May it please the court: Moot court competitions in Canada

Moot court competitions are more than just practising arguments in robes or saying fancy lines like, "May it please the court." Beyond that, they let Canadian law students explore and debate on complex, relevant legal issues, whether national or international. In moot courts, teams learn to think like real counsel, not just like law students.

Moot court competitions for Canadian law students

Here's a list of some moot court competitions where Canadian law students may want to enter:

• Gale Cup Moot
• Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot
• Laskin Moot Court Competition
• Michel Bastarache Moot Court Competition
• Sopinka Cup Trial Moot
• Wilson Moot
• Jessup International Law Moot
• Commonwealth Law Moot

We'll discuss these moot court competitions in detail below.

To know what happens during a moot court competition, check out this video featuring the finals of the 2025 Osgoode Cup:

Check out our comprehensive list of Canadian law schools to help you plan your law school path before you take on moot court competitions.

Gale Cup Moot

The Gale Cup Moot is an annual bilingual moot court competition between representatives of different Canadian law schools.

This moot court competition usually involves a topic on criminal law, often including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Here, a Supreme Court decision is used, where the moot is an appeal of that decision. For instance, the case to be used for this year's Gale Cup is R. v. I.M., 2025 SCC 23.

As there is a simultaneous interpreter present, law schools may moot either in English or French. Aside from winning prestigious Gale Cup for your law school, this moot court competition offers other awards, including:

• Best Teams Not in Finals (Anglophone and Francophone)
• Dickson Medals for Exceptional Oralist Performance
• Peter Cory Factum Prize
• McLachlin Prize for the Best Female Mooter
• Newton Prize for Civility

This year's 53rd Gale Cup Moot will be held this coming February 27 and 28, 2026 in Toronto. Preliminary moots will be held at the Ontario Court of Justice, while the final moots will be at the Osgoode Hall. The award ceremony is at DoubleTree by Hilton.

Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot

First held at the University of Toronto in 1994, the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot is a moot court competition where issues regarding Aboriginal rights take centre stage. Different Canadian law schools battle it out over a two-day period. The competition is hosted by a different law school every year.

What makes this moot court unique is that:

• it is a consensus-based, non-adversarial moot
• it is conducted in accordance with Aboriginal customs
• no competitive awards are given to the participants

Instead, the goal is to have a peaceful negotiation and consensus-building, with the help of Aboriginal facilitators and an elder. This also helps participating students reinforce their knowledge of the issues at the centre of the moot.

This year's Kawaskimhon (which is Cree for "to speak with knowledge") will be held on March 13 and 14, 2026 at the University of Windsor in Ontario.

Laskin Moot Court Competition

Named after former Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Bora Laskin, the Laskin Moot Court Competition is a bilingual moot court in Canada. It is held annually and mostly deals with a fictional administrative and constitutional law issue.

It is sponsored and managed by Concours Laskin Moot and hosted by a different Canadian law school every year. Being a bilingual moot, simultaneous interpretation is available when requested.

Aside from awards for the winning pairs, schools, oralists, and factums, an award called the Spirit of the Laskin is given at the end of this three-day moot court competition.

In 2026, the Laskin Moot Court Competition will be hosted by Osgoode Hall Law School in February 26 to 28. This year's problem is the fictitious decision of Effené First Nation v. Attorney General of Canada, which centres on fictional amendments to the Indigenous Languages Act.

Michel Bastarache Moot Court Competition

The Michel Bastarache Moot Court Competition is a French-language legal advocacy competition. First held in 2019, this moot court competition was named after Justice Michel Bastarache, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

This moot court is organized annually by the University of Ottawa. Awards such as the Michel-Bastarache Award and the Pierre-Foucher Prize are given to participating teams, aside from the winning pair and best litigants.

Sopinka Cup

The Sopinka Cup is an annual national trial advocacy competition, with bilingual national finals hosted in Ottawa. It is held in honour of the late Supreme Court Justice John Sopinka, who was a long-time fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL). The ACTL sponsors the Sopinka Cup, along with The Advocates' Society.

To choose the four teams that will compete, four regional competitions are held ahead of the Sopinka Cup. These serve as the qualifying competitions:

• Arnup Cup: for law schools in Ontario
• Guy-Guérin Cup: the bilingual competition for the law schools in Québec
• McKelvey Cup: for law schools in Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia)
• Western/McIntyre Cup: for western Canadian law schools (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan)

Unlike other moot court competitions, the Sopinka Cup is structured like a trial. As such, law students must demonstrate their courtroom advocacy skills to win the Sopinka Cup.

Wilson Moot

The Wilson Moot was founded in 1992 and was named after the late Supreme Court Justice Bertha Wilson, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

It is an annual moot court competition that explores legal issues on women and other minorities. The goal of this two-day moot court competition is to promote education in certain legal areas, which may not be covered in other traditional mooting curricula.

The Wilson Moot 2026 will be held on February 20 and 21, 2026 at the Federal Court facilities in Toronto. Aside from the team awards, top oralists receive the Peter W. Hogg Memorial Prize.

Law schools' moot court competitions

Apart from the national and international moot court competitions, each law school holds its own moot courts. These are usually used either:

• as part of the curriculum where students can earn credits (in addition to any credits earned by taking part in a national or international moot court competition)
• to choose who among the law students will be sent to a particular national or international moot

Below are some examples of law schools and their own moot court competitions.

University of Alberta's moot courts

The Faculty of Law of the University of Alberta (U of A) has two internal moot court competitions, which it hosts every year:

• Brimacombe Moot: held every September, this moot is open to 2L and 3L students who want to join a competitive team representing U of A in regional and national moot competitions
• Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin Moot: held during the winter term, this moot pairs 1L students with upper‑year mentors, where top 12 teams participate in a moot court involving a mock case

1L students of U of A participate in these moot courts as part of their Legal Research and Writing program.

University of British Columbia's upper year moots

As for University of British Columbia's Peter A. Allard School of Law, students can earn credits for upper‑year moots, with a limit of 20 credits from clinical and competitive mooting. Certain credits are also given for every moot competition that a student participates in.

For instance, five credits for the Gale Cup Moot Competition, four credits for the Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot, and three credits for the Peter Burns Moot.

International moot court competitions

Canadian law schools also compete in the international arena in the following moot court competitions:

• Jessup International Law Moot: this annual moot court usually touches on current and controversial topics of public international law, argued before the International Court of Justice. Canadian law schools start competing in the White & Case Canadian National Division Qualifying Tournament, which serves as the qualifying competition for the Jessup moot
• Commonwealth Law Moot: held biannually, law students from throughout the Commonwealth compete in the Commonwealth Moot, which also revolves around an issue of public international law. The Gale Cup Moot serves as the qualifying national competition to select students who will represent Canada in the Commonwealth Moot

Have a glimpse of this moot court competition in this video of the White & Case International Rounds World Championship during the 2025 Jessup:

Be inspired by the work of lawyers beyond moot court competitions by reading about the top lawyers and law firms in Canada in our Special Reports page.

Moot court competitions: From moot room to courtroom

Moot court competitions may end with judges' comments and a group photo, but their impact lasts much longer. They help Canadian law students turn nerves into steady advocacy skills.

For many future litigators, moot court competitions are where a career first "takes the stand." They are often the first step toward handling real cases and serving real clients.

Bookmark our Legal Education page for more articles to help law students, updates from Canadian law schools, and more.