This article contains summaries of U of T’s moots and results for the 2024–2025 mooting season.
Adam F. Fanaki Competition Law Moot
Mooters: Cam Flanagan (2L), Vlad Mirel (2L), David Niddam-Dent (2L) and Kristina Wolff (JD/MBA, 2026)
Student Coaches: Emily Chu (3L) and Olivia Schenk (3L)
Adjunct Coaches: Michael Laskey (Stikeman Elliott LLP) and Nathaniel Read-Ellis (Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP)
The Fanaki Moot is an annual competition law moot organized by the Competition Bureau, the Competition Tribunal, and the Canadian Bar Society. The moot takes place at the Federal Court of Canada. This year, the mooters are faced with an abuse of dominance problem. Independent film studio Wolfhouse has filed a complaint that an agreement between Dragonrider Pictures and Tallturret studios violates section 79 of the Competition Act.
The moot will take place on March 28–29, after this article has been written. Results will be posted on the Fanaki Moot Instagram here.
Arnup Cup Trial Advocacy Competition and Sopinka Cup National Trial Advocacy Competition
Mooters: Janna Getty (3L) and Olivia Schenk (3L)
Adjunct Coaches: Corie Langdon (Toronto Region Crown Attorney’s Office), Emily Marrocco (Crown Law Office – Criminal, Ministry of the Attorney General) and Royland Moriah (Moriah Law PC)
The Arnup Cup is an annual regional trial advocacy competition for Ontario law schools. The top teams at the Arnup Cup proceed to participate in the Sopinka Cup National Trial Advocacy Competition in Ottawa, Ontario. This year’s problem was an assault causing bodily harm case. The defendant Mark Johnston claimed he saw a gun and was acting in self defence when he bashed the victim Jason Walters over the head with a barstool.
Olivia Schenk and Janna Getty acted as the defence against Queen’s University Faculty of Lawlaw school at the Arnup Cup. Schenk and Getty were finalists and represented the only Arnup defence team to advance to the Sopinka Cup. At the Sopinka Cup, Schenk and Getty switched to the Crown side and faced off against the University of Manitoba’s law school.
Callaghan Competitive Program
Mooters: Alex Byrne (2L), Albert Cheng (2L), Delaney Cullin (2L), Amanda Currie (2L), Ben Elhav (2L), Emma Farrell (2L), Katherine Getler (2L), Tyler Hastings (2L), Ethan Kibel (2L), Alana Kiteley (2L), Sharon Liyento (JD/MSW-ITR 2026), Roxanne Locke (2L), Megan Raber (2L), Grace Xu (2L), Leon Xu (2L) and Jerry Zhao (2L)
Chief Justices: Abby Craswell (3L) and Julianna Lyon (3L)
Student Coaches: Yiwei Bian (3L), Alison Borch (3L), Abby Craswell (3L), Janna Getty (3L), Emily Jin (3L), Daniel Kiesman (3L), Julianna Lyon (3L), Hannah Rosenberg (3L), Jason Ruggeberg (3L), Maddy Schneider (3L), Angela Shi (3L), Zachary Train (3L) and Christine Wang (JD/MBA 2025)
Faculty Advisors: Diane Shnier (Judicial Research Lawyer – Court of Appeal for Ontario) and Professor Hamish Stewart
The Callaghan is U of T’s in-house moot, focusing on issues in criminal and constitutional law. This year’s problem asked whether the Good Samaritan Act precluded arrest and engaged with sections 9 and 24(2) of the Charter.
This year’s winning team werewas the appellants Alana Kiteley and Sharon Liyento. The top respondent team was Delaney Cullin and Katherine Getler. The second runner up best team was Emma Farrell and Amanda Currie. First, second, and third place oralists were Katherine Getler, Sharon Liyento, and Emma Farrell, respectively. The best appellant factum was awarded to Alana Kiteley and Sharon Liyento. The best respondent factum was awarded to Delaney Cullin and Katherine Getler. The runner up factum was awarded to Tyler Hastings and Leon Xu.
