Mooting
Building your knowledge and skills
Being a student in Dal's Schulich School of Law means you'll attend traditional academic lectures and seminar courses that will expand your knowledge of the law and improve your analytic skills. You'll also take courses or programs that help youÌýbuild your knowledge and skillsÌýthroughÌýpractical experience.
As a second- and third-year student, you’ll be able to participate in one or more of severalÌýmooting programs. In these moots, you’ll learn and practice variousÌýadvocacy skills, includingÌýpersuasive legal writing,Ìýpreparation of factums,Ìýproper courtroom decorum, andÌýoral advocacy.
In the requiredÌýmoot courtÌýcourse, you’ll be assigned a moot problem and a side—appellant or respondent—and then follow various procedures toÌýmoot a hypothetical case. Second-year students act as counsel, while third-year students act as judges. If you’re part of the best second-year moot counsel, you’ll have the opportunity toÌýcompeteÌýin your third year forÌýthe Smith Shield, a prestigious ¹û½´ÊÓƵ award.
Many other mooting programs and courses are offered:
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýJessup International Moot Court Competition, a world-wide event on a problem of international law
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýLaskin MootÌý(an administrative-constitutional moot)
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýKawaskimhon Aboriginal Rights Moot
- ²¹ÌýSecurities Law Moot
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýGale Cup Moot Court CompetitionÌý(among all Canadian common law schools)
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýCanadian Labour Arbitration Moot
- ³Ù³ó±ðÌýSopinka Cup, a two-day event aimed at encouraging law schools to train students in oral advocacy
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