WeirFoulds is proud to once again sponsor the Arnup Cup, an annual trial advocacy competition for Ontario schools organized each year by The Advocates’ Society.

Partner Caroline Abela, who has been extensively involved with The Advocates’ Society for several years, and currently serves as a Director, Vice-Chair of the Collegiality, Mentoring & Membership Standing Committee, and a member of the Nominations Standing Committee with the organization, chaired the Arnup Cup for a second year.

The trial competition is presided by Justice Clayton Conlan and a jury. The teams make opening and closing statements, conduct direct examinations and cross-examinations, deal with evidentiary and procedural issues, and address a jury.

First held in 1988, the Arnup Cup has increased in prominence over the years. The Cup is named after the Honourable John D. Arnup, O.C., Q.C., who was a partner at WeirFoulds and known as being one of Canada’s finest litigation counsel before being appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In 1989, Justice Arnup was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to legal education in Ontario, as well as his work for Osgoode Hall Law School.

WeirFoulds has a history of litigation excellence spanning over 160 years since the firm’s inception in 1860. Since then, former members of the firm have been recognized by the legal community with numerous appointments to the judiciary, key regulatory bodies, and various panels and commissions. These include four Treasurers of the Law Society of Ontario, 14 federally appointed judges, eight appointments to the Court of Appeal, multiple Benchers of the Law Society of Ontario, and multiple current and former members who were honoured as Members and Officers of the Order of Canada.

The competition took place this year on February 9^th and 10^th, 2024, with two-person teams from Osgoode, Ottawa, Toronto, Western, Windsor, Toronto Metropolitan University, Lakehead and Queen’s University participating in mock trials presided over by Justice Conlan. Each year, WeirFoulds hosts a reception for the teams, providing an opportunity for the participating law students to network and mingle with each other and lawyers throughout Ontario in between the mock trials.

The winners of the competition will represent Ontario in Canada’s national trial advocacy competition, the Sopinka Cup, on March 15^th and 16^th, 2024.

We congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to another exciting competition in 2025.

Arnup Cup Winner: University of Windsor (Faculty of Law)

Second Place: University of Western Ontario (Western Law)

For more information about the Arnup Cup competition, please visit the relevant page on The Advocates’ Society website.

To learn more about WeirFoulds’ Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group or to contact one of our litigation lawyers, please visit our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group overview page.