National Labour Arbitration Competition (NLAC)
Mooters: Kabir Singh Dhillon (2L) and Ye Young Lee (2L)
Student Coaches: Benji McLean (JD/MBA 2025) and Nathan McLean (JD/MBA 2025)
Coaches: Braxton Murphy (Paliare Roland), Alex Ognibene (Fasken), and Lauren Pearce (Jones Pearce LLP), Kate Shao (Paliare Roland), Stephen Shore (Ogletree Deakins International LLP) and Shyama Talukdar (Paliare Roland)
The NLAC Moot requires teams to participate in two rounds of mock labour arbitration. Each team will argue once for the union and once for the employer sides. The problem this year concerned the dismissal of a teacher with strong religious views. The problem engaged with the recent Supreme Court decision York Region District School Board v Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and required mooters to consider how the Charter should be applied in public workplaces such as schools.
Cassels Cup Moot (Baby Gale)
Mooters: Jamie Blunt (1L), Srivani Edupuganti (1L), Cassie Heward (JD/MGA 2027), Alexis Hunt (1L), Hasti Jamalomidi (1L), Rehana Lalani (JD/MBA 2027), Katie Martin (1L), Alicia Parker (1L), Ethan Sabourin (1L), Tenzin Shomar (1L), Evan Tanovich (1L) and Ke Xu (1L)
Coaches: Akash Jain (JD/MPP 2026), Humza Khan (2L), Henry Mann (3L) and Sarah Zaitlin (2L)
The Cassels Cup, also known as the Baby Gale, is a competition between U of T Law and Osgoode Hall Law School. It shares the same moot problem as the Gale Cup, which can be found below.
The moot will take place on March 29–30th weekend, after this article has been written. Best of luck to all the participants!
David Corporate/Securities Law Moot
Mooters: Ivan Hsieh (3L), Hugo Liu (2L), Ben Merrell (3L) and Karina Vandenhoven (2L)
Student Coaches: Alexander McGuigan (3L) and Riya Thomas (3L)
Coaches: Shane D’Souza (McCarthy Tétrault LLP) and Chris Puskas (McCarthy Tétrault LLP)
This year, the Securities Moot took place on March 7–8th, with 15 law schools from across the country participating. This year’s problem explored a variety of issues, including material adverse effect, compliance with interim covenants and “time of the essence” clauses.
Donald G. Bowman National Tax Moot
Mooters: Daniel Fogel (3L), Leon Liao (2L), Michael Roclawski (2L) and Annie Wang (2L)
Student Coaches: Nina Varghese (3L)
Coaches: Martha Macdonald (Torys LLP) and Andrew Boyd (Baker McKenzie LLP)
The Tax Moot is Canada’s first competitive moot on taxation. The problem this year was based on a fictional appeal of Glencore Canada Corporation v Canada, 2024 FCA 3. The mooters were tasked with arguing whether the Commitment and Non-Completion Fees were to be included in the taxpayer’s business or property income, or if the Fees constituted taxable or non-taxable capital gains.
Gale Cup Moot
Mooters: Akash Jain (JD/MPP 2026), Humza Khan (2L), Henry Mann (3L), and Sarah Zaitlin (2L)
Student Coaches: Brynne Dalmao (3L), and Elizabeth Hicks (3L)
Coaches: Meghan Bridges (Lenczner Slaght LLP), Holly Kallmeyer (McCarthy Tétrault LLP), and Paul-Erik Veel (Lenczner Slaght LLP)
The Gale problem this year was based on the recent Supreme Court case R v Bykovets, 2024 SCC 6. The problem had mooters engage with section 8 of the Charter. Henry Mann and Akash Jain were awarded the second best appellant factum.
Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada (HACC)
Mooters: Paul Buzzelli (2L) and Thomas Mora (2L)
The HACC is a competition for sports law enthusiasts run exclusively by University of Toronto law students. Teams of law students across Canada represent the player or club side in mock salary arbitrations in front of experienced arbitrators, including NHL player agents and team executives. This year’s players were Jeremy Swayman, Martin Necas, and Ryan Lindgren.
