U of A Canadian Corporate / Securities Law Moot team (l-r): Morgan Wheaton (2L), Eric Lam (2L), Theo Stathakos (3L), Braden Sheps (3L), and coach Professor Gail Henderson
The Canadian Corporate / Securities Law Moot Court Competition is an annual competition that focuses on corporate and securities law in Canada and is designed to provide law students with an opportunity to meet and network with various members of the legal community in those areas.
Corporate counsel, securities regulators, legal academics, practitioners, and judges from various court levels (including the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada) act as moot judges and advisors thereby fostering debate on legal issues of current importance to the Canadian business community.
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law team of Eric Lam (2L), Braden Sheps (3L), Theo Stathakos (3L), and Morgan Wheaton (2L), along with their coach Professor Gail Henderson, travelled to Toronto to compete in this year's moot on March 8-9, 2013.
The team performed admirably in front of some very tough panels of Bay Street litigators and corporate solicitors over the two-day competition, and tied for 5th place overall. Three of the mooters placed in the top 15 oralists, with Theo Stathakos taking home a prize in a tie for second-place best oralist. "Although I was thrilled with their performance in the competition, I was most impressed with what the judges didn't see", said coach Professor Gail Henderson, "which was how well they gelled as a team, talking through the issues and consistently helping and supporting each other. Team work is so important to legal practice, which is why the mooting program is a crucial part of the law school curriculum."
Professor Henderson and the Corporate/Securities moot team would like to thank Renee Hunt, for allowing the team to submit their factums for copying and binding at the last possible second to maximize their editing time; Kim Cordeiro, for booking rooms for 12 practices; Professsors Billingsley, Reif, Wood, O'Byrne, Renke and Yahya and Adjunct Professor Andrew Chamberlain, as well as Justice Juliana Topolniski, Eric Spink, Jamie McGinnis, Brian Futoransky, Peter Inglis, John Lemieux and Mark Fernandes for acting as practice round judges; Osler's Toronto for hosting the team for two "dress rehearsal" practices on March 7; Sandra Teves for making sure the team got to Toronto and had a place to stay; and Merle Metke for making sure that the team knew where they were going and how to get there once they arrived!
U of A Canadian Corporate / Securities Law Moot team (l-r): Theo Stathakos (3L), Eric Lam (2L), Morgan Wheaton (2L), and Braden Sheps
Click here to read the interviews with the 2013 Canadian Corporate/Securities Law Moot team