Left to right seated: Co-counsel Jasmine Yakabowich (runner-up) and Priya Dhillon (winner) Left to right standing: Trial “witnesses” Eric Matthews and Brannen McKenzie-Lefurgey (3Ls).
Moot News: 2025 Solomon Greenberg Trial Moot kicks off law school competition season
Winners to represent Manitoba at MacIntyre Moot in February, 2026
Editor’s note: Third-year law student Priya Kaur Dhillon had previously agreed to write a story about the Solomon Greenberg moot competition and then proceeded to win it! Congratulations, Priya, and many thanks for writing the story as well.
The first moot of the 2025 – 2026 season was the renowned Solomon Greenberg trial moot competition. This year, the competition took place on November 22, 2025, at the Winnipeg Law Courts. Winner Priya Kaur Dhillon (3L) and runner-up Jasmine Yakabowich (3L) will go on to represent Manitoba at the MacIntyre (Western Canada) Cup to be hosted at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, from February 13-15, 2026.
Eight law students enrolled in the mandatory Introduction to Advocacy course in their second year are then selected to participate in the Solomon during their third and final year of law school. These students pair up and are divided into Crown and Defence teams, with their own set of lawyers to coach them, along with two volunteer law students as witnesses per team. This year’s teams were as follows:
Trial # 1
Crown Team 1: Derek Zaporzan & Nicole Dohler
Witnesses: April Li & Brittany Windsor-Brown
Coaches: Dayna Queau-Guzzi & Adam Gingera [BA/10; JD/16]
Defence Team 1: Kaitlyn Clarke & Brett Yager
Witnesses: Emily Trottier & Gilad Stitz
Coaches: Carley Mahoney [JD/16] & Caleigh Glawson [JD/19]
Trial #2
Crown Team 1: Alexander Kraus & Esther Adegbesan
Witnesses: Riley O’Hara & Maria Pepelassis
Coaches: Amy Wood, Melissa Hazelton [LLB/10], Sara Minshull
Defence Team 2: Jasmine Yakabowich & Priya Dhillon
Witnesses: Eric Matthews & Brannen McKenzie-Lefurgey
Coaches: Evan Roitenberg [LLB/91] & Laura Robinson [LLB/09]
Each group conducts a mock criminal trial where the accused is to be tried by judge and jury. Competitors argue to a jury that is composed of the witnesses, judges and coaches. The trials are assessed by volunteer provincial court judges. This year’s assessors include Judge Tim Killeen (presiding), Retired Judge Raymond Wyant, Judge Kusham Sharma and Judge David Ireland. Before the Faculty of Law’s Director of Clinics, Elizabeth McCandless [LLB/07; LLM/20] announced the winners on behalf of the judges, the Honourable Judge Wyant made note that, every year choosing a winner is difficult and this year was no exception.
The Solomon’s fierce competition simply wouldn’t be the same without the volunteer coaches whose dedication shapes the students’ success. The winners of this year’s competition, attribute this accomplishment to the time and energy their coaches dedicated to helping them develop their advocacy skills.
Robson Hall’s Solomon Greenberg trial moot competition is a longstanding tradition, reaching back over 60 years at the University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law. Named in honour of a Winnipeg lawyer who was considered one of the best criminal defence lawyers in Western Canada, the moot honours the late Solomon Greenberg. Well-respected by both his clients and colleagues, he was known as a courtroom legend in his own time. Learn more about Greenberg’s life on page 133 of Norm Larsen’s book Notable People from Manitoba’s Legal History.