Paul Buzzelli and Thomas Mora won the competition overall.
Hamish Stewart Cup Moot (Baby Callaghan)
Mooters (all 1L): Doyin Adeyemi, Daniel Austin-Boyd, Mackenzie Birbrager, Kyle Cheung, Becky Frohlinger, Harleen Grewal, Jordan Guberman, Romina Hajizadeh, Belaal Hamid, Ibrahim Hasan, Samraggi Hazra, Lynn Hu, Yunza Ji, Zedain Kara, Yuha Khan, Alexia Lee, Juliette Lee, Iryn McMechan, Kathryn Morse, William Mitchell, Omar Saleh, Simren Sharma, Angad Sidhu, Sasha Steeves, Sarah Thomas, Justin Wang, Myles Whelen, Bruce Yao, Marwan Yousif, Amanda Yu, Sam Zhang, and Cindy Zeng
Student Coaches: Hannah Beltran (JD/MBA 2026), Kabir Dhillon (2L), Emily Ernst (2L), Shireen Faisal (2L), Matthew Farrell (2L), Allie Fong (2L), Sakina Hasnain (2L), Tyler Hastings (2L), Alana Kiteley (2L), Sarah Mackenzie (2L), Chloe Merritt (2L), Navya Sheth (2L), Karina Vandenhoven (2L), Josephine Winsor (2L), Audrey Wu (2L), and Angelina Zhang (2L).
The Stewart Cup, also known as the Baby Callaghan, is an internal moot for 1L students. It shares the same problem as the Callaghan, which can be found above.
The winning appellant team was Daniel Austin-Boyd and Mackenzie Birbrager. The runner up appellant team was Becky Frohlinger and Marwan Yousif. The winning respondent team was Justin Wang and Myles Whelan. The runner up respondent team was Romina Hajizadeh and Simren Sharma. The top, first runner-up, second runner-up oralist awards went to Marwan Yousif, Daniel Austin-Boyd, and Justin Wang respectively.
Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot
Mooters: Micheal Antifaoff (3L), Michael Barbour (2L), Shireen Faisal (2L), and Dimitris Logothetis (3L)
Student Coaches: Mina Alam (3L), Avital Sternin (3L), Rebecca Tyli (3L) and Alessia Woolfe (3L)
Coaches: Andrew M. Shaughnessy (Torys LLP) and Emily P. Kettel (Bennett Jones LLP)
The Harold G. Fox Moot is designed to promote the furtherance of education in the intellectual property field and to provide participants with the opportunity to interact with jurists and with experienced practitioners of intellectual property law. This year’s problem concerned an allegation of copyright and moral rights infringement.
Micheal Antifaoff and Shireen Faisal won the Fox Moot Cup. The pair also won runner-up respondent factum. Michael Barbour and Dimitris Logothetis were both semi-finalists and won best appellant factum. Faisal was awarded best oral advocate and best mooter in the 2L class.
Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship (IRC) Law Moot
Mooters: Maria Bon (2L), Justin Gharibo (2L), Celine Tsang (2L) and Angelina Zhang (2L)
Student Coaches: Yashleen Jhand (3L) and Abby Sasitharan (3L)
Coaches: Joycna Kang (Battista Migration Law Group) and Nicholas Woodward (Battista Migration Law Group)
The IRC Moot is a relatively new moot founded in 2020. This national and bilingual moot seeks to advance legal education related to issues of migration. This year’s problem concerned an immigration detention of a refugee from South Sudan and the application of section 58(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The entire U of T team was named the runner-up oralist team. Justin Gharibo was awarded the third place oralist award.
