Appellate Mooting

3 cr · Undergraduate

Appellate mooting simulates advocacy before an appellate court, such as a provincial Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada. This course introduces students to the practice of appellate advocacy through participation in simulated appeal hearings in which students act as counsel for the appellant and respondent, preparing written facta and presenting oral arguments before a panel that may include faculty members, practitioners, and judges. Unlike trial advocacy, which focuses on examining witnesses and establishing facts, appellate mooting concerns questions of law arising from a lower court’s decision, and each Moot focusses on a different area of law so that students learn something different each time they enrol in a Mooting course. Through this course, students develop advanced legal reasoning, written and oral advocacy, public speaking, and extemporaneous debate skills, while building professional connections with members of the legal community across Canada. Because each Appellate Moot covers a different facet of law, this course may be taken once in second year and once in third year as different subtitles. Evaluation is on a pass/fail basis.