Excitement is building for the 2015 Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot Court Competition –Canada’s first and only in-person national moot court competition devoted to environmental law.
Moot Administrator Joanna Vince says that 10 teams from nine Canadian law faculties have registered for the competition, which will take place on Saturday, March 7 at the Ontario Court of Appeal in downtown Toronto.
The competition final round judges will be Supreme Court of Canada Justice Andromache Karakatsanis (LLB ’80), Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Katherine van Rensburg, and Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal and of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada.
Stepan Wood
“We’re delighted with the response to this year’s Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot,” said Willms & Shier partner Marc McAree (BA ’89, LLB/MES ’93), a certified specialist in Environmental Law and a co-founder and co-chair of the moot with Osgoode Professor Stepan Wood (BA ’88, LLB ’92). “The competition, which started in 2011 and is held every other year, brings together law students, judges, leading lawyers and legal academics to explore cutting-edge environmental law issues. It’s also a great vehicle for enhancing law students’ written and oral advocacy skills.”
This year’s competition problem is an appeal to the Supreme Environmental Moot Court of Canada of the British Columbia Court of Appeal’s decision in Susan Heyes Inc. (Hazel & Co.) v South Coast B.C. Transportation Authority, 2011 BCCA 77. The case, which arose from the construction of Vancouver’s airport train line, raises thorny issues about whether business owners or public transit agencies should bear the cost of economic disruptions caused by construction of public transit.
In addition to the founding sponsors, Osgoode Hall Law School and Willms & Shier Environmental Law, other generous sponsors of the competition include: Maxxam, Grant Thornton LLP, WSP Canada Inc., Terraprobe Inc., Giffin Koerth Inc., Environ EC (Canada) Inc., Intrinsik Environmental Sciences Inc., Premier Environmental Services Inc., Berkley Canada Inc., RWDI, Envirogate Event Management Inc. and Carswell.
For more information, visit the Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot website.