Erinn Wattie (2L)
There are two themes that seem to characterize a lot of my experience at U of T Law: scarcity and comparison.
It is puzzling that scarcity pervades so much of what we do, given the Faculty’s financial resources. Think about first year. There is Downtown Legal Services, Pro Bono Students Canada, the International Human Rights Program—all programs that admit students by lottery, all within the first few weeks of school, and all of which are extremely important experiences that can end up shaping a lot of your time at law school.
Later in first year comes the First Year Trial Advocacy Program, which, if you’re a member of the Class of 2018, requires that you register within the first forty-five seconds of the online sign-up—which of course took place during class time. You hope for the best, and prepare to make-do if you aren’t lucky enough to get what you want.
And now we’ve got the upper-year experience of competitive mooting. The goal here is to compete against your peers for a place in the program—the program where they teach you how to moot—when you’ve never learned to moot before. I thought that the competitive mooting program meant that you get to compete in mooting competitions, but it’s actually a two-tiered competition. First, you compete against your friends. Your friends are a mix of those who are as bewildered as you are by calling people “justices” and saying that you “submit” things as well as the amazing people who have been debating and mooting and practicing since they were twelve years old. Only then, if you make it, do you learn how to moot and compete in real competitions.
The mooting program is student-run, and that’s really amazing. Compared to other law faculties where mooting programs involve paid administrators, remunerated Faculty members, and more resources for coaching and travelling, the Moot Court Committee (MCC) at U of T Law does what they can with limited resources. Before the try-outs last week, the MCC hosted a practice day where its supportive members gave some words of advice. Mooting hopefuls also got between five and fifteen minutes of feedback from generous alumni judges. The practice sessions were great, but they were no substitute for more robust learning and preparation, and they certainly weren’t sufficient for beginners to actually catch up to those who have mooted and debated before.
Given this reality, one wonders why there isn’t a ‘Mooting for All’ program run by the Faculty that precedes the competitive mooting process. Why not teach all first-year students to moot, as part of the curriculum, instead of only those who qualify for the super-competitive Baby Gale? (Apparently, first-years at Osgoode have the opportunity to moot multiple times. Just saying.) Then, when it comes time to compete to join the upper-year competitive moot teams, the 2L/3L pool would be less stressed and anxious during the initial competitive stage, and it won’t be as much of a do-or-die situation. In short, everyone will be better prepared overall.
I understand that we want to win at the national competitions, but why does there have to be a weeding out process that takes place so early on? Do we not have enough resources so that everyone can learn how to moot, and then have a process of deciding who can best represent the school at an external competition? And besides, oral advocacy is a valuable skillset for any lawyer. The Faculty should not have set it up such that so many people get left out of the experience. The ‘upper year moot’ is not an adequate alternative. Students learn little from this program as it is currently set up, and it would be really unfortunate for that to be the only option open to someone who wants the experience of competitive mooting but didn’t make the team.
Having a real mooting experience in first-year would be amazing: it would teach students to get on their feet, prepare oral arguments, and be comfortable with spontaneity. When I got behind a podium on Saturday, I had forgotten that the Section 7 test has two parts (sorry Professor Schneiderman), and considered ‘not crying’ a sign of great achievement. But, now I do know that Section 7 has two parts, and I feel like I learned a lot from the adrenaline and challenge of trying out.
After a recent event, I got to talking with Cory Wanless, an extremely impressive alum who went straight from school to a career as a litigator. He said he didn’t try out for mooting because he was exhausted from being constantly compared to his peers. This rings true for me, and I think it might for many others as well. This isn’t about the student-run mooting committee not doing a good job—they are doing a great job—but, rather, why U of T is acting like a school with limited resources. Really, clearly, it isn’t. #JLB
The learning curve of mooting is really steep, and I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t all climb it together.
