I wrote back in January about surviving my first moot (court appearance to re-try a case that has already been decided). A few weeks ago I decided to take a time out from exam studying to do another moot, this time competitively. I am happy to say that my wonderful partner and I won the Lenczner Slaght Advocacy Competition in Ethics and Professionalism. I won’t recount the background because Western Law wrote about it on their website: https://www.law.uwo.ca/News/April_10/ethics_moot.html.

Congratulations to the runner up team as well as the honourable mentions. You were all great competitors and I hope to face off with you again in a future moot.

Thursday afternoon was the first time I stood up in front of a court. This exercise that was a part of my Legal Research, Writing and Advocacy course, although worth relatively little in terms of marks.

I learned a number of things. I actually got nervous (which has not happened to me in public speaking in over six years). In my first 10-20 seconds, I was incredibly jittery and this did not come off well. I also learned that I need to have better control of my facial expressions. It’s bad to look pissed off when a judge asks you a question (even if you are, in fact, pissed off).

The exercise was generally a lot of fun and is something I would certainly do again. There’s a competition (not for marks) coming up in a about a month which I’m looking forward to participating in. This one’s not for marks, so there’s a bit less pressure.

A career in litigation? We shall see…