Ten competitors and five witnesses from law schools throughout Ontario competed in the annual mooting competition in a hotly contested mock trial, held this year in Windsor, Ontario.
The competition was tight as all the participants were extremely well prepared, but ultimately only one team could take home the Cup. Queen’s University returned the OTLA Cup to Kingston in 2016, the site of the first OTLA Cup 24 years ago.
Competitors must learn to enter exhibits, refer to discovery transcripts where there are prior inconsistent statements at trial, elicit viva voce evidence through chief and cross-examinations of witnesses, and provide effective opening and closing statements. The jury had a very difficult task as every competitor presented as seasoned litigators well beyond their experience through their excellent coaching. Jennifer Cao and Shayla Stein (both pictured above) of Queen’s University took the top prize. Other accolades were awarded as well:
- Best Opening: Dayna Cook, Windsor University
- Best Examination in Chief: Laura Lepine, University of Western Ontario
- Best Cross Examination: Jennifer Cao, Queen’s University
- Best Closing: Juliano Pichini, Windsor University
- Best Overall Advocate: Shayla Stein, Queen’s University
Any law firm would be very fortunate to recruit any of these excellent future litigators.
OTLA would like to thank Derek Nicholson and Michelle Jorge, co-chairs of the OTLA Cup Committee who work very hard each year to prepare the competition. OTLA extends its thanks to the numerous volunteers and sponsors who make this event possible each year, including the OTLA Cup Committee, lawyers who volunteered to act as jurors and court clerks, lawyers who helped prepare the mock court documents, students from Queens, Western, Windsor, Ottawa and Osgoode Hall who volunteered to compete or act as witnesses, local lawyers who spent many hours coaching these students, the University of Windsor who graciously assisted in hosting the Cup, and of course the Honourable Justice Thomas Carey, who volunteered to judge the Cup and provide tomorrow’s litigators with very helpful advice from the Bench.
The event is not possible without sponsors, and OTLA is very grateful to the following firms, businesses and individuals for sponsoring the 2016 OTLA Cup:
- Collins Barrow
- BridgePoint Financial Group
- Oatley Vigmond LLP
- Beament Hebert Nicholson LLP
- McKellar Structured Settlements
- Zuber Professional Corporation
- Lerners LLP
- Fireman Steinmetz Daya
- Bergeron Clifford
- Bruce T. Hillyer
- Will Davidson LLP
- Bonn Law Office
- Greg Monforton
- Boland Howe LLP
- Derek G. Nicholson
We would like to thank everyone involved and look forward to seeing many of you next year!
If you are interested in becoming involved in future OTLA Cup events, please email spantazis@beament.com.