Warren WhiteKnight, Law’13, and Kyle Shimon, Law’14, spent the first week of April in Santiago, Chile, competing for soccer gold at the Mundiavocat Cup. They were part of the six-person team, “Bergeron Clifford, Eastern Ontario Lawyers,” which was the only team from Canada in a competition of more than 1,800 lawyers from over 100 teams from five continents.

“The tournament is a great blend of sport, challenge, vacation and professional networking,” says WhiteKnight, team captain and an associate in the Kingston office of the organizing firm Bergeron Clifford LLP.
 
Playing soccer on the southern continent was “exciting but also daunting,” he says. “Soccer is a way of life down there and every ‘average Joe’ has played the game 12 months a year since the age of two. The level of play was very high.” Referees were members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

Despite being an underdog, the team finished third in the five-on-five tournament and brought home hardware. The team won the Fair-Play Award and WhiteKnight was named “Best Team Manager.”

One of the best parts of the tournament, says WhiteKnight, was getting to socialize with lawyers from around the world in their luxury hotel or in the nearby park overlooking the snow-capped Andes mountains. “It was immensely interesting to speak to lawyers and judges from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Panama and Mexico, just to name a few, and to learn about their legal systems, careers, and the way lawyers interact with society in their home countries.”

When not playing, teammates had lots of time to tour the region. They took in the sights in Santiago, “a very modern city filled with tall, sleek steel and glass buildings and tree-lined boulevards.” On a day trip to Valparaiso on the Pacific coast, they saw the more authentic Chile in a UNESCO world heritage site featuring unique 18th- and 19th-century architecture, a place that has become an artisan refuge and hotspot. The group also toured Concha y Toro, the world’s second-largest winery.

The “Bergeron Clifford, Eastern Ontario Lawyers” are planning to participate in the next Mundiavocat Cup being held in La Manga, Spain in May 2016. Alumni and other lawyers in the Eastern Ontario region interested in joining the team (named for the firm co-founded by Ted Bergeron, Law’91, and Chris Clifford, Law’97), should contact Captain Warren WhiteKnight. “The trip will be fantastic,” he says, “and it will also provide a nice break.”