RESULTS & THANK YOUS

The 2020 SKAEL Moot was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic but it returned in full force in 2021! A major thank you to all of the participants of the 2021 SKAEL Moot, volunteer judges, students, behind the scenes volunteers, the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, and Professor Leah Howie.

This year, the student participants wrote Appellant Factums and Mooted on a fact scenario based on Mathur, et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario and La Rose v. Her Majesty the Queen. Students took a semester long course with Professor Leah Howie, where she taught Appellant advocacy in the Environmental context. The Moot was held online on March 28th, 2021 and it illustrated how much the students had learned and have grown during the course of the semester. The participant’s Factums will be posted at a later date, so check back soon.

All students did an amazing job and congratulations to the Moot Runner ups:

Katie Doherty

Alanna Bugera

Jodi Hancheroff

And congratulations to the 2021 SKAEL Moot Champions who won both the top oralist and factum awards:

Reagan King

Haley Stearns

Muhammad Riaz

-The Moot Committee

Here is a picture of oral/factum winner, Haley Stearns, holding the award on behalf of her team-mates.

ABOUT

What?

A moot is a simulated courtroom.

Law students from the new Internal Environmental Moot course offered at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) will be competing in the SKAEL moot as their final project. Practitioners from the community volunteer as judges to evaluate the factums (written arguments) and oral arguments.

For our moot this year, teams of three represent either the Respondent or Appellant, and participate in a written and oral competition.

The teams will argue a simulated appeal from a real life case. For the 2021 moot, students will be arguing an appeal from the following case: La Rose v. Canada, 2020 FC 1008. Specifically, the moot problem is:

Did the learned judge err in…

1. finding that the appellants’ claims were not justiciable? and

2. finding that the appellants’ Statement of Claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action?

When?

The SKAEL Environmental Law moot occurs in March 2021.

Why?

Every two years, students at the U of S can apply to compete in the national environmental law moot in Ontario, the Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot. This is an amazing opportunity for students, but not everyone who applies will get to compete and it only runs every second year. We wanted to give students more chances to use and develop their advocacy skills in the field of environmental law, so we decided to run our first-ever local environmental law moot in the off-year of the national moot.

Through the moot, we hope students get a feel for what it is like to practice environmental law. We also want to give practicing lawyers an outlet for their interest in environmental law if they are unable to practice in this area. Lastly, we want to raise awareness about interesting cases that have real implications on our ability to use the law to protect the environment.

(Note: we decided to hold a moot in 2021 because the oral portion of the 2020 moot was cancelled due to COVID. Although the 2021 moot will be virtual, the experience will still be a valuable opportunity for students to practice their litigation skills in an environmental context.)

FUNDERS

Thank you so much to the following funders/supporters. We couldn’t have held this moot for students without their generosity.

SKAEL Environmental Law Moot 2021