Despite a lack of funding, six teams from the Carleton Law Team competed at their first mooting competition March 12-13.
Fifty-two teams from universities across Canada mooted at the seventh annual Osgoode Cup, held at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto.
Mooting is a public speaking style common in law school. Teams of two present their case before a panel of judges, where they are judged based on the legal points raised.
“The further you go on in the tournament, the more judges you had,” says Evan Hamilton, a third-year journalism and law student.
This year’s case was a criminal case from Alberta that went to the Supreme Court. Mooters argued their cases as if they were at the “Supreme Court of Osgoode Hall,” a theoretical highest court to overturn the decision made in the Supreme Court.
Michael De Luca, a third-year law and political science student, captained the Carleton law team.
The team of De Luca and Hamilton was defeated in the quarter-finals by the team that ultimately won the tournament.
“This competition was the best in all the years that they’ve done it,” Hamilton says.
Eric Vallillee and Devin Harm finished in eighth place with exceptional speaking marks.
Both De Luca and Hamilton said the teams were well-prepared before the tournament, with about 50 hours of preparation in the two weeks before the tournament, Hamilton says.
At the tournament, they spent about 14 hours a day practicing their cases, Hamilton says.
De Luca and Vallillee received “distinguished oralist” awards for their presentations to the bench and delivery of arguments.
De Luca says he struggled to find sufficient funding for the team, in particular from student affairs. He says he hopes the team’s success this year will help them with funding next year.
After his first taste of competition, Hamilton says he loves mooting.
“It’s intimidating, but a lot of fun.”