The Willms & Shier moot team with their coach, Avnish Nanda (centre).
Last weekend, UAlberta Law competed for the first time in the Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot, Canada's first and only national moot court competition devoted to environmental law.
Hosted by Osgoode Hall in Toronto, UAlberta Law sent two teams - Paul Maas and Jordyn Dryden, and Pavin Takhar and Adam Cembrowski.
Maas and Dryden were one of four teams to reach the semi-finals, where they mooted in front of a distinguished bench consisting of Diane Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Jerry DeMarco, Associate Chair of the Conservation Review Board and the Environmental Review Tribunal, and Chris Tollefson, Professor of Law at the University of Victoria.
The competition during the qualifying rounds was fierce: Takhar and Cembrowski mooted against the eventual winners, while one of the teams Maas and Dryden mooted against placed second overall.
The final round of the moot was judged by Justice Malcolm Rowe of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Justice Kathryn Feldman and Justice Katherine van Rensburg, both of the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Although UAlberta did not win any formal awards, both teams received considerable praise for their oral advocacy skills.
Both teams expressed gratitude to their coach, Avnish Nanda of Nanda & Company, who provided a tremendous amount of support throughout the mooting process. Nanda was consistently available to the teams, acted as a sounding board for their ideas, and helped them greatly improve their advocacy skills. According to the teams, Nanda's coaching was one of the most enjoyable aspects of what was, overall, a fantastic mooting experience.