Aidan Paul awarded Mandy MacLeod Prize for Excellence in Mooting

Third-year law student Aidan Paul has been recognized for his exceptional advocacy skills with the Mandy MacLeod Prize for Excellence in Mooting, an award established by Professor Peter Sankoff.

“I was honoured, given the number of truly exceptional candidates this year,” said Paul, ‘21 JD, who was awarded the prize at the 2021 virtual Celebration of Mooting. “The award is personally significant because Mandy MacLeod was one of my Gale Cup coaches and an incredible mentor.”

The prize recognizes a graduating student at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law who has made a significant contribution to the Faculty’s mooting program in their three years of law school. The prize is accompanied by a plaque and cash prize.

A record of exceptional advocacy is not the only criteria for the award. The recipient must also have gone above and beyond providing mentorship to other mooters.

“I owe a great debt to my mooting mentors, be they writing fellows, teammates, coaches, or practice judges,” said Paul. “It has been rewarding to pay that forward and contribute to the development of the next generation of U of A mooters.”

As a first-year law student, Paul won the Dean’s Cup, now known as the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin Moot. In his second year, he took top prize at the Brimacombe Moot and was a member of the historic three-peat at the Gale Cup, where he was awarded the Dickson medal for exceptional oralist performance and won second-place prize for best factum overall.

“The 2020 Gale Cup team was an unforgettable experience, and it was humbling to share it with a remarkable team,” he said.

This year has also been filled with notable successes for Paul. For the second year in a row, he won the Brimacombe — this time alongside co-winner Melissa Erickson — and was then selected for the Laskin Moot team.

As part of the appellant team, Paul advanced to the finals and mooted before Justice Suzanne Côté of the Supreme Court of Canada, ultimately taking home third-place overall.

His advice for future mooters? “Act as a team, not a group of individuals. You'll have moments where you doubt yourself — your response is what matters most. And never let yourself be outworked.”

The Mandy MacLeod Prize

Established in 2020, the prize is named in honour of alumna Mandy MacLeod, '14 JD, who was a Dickson medallist and Gale Cup finalist in 2013 and now serves as a Crown prosecutor. Sankoff founded the prize to pay tribute to MacLeod’s exceptional mooting legacy and to inspire the next generation of mooters to pursue greatness.

“That inspiration is key to helping people develop their best in these mooting competitions,” said Sankoff.

MacLeod not only has an impressive track record as a mooter, she has gone above and beyond as a coach.

As an articling student, she returned to coach for the Alberta Court of Appeal Criminal moot in 2015. She also helped the Gale Cup teams earn their historic back-to-back-to-back wins, along with leading the U of A to victory in the 2019 Commonwealth Moot.

“I think Mandy is one of the most important forces in Alberta mooting history,” said Sankoff. “I wanted to honour Mandy’s great contributions because honouring her is a way of honouring all of our great mooters and coaches.”

“Mooting is an essential part of the Faculty, and our students have really done well at national and international competitions,” said Sankoff. “I hope our alumni — and especially our former students who competed themselves — will see the importance of recognizing excellence in mooting and help support the financing of this prize.”

To support the Mandy MacLeod Prize for Excellence in Mooting, donate now.