U of T Law students take top honours at national round for international law moot
Published: March 5, 2020
Second-year University of Toronto law students Hana Awwad, Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, Alex Smith and Emily Tsui placed first in the Canadian round of the Jessup competition – and will be Canada’s flag-bearers at the international rounds in April.
The Jessup is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world and is dedicated to the promotion of international law. Mooting offers students opportunities to practice and improve oral advocacy skills in a simulated appellate court or arbitration for credit.
Among the awards the students received were top applicant memorial (factum) for Nestico-Semianiw and Tsui, top respondent memorial for Awwad and Smith, top aggregate memorials, and three out of six top oralist prizes – including top oralist for Awwad.
The team’s coaches and advisers – including third-year law students Spence Colburn and Will Eberlee, U of T law alumna Maureen Whelton, a managing partner of Stevenson Whelton LLP, and U of T law professor Jutta Brunnée – along with other practitioners, professors and former Jessup mooters, worked for months to help the team prepare.
U of T and Western University law schools will represent Canada at the final international competition against teams from more than 100 countries and jurisdictions in Washington, D.C.
