L: (L to R) Dean Paton, Michael Cantwell, Chelsea Flintoff, Robert Marquette, Julie Trohimchuk, and Shaheer Meenai.
R: The UAlberta Law Jessup team poses with their coach, Assistant Professor Cameron Jefferies (far left), at the awards banquet.
Moot teams from 13 Canadian law schools descended on Edmonton March 2-4, 2017 to join UAlberta Law mooters for the Canadian Qualifying Round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
The Jessup is the world's largest moot court competition, with more than 2,000 law students from as many as 90 countries participating internationally each year.
UAlberta Law's Jessup moot team consisted of Chelsea Flintoff and Michael Cantwell acting as the applicants, and Julie Trohimchuk and Shaheer Meenai as the respondents. The team was assisted by researcher / of counsel Robert Marquette and coach Cameron Jefferies.
Although the UAlberta team did not advance to the semi-finals, Cantwell was recognized as a top 10 oralist and the respondent team of Trohimchuk and Meenai were awarded a fifth-place memorial prize for the quality of their written work.
The moot teams from Queen's and Western finished the competition in first and second place, and will go on to represent Canada in the international finals in Washington, DC in April.
The UAlberta Law team wishes to extend their sincere gratitude to Assistant Professor Jefferies, as well as thank each practice round judge for taking the time to help and support them as they prepared and polished their submissions.
In addition to playing host for the competition, UAlberta Law was pleased to welcome back alumnus Patrick Duffy (LLB' 02), a member of the victorious UAlberta Law Jessup team from the last time the Faculty hosted the competition 15 years ago. Duffy was a judge for the final round of the competition, as was special guest Jonathan Clark Green, Senior Counsel for the City of Chicago, and a former Fellow of the American Society of International Law and Jessup executive director.
"As this year's host school, I would like to thank all of the students who volunteered to help with the Jessup, and to the students who came out to support the home team during the competition," said Dean Paul Paton.
"I would also like to thank Carman McNary, Q.C., and the partners at Dentons for hosting the Jessup Judges' Reception on Friday evening, Associate Chief Justice John Rooke for graciously permitting us to use the courthouse for the final rounds on Saturday, and Diana Lowe, executive legal counsel to Associate Chief Justice Rooke, for her assistance. Last but not least, I would also like to acknowledge the tireless work of David Quayat, the Canadian National Administrator for the Jessup Moot, for his efforts - working in conjunction with the Faculty's Stella Varvis and Gillian Reid - to ensure a successful competition."
Next year's Canadian Qualifying Round (2018) will be hosted by the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law.