Case Materials and Rules

Please access and download the 2025 Paralegal Cup Competition Guide here

2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition Official Rules

Table of Contents

Mooter Qualification and Registration

1. To qualify for the competition, teams must:
   1. a)  Consist of two students from an accredited Paralegal program attending the same institution;
   2. b)  Be currently enrolled in an accredited Paralegal program recognized by the Law Society of Ontario;
   3. c)  Provide photo identification confirming identity at the time of registration on the first day of the competition;
   4. d)  Provide confirmation of active enrollment at the time of registration on the first day of the competition;
   5. e)  Check-in will close at 9:00 am, those competitors that fail to register before the closing time may not be permitted to compete: and
   6. f)  Competitors must have completed all registration forms and have paid the registration fee prior to check-in.
2. The moot competition and featured venue are open to the public and restrictions are subject to the approval of the Committee.
3. Food and beverages are provided exclusively to the competitors, coaches, judges and sponsors.
4. Each registered participant receives a ticket to attend the informal reception following the first day of the competition.
5. Each institution with registered teams will receive at most two complimentary tickets for team coaches to attend the informal reception following the first day of the competition.
6. Team numbers will be assigned randomly and teams will be notified of their team numbers on the first day of the competition.

Competition Format and Structure

1. The preliminary rounds are held on the first day of the competition. If more than one team does not qualify to compete during the preliminary rounds, the mooting round schedule shall be modified accordingly. Every effort is made to ensure that teams from the same institution do not compete against each other. However, if registered teams do not qualify, teams from the same institutions may compete against each other.
2. When an odd number of teams qualify for the competition, the team without an opponent shall proceed with their submissions and shall nevertheless receive scores from the judges.
3. Participants shall restrict their submissions to the information contained in the provided moot case, factums submitted to the court by counsel during the actual litigation of the moot case, and case law cited in the moot case. They are not permitted to include any other jurisprudence, legislation, or arguments not contained within the moot case, factums, or related case law.a) Please note, however, that competitors will not be permitted to include independent research in their submissions – referencing materials from outside the case can result in a score penalization. The general rule is “one degree of separation” from the moot case.

1. To illustrate, for example, you are permitted to cite paragraphs from Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, 2007 SCC 2 (“Health Services”), a case which is cited extensively in the moot case. Critically, however, you are not then permitted to reference cases cited in Health Services which do not appear in the moot case beyond the extent of the reference in Health Services. This is where the “one-degree” line is drawn. Cases which are cited in the moot case but otherwise fall outside the scope of the “one-degree” rule will not be permitted.

4. Teams shall prepare submissions as counsel for both the Appellant and the Respondent. Each team should expect to make submissions for the Appellant twice and the Respondent twice during the preliminary rounds.
5. The Appellant team may exercise a one (1) minute right of reply if they wish. The right of reply is not an opportunity to expand on your earlier submissions, nor a chance to make new ones. It is specifically meant to address errors of law, fact or gross mischaracterizations raised by the Respondent.
6. Each team member shall make oral submissions during each round. Participants have ten minutes for their individual submissions. Only one team member will address the bench at a time.

7. You must finish at the end of 10 minutes (you will be given time signals) unless you ask for and are granted extra time to finish up. All time indulgences are at the sole discretion of the judges, and must be requested by counsel. If extra time is granted, use this time to conclude quickly; do not begin another argument. If your time expires, stop making submissions. Do not wait until the judges intervene.
8. Verbal communication should not take place between teammates while their friends are speaking. When mooters make submissions, they are not permitted to discuss a judge’s question with their teammate. Any overly distracting or inappropriate conduct on the part of a participant during the round may impact that individual’s score under theProfessionalism category.

a) Serious and ongoing inappropriate conduct could lead to disqualification and early termination of the round. Scoring and the determination of the appropriateness of a competitor’s or a judge’s conduct are made at the discretion of the relevant presiding judge(s).

9. Judges will deliberate while the competing teams and any spectators wait outside of the moot room. The remaining time allows the judges to provide constructive feedback to the competitors. Judges shall not indicate who won the round. No numerical scores shall be revealed after individual rounds.

Moot Court: Final Mooting Rounds

1. If 12 or fewer teams register for the competition, the competition includes only the semi-final and final rounds.
2. If more than 12 teams register for the competition, the competition includes quarterfinal, semi-final and final rounds.
3. The teams proceeding to the day two rounds are determined based on the highest team scores using the competition scoring criteria and are announced at the conclusion of the informal reception.
4. Upon the announcement of those advancing to day two, the teams proceeding will determine whether they are representing the Appellant or Respondent in the next round. The higher-ranking team has the first choice of Appellant or Respondent. If the higher-ranking team is not present, they forfeit their election, and by default, their opposing team chooses.
5. Following the quarterfinals (if applicable), teams are assigned to make submissions for the opposite side of the case from their previous round’s submissions. A coin toss is used to determine assignments where both teams would be assigned to the same side of the case. The team with the higher combined scores from the preliminary rounds calls the coin toss.

6. The winning teams, determined by the higher team score from the quarterfinals (if applicable), proceed to the semi-final rounds. The winning teams, determined by the higher team scores from the semi-final rounds, proceed to the final round.
7. The team proceeding to the final round with the higher team score from the preliminary rounds may choose to represent the Appellant or Respondent.
8. The winners of the final round will be the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition champions.
9. The 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition speaker award will be determined by combining the top individual oral advocacy scores from the four preliminary rounds.
10. The 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition professionalism award is determined by calculating the top individual professionalism score as combined from the four preliminary rounds.

