Queen’s Law mooting team wins silver at Gale Cup

Queen's Law's 2010 FMC Gale Cup Moot team members accept their awards in Toronto on February 27: (l-r) Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada; oralists Gerard Kennedy, Law ‘10, Krista Moreau, Law ‘11, and Molly Flanagan, Law ‘11; researcher Chad Bracken, Law ‘11; oralist Michael Lefebure, Law ‘11; faculty coach Professor Allan Manson; and Senator David Smith, Law ‘70.

Competing against sixteen teams from across Canada, Queen’s Law took home the second-place trophy at the FMC Gale Cup Moot held in Toronto on February 27, 2010.

Representing Queen’s Law were appellants Molly Flanagan, Law ‘11, and Michael Lefebure, Law ‘11, and respondents Krista Moreau, Law ‘11, and Gerard Kennedy, Law ‘10. They were supported by faculty coach Professor Allan Manson, and researcher Chad Bracken, Law ‘11.

All members of the team performed extremely well. In addition to the second overall prize, the   appellant team of Molly and Michael tied for the highest-scoring oral arguments, and Gerard and Krista tied for both the second-best respondent’s factum and the second-highest score for a
respondent team’s oral argument. In the finals, Queen’s was represented by Gerard and Krista.

“Working as an entire team really fueled us all as we moved forward,” Krista says. “We were able to use each other’s ideas and knowledge in certain areas to strengthen our own portions. We had to come together as a strong unit in order to advance in the competition, and our finish obviously shows we were able to work well together and accomplish a great final result.”

The oldest national moot in Canada, the FMC Gale Cup Moot concentrates on criminal law, with this year’s problem based on an appeal of a first degree murder conviction with a faulty charge to the jury and a non-disclosure issue. The focus was whether these errors warranted a new trial. The final round was judged by Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice Francois Doyen of the Quebec Court of Appeal, and Justice Stephen Goudge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.
 
It was the effort of all team members, who had worked closely on every part of the facta and oral arguments, which led to the Queen’s respondents arguing before the final panel of judges. This teamwork was vital for the final round against the University of Windsor, where a changed fact pattern was presented to both teams only half an hour before the presentation.

“The way we all worked together in that half-hour,” Gerard says, “and the way that Professor Manson, in particular, made sure we all knew what we were doing, was truly memorable. Our researcher and our coach were invaluable.”

WeirFoulds LLP financed Queen’s Law’s participation at the FMC Gale Cup Moot. Providing helpful advice to the team during practices were professors Don Stuart and David Freedman, local practitioner and sessional instructor Mary-Jo Maur, Law ‘85, LLM ‘93, Justice Rommel Masse of the Ontario Court of Justice, and former Gale mooters Janelle Khan and Malcolm Savage of Law ‘10.

“It’s a terrific reward for the hard work that all five team members invested in this project,” Manson says. “They were smart, creative, diligent and articulate. I am very proud of them.”