First-year moots
As a component of the first-year Legal Research and Writing course, all first-year students will experience and participate in a moot. Mooting offers a forum for the development and presentation of legal arguments in the context of an appeal case, as well as a vehicle for the exercise of legal research and writing skills. Throughout the course of the moot experience, students will:
- research and write a memorandum of law identifying and responding to the issues raised by assigned factual problems
- prepare a factum of law modeled after the factum filed by practicing lawyers with an appellate court, and finally
- present oral arguments as counsel for either the appellant or the respondent before a panel of faculty and upper year student judges
All members of faculty participate in the creation of the problems assigned to designated student groups, in the supervision of students engaged in the process of research and preparation of argument, and in the evaluation of and response to student performances. The program is designed to provide a constructive learning experience in legal advocacy for all first-year students.
Upper-year moots
Benefits
Moots help hone skills such as problem-solving, persuasion, presentation and argument, and written advocacy. They offer a terrific small group learning experience, with a chance to build connections and relationships between students and professionals such as practising lawyers and judges.
Competitions
Competitions are held in February and March; training tends to be concentrated in the second term but will usually begin in fall. Moot coaches are dedicated professionals with rich experience in their fields. Most moot teams consist of four students. If the moot involves travel, costs are covered by the college.
Credit
Each moot counts for three credit units (a normal course). If you are considering trying out for a moot team, plan your course schedule as if you are not participating in a moot. Teams are selected through an application/tryout day in September. If you are selected for a team, then you will have the option of dropping a first- or second-term course (most students take their moot credit in the second term).
Unless indicated, none of the moots require prerequisites, but you may feel more prepared if you have foundational courses in the moot's substantive legal area. Please consult the course description for each moot in the USask Course and Program Catalogue.
The Canadian National Negotiation Competition provides a means for law students to practice and improve their negotiating skills. The competition simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal problems. The simulations deal with the same general topic, but the negotiation situation varies with each round and level of the competition. The winners of the CNNC are eligible to advance to the International Negotiation Competition.
The Davies Corporate/Securities Law Moot focuses on written and oral appellate advocacy with focus on current trends in corporate and securities litigation. In addition to the formal moot competition, students have the opportunity to meet and socialize with other participants as well as many of the senior lawyers, regulators and judges who sit as justices for the competition.
Students selected for the team will receive 3 credit units for the course in either the first or second term.
This team is generously supported by BD&P LLP.
The Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot is Canada’s first competitive moot on taxation. The moot is named after the Honourable Donald G.H. Bowman, former Chief Justice of the Tax Court of Canada.
Five students will be selected annually to participate in the moot, which is ordinarily held in Toronto. The moot will involve research and advocacy, both oral and written, and will allow students from Canadian law schools to debate current legal issues in taxation law with senior practitioners from Toronto law firms and corporations and tax court justices. It is recommended to those with an interest in advocacy, exacting research and taxation issues.
Founded in 1974, The Gale Cup Moot is Canada’s premier bilingual law-school mooting competition.
Students argue an appeal of a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision relating to a criminal law issue. It has historically been argued in Toronto or Ottawa.
The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot competition is an international advocacy competition that requires a significant time commitment. Teams will address timely issues of public international law in the constext of a legal dispute between nations appearing before the International Court of Justice. Students' written and oral advocacy skills will first be tested at the Canadian Division Qualifying Tournament, which is hosted annually by a Canadian Law School in mid-February. The top two teams qualify for the International Rounds, held each spring in Washington DC.
Students selected for Jessup will receive 3 credit units which they can designate in either their first or second term. Participation in Jessup straddles both terms, beginning in September with selection of the team and receipt of the problem. The selected students work toward the Canadian Jessup moot competition which takes place in late February or early March, and changes locations annually.
This team is generously supported by College of Law Alumna Gerda Bloemraad (LLB'93).
Kawaskimhon means "speaking with knowledge."
The Kawaskimhon Moot is non-competitive and is designed to incorporate Indigenous values and concepts of dispute resolution. Teams from across Canada prepare written arugments and present their client's positions to their circles, with the goal being to reach a consensus on the issues at stake.
The Laskin Memorial Moot is an administrative and constitutional law moot that is hosted annually by a different law school in Canada. It was established to honour the memory of Chief Justice Bora Laskin of the Supreme Court of Canada. The moot has a bilingual component, as one of the four participants will moot in French.
The National Family Law Negotiation Competition is a competition for second- and third-year law students. Working in teams of two, using facts for each partner in a family law dispute, the law students will negotiate with opposing teams in three successive rounds of increasing complexity.
The team is supported by the Collaborative Professionals of Saskatchewan.
This is a trial advocacy moot in which student participants conduct a criminal jury trial. Students will work through issues relating to evidence, criminal procedure, and substantive criminal law while learning and building upon essential advocacy skills for trial lawyers.
This team is generously supported by Saskatchewan Trial Lawyers Association.
The Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot is Canada’s first and only national moot court competition devoted to environmental law. Its goal is to promote awareness of the growing role of environmental issues in contemporary legal practice and public life, while enhancing law students’ written and oral advocacy skills.
Note: The Environmental Law moot is offered every other year.
Mooting in the news
Loading...