For the first time ever, the Law Games were held in British Columbia last week and despite the distance, 600 participants from 16 schools gathered for four days of competition and camaraderie.
While host school University of British Columbia fielded a team of nearly 100 students, it was no match for the enthusiasm of the University of Victoria, which took home the coveted Spirit Cup.
“[UVic is] very grateful and ecstatic about winning the Spirit Cup. There were so many deserving teams, so winning genuinely means a lot. With such favourable recognition, it is difficult to imagine a future UVic Law Games party without bed jumping. A big thank you to all those who voted for us,” said UVic captain Samuel Osei.
The University of Western Ontario dominated the sports competition, winning dodgeball, flag football, and ice hockey. The UWO ice hockey team was truly a force to be reckoned with, winning games by margins too embarrassing to print. The University of Alberta was a close second place in the Sports Cup, needing only one more first place finish to beat UWO.
The University of Saskatchewan, fresh off its Spirit Cup win at the 2011 games, won the Fun Games award this year, participating in events such as the trike race — a famous UBC tradition involving riding a child-sized tricycle while being pummelled with water balloons, a polar bear swim in the Pacific Ocean at Wreck Beach, and a scavenger hunt. Special mention goes to UBC, which was hot on the heels of U of S, winning the trike race and video parody competition.
This year’s talent show was certainly memorable, with 10 teams displaying their school’s considerable assets to a full house at Venue Nightclub. Université Laval’s Asterix-themed performance was judged to be the best, narrowly defeating UVic in one of the most controversial moments of the week.
McGill University proved that trans-systemic teaching pays off when it defeated UVic in the moot final, which was judged by UBC’s law faculty and lawyers from Bull Housser & Tupper LLP.
The social events were undoubtedly the highlight of the week with participants experiencing the best nightlife Vancouver has to offer, including the opening ceremonies party at the Commodore Ballroom, the closing ceremonies banquet at the new Vancouver Convention Centre, and a pub crawl touring through historic Gastown.
Laura Hawes is a 3L student at the University of British Columbia and co-chairwoman of the UBC Law Games committee, which would also like to thank all of its sponsors.
