Queen’s Law mooters have brought home the Harold G. Fox Cup – and all the competition’s oralist prizes. The team – oralists Nosheen Hotaki, Lauren Daly, Cavina Tsoi, all Law’24, and Ingrid Kao, Law’23; student coach and researcher Liran Yefet, Law’23; and coach Professor Bita Amani – beat teams from nine other Canadian law schools in last weekend’s Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot.
“It was a privilege and pleasure to work with this outstanding group of students,” says Amani. “I am so incredibly proud of the entire team and all of their hard work these past few months. More importantly, they all should be proud of their accomplishments, unfolding as beautifully as they did into formidable advocates!”
Queen’s Law respondents Hotaki and Daly were named the “best mooting team” after beating the University of Toronto’s appellants in the final round. In addition, Hotaki took two other top prizes: the Donald F. Sim Award for the best oral advocate and the DLA Piper (Canada) LLP Award for Mooting Excellence as the best mooter in a non-graduating year (earning her automatic entry into next year’s Oxford International IP Moot). Daly was named runner-up best oralist.
“The competition was fierce,” says Hotaki. “It pushed us to refine our oral advocacy skills, including the ability to think quickly and deliver convincing arguments effectively.”
The team excelled in doing just that, arguing in the final round before the Honorable Lord Kitchin of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; Justice Andromache Karakatsanis of the Supreme Court of Canada; Justice George Locke of the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA); and Justice Kathryn Feldman and Justice David Brown of the Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA).
In previous rounds, the team appeared before other justices from the FCA, ONCA, judges from the Federal Court of Canada, and practising lawyers.
Having the “privilege to interact with these phenomenal legal minds” is what Hotaki calls the “most remarkable aspect” of the experience. Daly adds, “Our team had the honour of meeting some of the brilliant judicial minds whose cases we had read in class and also being introduced to many legal practitioners from firms across Toronto.”
This year’s moot problem focused on two emerging areas in patent law: overbreadth and permanent injunctions.
An opportunity for students to expand their knowledge of intellectual property (IP) law, the Fox Moot also encourages creativity in argumentation. “We competed against brilliant advocates from across Canada,” says Daly. “The quality of the advocacy displayed was inspiring, as was the passion for intellectual property law.”
That’s what made the experience “truly one of a kind” for Tsoi. “Our team had the unique opportunity to connect with like-minded law students from other schools over the course of the competition. It was empowering to see so many passionate IP practitioners and justices create opportunities for law students to put their advocacy prowess to the test.”
Daly credits Professor Bita Amani for her “amazing mentorship and education that propelled us not only to a win but to a greater understanding of the underlying policy and philosophy behind the protection of intellectual property rights in Canada.”
“I am incredibly proud of our team!” exclaims Yefet. “Everyone’s dedication and hard work shined through in their presentation. We are particularly grateful to the many guest judges, including numerous Queen’s Law alumni, who took the time to help the team improve. They gave us our competitive edge and without them, our prep would have looked very different.”
These guest judges included Katie Lee, Law’16; Kelly Zhang, Law’21; Emily Prieur, Law’22; Justice Donald McLeod, Law’95; Rae Daddon, Law’19; Cole Meagher, Law’17; Jonathan Chong, Nick Morrow, Law’22; Kassandra Shortt; Chandimal Nicholas; Ben Reingold; Alexandria Chun; Hannah Mirsky; Christian Bekking; Mercy Liu, Law’23; Jennifer Li, Law’23; and Noah Guttmann, Law’23.
The team also thanks the school’s competitive moot organizer Carol Johnson, career counsellor Mike Molas, and Fox Moot sponsor DLA Piper (Canada) LLP.
“We had an incredible team,” says Kao. “We worked hard researching, formulating, and rivaling arguments for the past few months. We had excellent communication, and everyone was extremely generous in offering help and sharing resources. I can proudly say that our team truly ‘embodied’ the collegial Queen’s Law spirit.”
Read about the success of other Queen's Law teams this year to date: