2011 Nelligan O’Brien Payne First-Year Moot Court Competition
On Saturday, November 5, 2011, a large contingent of enthusiatic first-year students participated in the preliminary round of the 2011 Nelligan O’Brien Payne First-Year Moot Court Competition. Four students, Samantha Clarke, Rolake Adeniran, Megan Martins and Kristen Holman, advanced to the Championship Hearing on November 7, with Samantha Clarke and Rolake Adeniran ultimately winning the John P. Nelligan Cup.
“This year’s competition was our biggest yet,” said Professor Steven Blair, who coordinates the competition. “Over 155 first year students gained valuable ‘on-their-feet’ advocacy experience after only two months of law school. The support provided by our sponsor, Nelligan O’Brien Payne, and the many dozen volunteer judges from the community and our faculty has been fabulous. The result is that the competition has grown to become a much sought after event for first-year students and a valuable recruiting tool for our successful upper-year competitive moot court program.”
The championship round of the competition, held on November 7, featured the top four students from the preliminary hearings mooting before a distinguished panel of Ottawa-area judges, including Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada as well as Justice Maria Linhares de Souza and Justice Jennifer Mackinnon from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. At the conclusion of the final round, Justice Abella commented that she was incredibly impressed by how much the competitors had achieved after only two months of law school.
Mr. John Nelligan presented the winning team of Samantha Clarke and Rolake Adeniran with the John P. Nelligan Cup. He also presented a certificate of honourable mention to the runners-up, Megan Martins and Kristen Holman. “I never see as much enthusiasm as I see at this moot court every fall,” said Mr. Nelligan. “I want to congratulate you all. Your enthusiasm bodes well for the future and I’m looking forward to a bunch of brilliant advocates coming out of this wonderful exercise.”
The County of Carleton Law Association (CCLA) prize for the best factum went to the team of Melinda Andrews and Jennifer Saville. Certificates of honourable mention were presented to the following runners-up: Jessica Benhaim and Jeremy Tiger; Jonathan Geiger and Patrick Ganely; and Megan Martins and Kristen Holman.
The best oralist plaque, presented by Pam MacEachern, a partner with Nelligan O’Brien Payne, went to Megan Martins. Certificates of honourable mention were also presented to the following teams: Karen Heath and Andrew Bigioni; Jonathan Geiger and Patrick Ganely; Thamina Amiri and Caryma Sa’d and Richard Ha and Jessica Kozak.
The Common Law Section would like to thank all the generous volunteers, and congratulate all the enthusiastic participants!