THE WILSON MOOT

The Wilson Moot was established in 1992 to honour the outstanding contribution to Canadian law made by Madam Justice Bertha Wilson, who died in April 2007 at the age of 84. The spirit of this moot is to promote justice for those traditionally disempowered within the legal system, and, in particular, to explore legal issues concerning women and minorities. UBC has participated in this moot for eleven years. Other participants have included UVic, McGill, Western Ontario, Queen’s, Windsor, Osgoode Hall, Ottawa, Manitoba and Toronto. The oral argument part of the competition is always held in Toronto.

Each school fields a team of two appellant’s counsel and two respondent’s counsel.  Some schools, including UBC, also have a fifth student as a researcher for the team.  The facta are usually due at the end of January and the oral part of the competition is typically held in late February. A number of practice moots are held in the first three weeks of February to help students refine their arguments and oral advocacy skills. There are separate team awards for both the written and the oral argument sections of the Moot. The oral argument consists of a preliminary round, during which the mooters compete twice against their counterparts from other law schools, and the final round. The top two schools after the preliminary round compete against each other in the final. UBC has won the factum part of the competition in seven of the eleven years in which it has been a participant, and in the four years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2008, it won the oral part.

The Wilson Moot team has been very generously supported by the Vancouver office of Heenan Blaikie. The faculty advisors are Professors Robin Elliot and Margot Young.