Humber Polytechnic Hosts Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition with Historic Results

HLOs:

After a decade-long hiatus, the Paralegal Cup Mooting Competition—co-founded by Humber graduate Fallon Burns—was revived under the leadership of fourth-year Bachelor of Paralegal Studies students Maria Rausch and Dion Desserre. Held on March 29–30, 2025, at Humber’s Lakeshore Campus, the event brought together lawyers and licensed paralegals as judges, including several Humber Paralegal Studies alumni.

This year marked a historic milestone: Humber Polytechnic claimed its first-ever Paralegal Cup victory. The winning team, composed of fourth-year student Kiran Matharu and third-year student Emily Clayton, also earned Distinguished Advocate Awards (ranking second and third, respectively). Finalists Aysha Patel (third year) and Mia Papazian (first year) delivered strong performances, with Aysha securing fourth place and receiving the Distinguished Advocate Award. A third Humber team—Borna Yazdani and Maria Laurenava—advanced as semifinalists.

The competition highlighted the advocacy skills of paralegal students, with alumni judges reinforcing its professional significance. Teams benefited from the coaching of Paige Diebel, a Paralegal Studies graduate and senior paralegal at Aviva Insurance.

Kiran Matharu, recipient of the Errol Sue Professionalism Award, reflected: “This weekend was an absolutely amazing experience! Maria and Dion did an outstanding job, alongside Fallon Burns, in reviving the Paralegal Cup. The event was seamless in organization and inspiring to the future generations of paralegals, opening the door to paralegals as advocates. This is another historic moment for Humber Polytechnic. This is the first time Humber has won the Paralegal Cup. The effort that Paige Diebel put into our mooting teams is truly inspiring and has helped all of us to achieve our goals and continuously improve; she is the heart of the Humber team. It was inspiring to see the other teams improve and express their passion for mooting. The teams persevered, navigating through the intricacies of the case and advocating for the parties with full determination. The Humber Mooting Society has an extremely bright future!"

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