Finalists included Cassandra Tarrataca and Ryan Venables, Adam Somogyi and Mike Lickver, Kathryn Shani and Brittany Taylor and Ronald Fichter and Katie Sokol.

Omar Ha-Redeye played a client in the competition, which he won in 2007.

On Nov. 19, he played a witness for the finals in the Cherniak Cup.  Chief Justice Helen A. Rady of the Superior Court of Justice in n judged the competition, and mentioned to Omar during the reception that followed that based on his performance he should consider a career in acting.  Quite often though there is not much of a difference between a lawyer and an actor when they are advocating before the court.

On Nov. 20, he was a client for the BLG Client Counseling Competition, a role he played because he won the competition last year.  As a distraught client he broke down and cried three times for the finalists.  The last time he actually produced real tears.  The competition was won by Daliana Coban and Pamela Vlasic, who will represent UWO at the ABA Regional Competition in Feb. 2009.

Competition director Prof. Erika Chamberlain said,

This is a highly important practical skill – regardless of practice area. Lawyers must be able to interact with clients and make them feel confident that the lawyer will meet their needs.

One of the BLG lawyers that observed this also said later in the evening, with no foreknowledge of Rady J.’s statement the night before, that acting might be a promising option.

Could law school be the new prep school for actors?

The University of Western Ontario describes the event,

In mid-September, interested students sign up (in teams of two) to participate in the competition. Teams are provided with a negotiation problem and a detailed outline of their fictitious clients’ interests, which they are able to study for a limited period prior to Preliminary Rounds. At the Preliminary Rounds, students negotiate with opposing teams while being observed by lawyers from Torys LLP, who assess the students’ negotiation strategies. The goal of these negotiation is to advance client interests while achieving outcomes that are acceptable to opposing counsel. The negotiations are largely “free form”, with very few rules governing student conduct.

Winners of the competition proceed to represent UWO at the ABA Negotiations Competition.

Omar Ha-Redeye competed this year with Amelia Phillips-Lewis.  He partnered with Amelia last year to win the Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Client Counselling Competition, and represented the school at the ABA Client Counseling Competition.