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Manitoba Court of Appeal Plays to a Full House

December 15th, 2008
Filed under: Law

History was made at the University of Manitoba on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 when the Manitoba Court of Appeal relocated to Robson Hall to hear an appeal in the case of Bell Mobility Inc. v. MTS Allstream Inc. This was a first for the Manitoba Court of Appeal and only the second time in Canadian legal history that a real Court of Appeal case has been heard at a law school. 

Professors Fainstein and Hilder’s Legal Methods first year advocacy course incorporated the Bell Mobility Inc v MTS Allstream Inc case with in class discussions on the issues raised in advance of the appeal. Thanks goes to Robson Hall’s faculty who uniformly supported the event and canceled their first year classes for the day to let the students attend the entire hearing. As a regular sitting of the Court, the appeal was open to the general public, so faculty, upper year students and administrative staff joined the first year students to take advantage of this rare opportunity. It was a packed house for the Court!
The court panel was made up of Chief Justice Richard Scott, Madam Justice Freda Steel and Madam Justice Barbara Hamilton. 

Counsel for the Appellant, Bell Mobility Inc., were Peter J. Lukasiewicz of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Ontario and Dave G. Hill and Derek M. Olson of Hill Dewar Vincent, Manitoba.

Counsel for the Respondent, MTS Allstream Inc were Jim G. Edmond , E.W. (Bill) Olson Q.C. and Ross McFadyen from Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, Manitoba.

After the hearing ended, Chief Justice Scott took a few minutes to speak to the audience which he acknowledged was a bit larger than they were used to having at the Court of Appeal! He explained the next steps the judges would take following the hearing. He thanked counsel and the clients for their support and cooperation and the court adjourned.

All counsel had agreed that they would stay after the hearing to share their thoughts on appellate advocacy. The students were not disappointed as the lawyers offered their top tips based on their extensive advocacy experience and then fielded questions from the audience.

A program of this magnitude takes a lot of planning and the law school committee of Dean Chris Axworthy, Professor Lisa Fainstein and Professor Vivian Hilder and the court committee of Chief Justice Richard Scott, Madam Justice Freda Steel and Court research counsel, Melanie Bueckert worked over September and October to make it happen.

The Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba has always enjoyed a special relationship with the bar and bench and this hearing could not have taken place without the initiative of the Court of Appeal and the generous co-operation of all counsel and clients. Based on the positive feedback from the clients, the lawyers, the judges and the students, the faculty hopes that this will not be the last time that the Court of Appeal sits at Robson Hall.

Posted in:  Law