Julius Alexander Isaac Moot
Mooters: Naxi Aze (3L), Matthew Chasmar (JD/MGA 2026), Natallie Chow (2L) and Zeru Hu (2L)
Student Coaches: Mahnoor Noor (3L), and Samir Reynolds (JD/MPP 2025)
Coaches: Solomon McKenzie (McCarthy Tétrault LLP) and Ada Maxwell-Alleyne (Assistant Dean, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)
The Isaac is an annual competitive moot that focuses on an area of law in which issues of equity and diversity arise. This year’s problem addressed the legal standard for racial profiling and whether it must be re-evaluated and arguably modified to better accord with modern understandings of the social context and issues with the existing framework.
The entire U of T team won the top school award.
Laskin Moot
Mooters: Benjamin Beiles (2L), Manreet Brar (3L), Samar Moghal (3L) and Navya Sheth (2L)
Student Coaches: Chelsea Gordon (3L), Alex Horbal (3L) and Jenna Nadel (3L)
Coaches: William Maclarkey (Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, Crown Law Office Civil), Padraic Ryan (Constitutional Law Branch of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General) and Christina Sibian (Assistant Crown Attorney)
The Laskin is a national bilingual constitutional and administrative law moot. At least one team member mustbut be capable of mooting in French. This year’s problem concerned the constitutional validity of a hypothetical law, the Climate Emergency Act, and the reasonableness of regulations made under the Act.
U of T won best school team and second best factum. Navya Sheth won best oralist. Benjamin Beiles won runner up best oralist. Sheth and Beiles were also named best pair.
Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Law Moot
Mooters: Carson Cook (3L), Yu-Kai Chang (3L), Daniel Jolic (3L) and Jules Lyon (3L)
Coaches: Bryce Edwards (Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP) and David Walders (Indigenous Relations at the Ontario Energy Board)
This year, the Kawaskimhon involved a negotiation between different First Nations regarding their positions on the proposed Deep Geological Repository for nuclear waste in Wabigoon Lake First Nation. Parties had to craft a dispute resolution framework for grievances that arise as a result of the project and other water governance issues using Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee legal orders.
The Kawaskimhon is a negotiation and participants do not receive awards, unlike other moot competitions. The parties work through the problem together and hopefully come to some kind of resolution, considering both the common law and Indigenous law. The Kawaskimhon invites participants to interrogate the colonial nature of the common law and emphasizes the necessity of Indigenous law in the Canadian legal system.
Oxford International IP Moot
Mooters: Avital Sternin (3L), Rebecca Tyli (3L) and Alessia Woolfe (3L)
Members of the 2024 Fox Moot team competed in the Oxford Moot this year. The moot is held at the University of Oxford in England. This year’s problem concerned the case Multilever plc v Greenland Supermarket plc [2024] HCE 337. The legal issues in this case related to registered trademarks, in particular, issues in relation to confusing similarity and the role and content of blurring and tarnishment as trade mark harms.
The U of T team won the moot overall and brought home the Oxford Moot Trophy to Toronto.
Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
Mooters: Matthew Farrell (2L), Alex Kelly (2L), Chloe Merritt (2L) and Jason Quinn (3L)
Student Coaches: Vidit Desai (3L), Arik Portnov (3L) and Eyal Wilk (3L)
Coaches: Misha Boutilier (counsel to the Chief Justice of Ontario at the Court of Appeal for Ontario) and Daniel Sisgoreo (Quinn Emanual LLP).
The Jessup is a competitive moot focused on international law problems. This year’s problem concerned universal jurisdiction over the crime of enforced disappearance, the scope of functional immunity for government ministers, the impact of rising sea levels on maritime delimitation, and the ability of insurrectionary groups to commit acts of state under international law.
In the Canadian rounds, Matthew Farrell received top oralist. Farrell and Jason Quinn received the second place applicant memorial prize. The entire team received the fourth place overall memorial award. U of T earned third place in the Canadian rounds, allowing the entire team to advance to the international rounds which will be held in Washington, DC from March 29–April 5. The international rounds will take place after this article has been written. Best of luck to U of T’s Jessup team!