Moot Court: Time Management

1. Each mooting round is one hour and ten minutes (70). No more than twenty-five (25) minutes are reserved for Appellant submissions, and no more than twenty-five (25) minutes are reserved for Respondent submissions. Following a moot round, the judges may deliberate for no more than ten (10) minutes. The remaining ten (10) minutes are to be used for the judges to provide feedback to the competitors. This may be adjusted if the presentation of submissions is completed earlier than the 50 minutes allotted to the hearing submissions. The timekeepers ensure that the mooting rounds adhere to the time limits.

2. If a scheduled team does not arrive at the moot courtroom on time, the timekeeper for that round shall make note of the late arrival. The judge(s) may consider this factor when assigning scores.
3. Timekeepers shall be responsible for timing and ensuring that each round is completed and feedback is given within the allotted time.

5

Judging

1. Judges are selected from applications by the 2025 Committee and are professional members of the judiciary from Canada, lawyers licensed by a Canadian law society, paralegals licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, professors teaching law courses at a Canadian college or university, Canadian law students or other appropriate legal professionals from Canada as determined by the Committee.

2. Judges are not paid, but the Committee may convey standardized gifts of appreciation to all of the judges involved in the competition.
3. The preliminary rounds are adjudicated by at most three judges. If more judges sit on the bench, the highest three scores will be used for scoring purposes.
4. Panels consisting of three judges preside over the quarterfinals (if applicable) and semi-finals. The panels may not consist of more than one judge currently affiliated with the finalist’s school.
5. In any round where two or more judges are in conflict of interest with any member of the competitor team, only one of the judges in conflict may adjudicate that mooting round. If there is a conflict, the timekeeper will either ask one of the judges to refrain from adjudicating the mooting round or the judge will be replaced with another available judge.
6. A five-judge panel presides over the final round and shall not have more than two judges currently affiliated with the finalist post-secondary institutions.
7. During the preliminary rounds, judges score each individual speaker using the marking sheet provided by the Committee based on: argument, professionalism, and oral advocacy scores.
8. The Committee provides judges with general instructions and all required materials, including score sheets, before the competition. Judges are given a brief training session prior to the commencement of the preliminary rounds.
9. The Committee and its delegate timekeepers are responsible for the maintenance and disclosure of the competition’s Official Rules to participants and judges and for monitoring general adherence to the Official Rules.

6

Fair and Collegial Conduct

1. Participants shall not deliberately attempt to influence the results of a competition round in any way other than through fair competition during the round itself. Any attempts to interfere with an opposing team may lead to forfeiture of the round at the discretion of the presiding judge(s) and/or disqualification from the tournament at the discretion of the Committee and the judges involved.

2. Competitor teams shall not conduct practice rounds before persons who are judges for the current year’s Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition. Coaches and team members must ensure that their advisors are not judges in the current year’s Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition. Failure to comply with this rule may result in disqualification from the Competition.
3. All participants of the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition shall conduct themselves in a manner consistent with general and reasonable ideas of fairness, integrity and collegiality at all times. The Committee, at its discretion, may remove any participants who disrupt the event in contravention of this rule without providing a refund of registration fees.
4. No person or persons other than the team members may participate in the preparation or presentation of any aspect of the submissions. It is permissible for team coaches, faculty and others, in general terms, to discuss the identified issues of the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition problem and to provide instruction to develop oral advocacy on the proper issues. Legal research skills are best developed by the students operating and searching the databases themselves. This outside assistance can guide the competitors but cannot script their submissions. In other words, coaches are not to write submissions for students to memorize.
5. Each competitor team in the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition is assigned a team number at random by the Committee. This number must be used at all times during the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition. The post-secondary institution name shall not appear on any official documents and shall not be used to identify a team or team member in any way. Competitors may introduce themselves to the Bench during their oral submissions. However, in an effort to limit potential biases, the Committee requests that competitors refrain from mentioning their post-secondary institution or the town or city they reside in.

General Provisions

6. Any question that arises during the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition concerning the interpretation or enforcement of these Official Rules is decided by a majority decision of the Committee. These decisions are referred to as Official Decisions. Official Decisions are binding and final. Administrative assistants, judges, timekeepers, nor any other person are not responsible for the interpretation of the Official Rules. If an interpretation is required during a round, the rounder timer shall stop. Then, the timekeeper will call the Committee and have a brief discussion. Upon communication of the clarification, the mooter will return to the podium. The timekeeper must adjust the clock, giving the mooter 30 more seconds so the mooter can return to the room and then spend the remainder of their time presenting their submissions.
7. All Official Instructions provided by the Committee in the Case Materials are a component of the Official Rules for the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition and are enforceable as part of the Official Rules.
8. These rules are subject to change at any time, with or without notice, by the Committee. The Official Rules are intended to describe the general procedure of the 2025 Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition and set a standard to which all participants shall adhere. The Committee may, at its sole discretion, make such exceptions as required to the Official Rules to ensure that the competition proceeds successfully. In any situation where an unexpected set of circumstances leads to uncertainty about how an aspect of the competition should proceed, the Committee makes the final decision.