Four Osgoode Hall law students have claimed the 2007 FMC Gale Cup Moot after beating out teams from 18 other Canadian law schools with their arguments in a hypothetical rerun of a 2005 case that allowed a “swingers” club in Montreal to remain open.
“The winning team did an outstanding job presenting its case and I commend them and their coaches on their delivery, creativity, and flair,” said Chris Pinnington, managing partner at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto.
“Judging from what we saw at this year’s
competition, Canadians have a lot to look forward to when these
exceptional students are called to the bar.”
The bilingual competition, sponsored by FMC, was held the weekend of Feb. 24 at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. Teams presented hypothetical arguments for the 2005 Supreme Court of Canada case R. v. Labaye.
The case
made headlines at the time after the court determined a private
swingers club in Montreal didn’t present a significant risk to harm
society, couldn’t be classified a “common bawdy house,” and wasn’t
promoting indecent criminal conduct.
Other notable finishers included Queen’s University, University of Toronto, and University of Victoria teams, which placed second, third, and fourth respectively. The Osgoode Hall team, which gave the school its third Gale Cup Moot win, now qualifies for the Commonwealth Mooting Competition in Kenya this September.
Justice Robert Blair of
the Court of Appeal of Ontario, Justice Marc Beauregard of the Quebec
Court of Appeal, and Justice Ross Goodwin of the Quebec Superior Court
served on the panel of judges at the moot court proceedings.
The
Gale Cup, named after former Ontario Chief Justice George A. Gale, is
considered Canada’s top bilingual moot competition, as real judges in
an authentic courtroom hear it.
FMC Toronto partner Frank Bowman said the competition, “Provides a marvelous opportunity for Canada’s prospective lawyers to hone their litigation skills and familiarize themselves with high-level legal proceedings.”