Tort Law Moot Competition
Mooters: Damian Fitz (JD/MBA 2026), Cassandra Griffin (JD/MGA 2025), Amanda Kennedy (2L) and Kate Shackleton (2L)
Student Coaches: Alex Nyikos (3L) and Tiger Zheng (3L)
Coaches: Christopher McKenna (Bennett Jones LLP)
The Tort Mort is a moot competition designed to promote advocacy and excellence in the fields of tort, insurance, and health law. In this year’s problem, two estates were defrauded by an addicted gambler. The estates sued the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation for the knowing receipt of trust funds, unjust enrichment, and negligence.
Kate Shackleton and Amanda Kennedy won the best factum prize.
Walsh Family Law Moot
Mooters: Alexandra Beck (2L), and Jane Hyeyoung Byun (2L), Thomas Dobrovich (2L) and Olivia Maley (3L)
Student Coaches: Julia Fine (3L)
Coaches: Maureen Edwards (McCarthy Hansen and Company LLP), Zechariah Martin (McCarthy Hansen and Company LLP) and Martha Mccarthy (McCarthy Hansen and Company LLP),
The Walsh Moot is a competitive moot focused on issues in family law. This year’s problem was based on JFR v KLL 2024 ONCA 520. The case concerned the capacity and rights of an adult child before a parenting order is made on them. The case also raised constitutional concerns for the Divorce Act’s provisions as they apply to adult children of the marriage.
The Walsh Family Law Negotiations Competition
Mooters: Morgan Blimkie (3L), Kyle Girdhari (2L), Britney Han (2L) and Sian Shin (3L)
Coaches: Samantha Eisen (Samantha Eisen & Company), Judith Huddart (Past Executive Director, Collaborative Practice Canada) and Nikki Pangilinan (Samantha Eisen & Company)
The Walsh Negotiations Competition has students working in teams of two, using facts for each partner in a family law dispute, to negotiate with opposing teams in three successive rounds of increasing complexity. This year, each team had to grapple with issues of parenting, property division, child support and spousal support arising from the breakdown of a 17-year marriage with two children.
Morgan Blimkie and Sian Shin were awarded second place negotiation plan and third place overall negotiation team. Blimkie was also awarded third place individual student.
Warren K. Winkler Class Actions Moot
Mooters: Hannah Beltran (JD/MBA 2026), Christian D’Ambrosi (2L), Jaerin Kim (2L) and Audrey Wu (2L)
Student Coaches: Noam Epstein Roth (3L) and Bjorn Wagenpfeil (3L)
Coaches: Joseph Blinick (Bennett Jones LLP) and Cheryl Woodin (Bennett Jones LLP)
The Winkler Class Actions Moot gives students a unique opportunity to participate in a class certification proceeding. This year, the moot problem concerned a motion to certify a class of protesters who were arbitrarily detained and strip-searched by police in violation of sections 8 and 9 of the Charter, as well as a subclass of protesters who experienced discrimination contrary to section 1 of the Human Rights Code. The protests took place at a conference venue where an environmental activist and politician was to deliver a speech advocating for a ban on farming a fish valued for its caviar and nutritional benefits. The protesters opposed the speech, supporting the fish farming industry for its economic and health benefits.
Hannah Beltran and Christian D’Ambrosi won best plaintiff factum. Audrey Wu received the third place oralist award.
Wilson Moot
Mooters: Emma Blake (2L), Emma De Tommaso (2L), Ikran Jama (2L) and Joel Seifert (3L)
Student Coaches: Carson Cook (3L), Jarren Fefer (3L), Liza Markova (3L) and Joshua Schwartz (3L)
Coaches: Joseph Cheng (General Counsel with the Department of Justice Canada, National Litigation Sector) and Cheryl Milne (Executive Director, David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights)
The goal of the Wilson Moot is to explore legal issues concerning women and minorities, thereby promoting the education of students and the legal profession in these areas of pressing concern. This year, mooters were faced with a problem concerning the roll back of benefits and imposition of workfare conditions in a guaranteed income program, engaging arguments based on sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
U of T won the moot overall, received top overall team and placed second for their factums. In addition, Emma Blake and Emma De Tommaso were named second and third place oralists, respectively.