Background: what is a moot trial?
In moot competitions, teams of students prepare written submissions on a legal point and then argue their case in front of a panel of judges. Essentially, it is a simulated trial to help create the feeling of being in the courtroom. Normally, these simulations are held in real courtrooms, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted that.
Why the metaverse?
Society is going to be impacted by this technology as more people, businesses, etc. move online. Crime will occur in the metaverse. Examples can include intellectual property theft to situations of workplace safety, where there could be workplace harassment during a virtual meeting. Understanding the metaverse and being a part of it is a technical competence that is going to be required for future lawyers.
uOttawa Tech Fellows: driving the metaverse initiative
Ritesh Kotak, a third-year Juris Doctor student, is one of the drivers behind the Faculty's push to digitalize academic operations at the Common Law Section. Kotak, alongside Tech Fellows Ayushi Dave and Ryan Mosoff, recently created an award-winning online platform to help small businesses combat cyber breaches.
"This has been about six months in the making and includes everything you can imagine from customizing a courtroom to dealing with developers and programmers, to acquiring the hardware, doing training, and getting students excited. The metaverse is here to stay so, from an educational perspective and a judicial perspective, there's a lot of merit to using it."
