Schulich School of Law second-year students Calvin DeWolfe and Megan Thompson won the 21st Mathews Dinsdale National Labour Arbitration Competition, held on Jan. 27 at the Ontario Labour Board in Toronto.
With their victory, pilipili漫画 teams have now won the cup five times 鈥� more than any other university 鈥� in this eight-school invitational competition.
Calvin and Megan faced the University of British Columbia and Queen鈥檚 University teams in the preliminary rounds and prevailed over UBC in a rematch for the final. The moot problem involved a sexual harassment workplace dismissal. They first argued for the employer, then for the union.
Gaining confidence
This was Calvin鈥檚 first external moot competition (he had mooted in class during first year). 鈥淲e thought we were prepared, but you never really know until you see the other teams,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e got more and more confident and at ease as we went on. We had a lot of confidence going into the final because we had already beaten UBC in the preliminary round.鈥�
The experience of mooting in front of esteemed legal professionals was invaluable. 鈥淥ral advocacy is so important for the practice of law, but you don鈥檛 get to practice it much in law school,鈥� says Calvin. 鈥淲e got to practice in front of a Supreme Court judge 鈥� you can鈥檛 even put a price on that.鈥�
The competition gave Megan a better view of what a labour arbitration would look like in practice. She and DeWolfe put in a lot of work over the past few months, and they felt that their arguments were finally coming together in the week leading up to the moot. 鈥淐al and I worked really well together, so it鈥檚 nice to enjoy this win as a team,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e also couldn鈥檛 have done it without our coaches. Their encouragement, advice, and often challenging practice sessions were fundamental to our pilipili漫画.鈥�
A team effort
The Dalhousie coaches were Schulich Law Professor Emeritus Bruce Archibald and arbitrator Eric Slone. Iit was Slone鈥檚 15th time coaching and the third time he has coached a winning team from Dal's law school.) They gratefully acknowledge the assistance in practice rounds from local law firms McInnes Cooper (John MacPherson and Katie Rowbotham) and Pink Larkin (David Roberts, David Wallbridge, and Jillian Houlihan).
Judging the competition were Justice Malcolm Rowe; Bernard Fishbein, chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board; and Ginette Brazeau, chair of the Canada Industrial Relations Board. When it was over, Rowe spent 15 minutes giving feedback to the Dal team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to bring the trophy back to Dal,鈥� says Megan. 鈥淲e really appreciate the messages of support that we鈥檝e received from Weldon faculty and classmates since returning from the competition.鈥