route to winning the overall championship and both best speaker prizes, Fred and Laura won over the minds of a top-class panel of judges. The final was presided over by Lord Neuberger of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, who judged alongside Justice Rothstein of the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice Feldman of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Justice Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal, and Justice Hughes of the Federal Court.
“It was simply unbelievable,” said Laura, “to appear before that calibre of bench before even graduating from law school.” Patrick Levesque attributes much of the team’s success to extensive preparation in uOttawa’s Ian G. Scott Courtroom, Canada’s only fully-functioning courtroom and adjoining classroom constructed inside a law school. Congratulations also to teams from Osgoode Hall and the University of Toronto for winning well-deserved prizes for the best written submissions. The calibre of this year’s competition was once again outstanding, making uOttawa’s successes all the more meaningful. The uOttawa team will be automatically entered in the 2016 Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot. Last year’s Fox-winning team of Laurel Hogg, Nathan Piche, and Giantommaso Colaneri will travel next month to Oxford to defend their winning record in the 2015 international competition.