An inside scoop into how an old moot was given new life.
The Eureka Moment
On a hot June summer day, as I was furiously working away on a legal memorandum that was poised to be blacklined into oblivion by one of my supervising partners, I decided to take a quick break in the Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP lunchroom. As I downed my third Diet Coke of the day, I received an email from the Mooting Director of Osgoode Hall Law School, announcing that I have again been chosen to represent the law school at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot. I turn towards my supervising partner, who, I would estimate, is on their sixth Diet Coke of the day, and mention the breaking news. It was at this point that the partner glances back at me and says “I did Jessup as well back in law school. The Baby Jessup, as a 1L.” I stopped, ruminated on this information, and smiled, as if I had any clue what they were referencing. After an awkward silence, I darted back to my office and punched in the search query “Baby Jessup Osgoode Hall Law School,” where I had the pleasure of unearthing a long forgotten relic of mooting past.
The Excavation
As I sifted through old articles, webpages, and lawyer biographies, all mentioning this mysterious “Baby Jessup” competition, I began to stitch together an understanding of what this moot was, what it featured, and who was involved. The Baby Jessup was a first year moot run at Osgoode Hall Law School back when George W. Bush was President, Jean Chretien was Prime Minister, and George Lucas was well on his way to destroying the Star Wars universe. Mooters would work off of a slice of the previous year’s Compromis, and the upper year Jessup team would organize and conduct the competition all while preparing for their own moot. After a winner was chosen at Osgoode Hall, they would be pitted against the best of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Cornell Law School, Syracuse University College of Law, and the University at Buffalo School of Law, in a cross-border duel to determine a champion. This storied and enriching 1L mooting experience eventually faded away as sponsors pulled out, schools failed to field their teams, and prospective competitors turned their attention to other first year moots. I was stunned, saddened, but also excited at the idea of architecting a revival of this long dormant competition.
The Restoration
Over the summer, I joined the newly revived Osgoode International Law Society (OILS) as its inaugural Mooting Director. I worked with co-Founders and co-Presidents Pasha Mabanza, Antonia Frappell, and Corum Bok Holtz. A 3L joining forces with three driven, ambitious, and passionate 2Ls to bring back a celebration of international law at Osgoode Hall Law School. Over the next six months, the four of us, with the help of the rest of the executive and our newly chosen first year representatives, undertook the time-intensive, logistically daunting, and tireless work of bringing together first years from Lincoln Alexander School of Law, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, guest judges, appropriate room bookings, and the necessary funding to see the entire competition to fruition. It was challenging, frustrating, and often hopelessly at the mercy of forces beyond our control, but we pulled it off. I put together the bench and participant memo materials, while the co-Presidents jumped over every possible logistical hurdle to assemble all of the resources necessary to execute our vision. It was not perfect by any means. The memo materials were amended multiple times, participants dropped out either due to COVID-19 reasons or challenges with commuting up to the campus, and guest judges were reticent to perform their duties in-person after two years of having the luxury of Zooming in from the comfort of their homes. Many lessons were learned and possibilities for further improvement were identified, but nevertheless, the competition—held as part of Toronto International Law Week—was successfully conducted and allowed us to witness incredible advocacy from all of our participants. A generation of mooters was born, with a particular passion for the art and craft of international advocacy; hungering for more battles over treaties, customs, and heated discussions about the nature of state sovereignty. This includes our runner-up oralists, Tripat Sandhu and Dalraj Singh Gill, and winners, Linda Manziaris and William Languedoc, who mooted the Case Concerning the Suthan Referendum with finesse and effortless poise.
It was precisely this fruit that all of us on the OILS toiled away so tirelessly over the summer to see spring from this competition in the shadow of the winter solstice.
The Expansion
My time on the OILS—and in Osgoode Hall Law School generally—is coming to its end after four years of school, four waves of a global pandemic, two US presidents, two Canadian elections, and six Taylor Swift albums. Nevertheless, it is my hope that the presence and significance of Baby Jessup at Osgoode Hall Law School (and beyond) is only beginning. The OILS plans to run the competition again next January, with the benefit of all of the lessons we learned from this pilot project. But, from my discussions with the executive, now that we have brought the competition above ground, they are aiming for the clouds. This includes inter alia sponsorships from litigation-focused firms, greater involvement from all of Ontario’s law schools in sending participants to Toronto, working with the Jessup alumni network to get a full roster of experienced judges, and building more precise, accessible, and comprehensive preparation materials. And so, beyond telling this tale, I also want to use this article as a call to all those reading—whether you be a student, a Jessup alumni, Professor of Law, good standing member of the bar, or faculty of law administrator—to reach out to OsgoodeILS@gmail.com to learn more about how you can help build on and expand the sturdy foundation the rest of the OILS team and I had the satisfaction of laying down this year.
Barring any further questions, those will be my submissions on the question presented before the Obiter today. Thank you.