RSS Feed2011 Annual Diversity Moot – Toronto
The annual Koskie Minsky Diversity Moot will be held in Toronto on Feb. 25-26, 2011.
Most law students have at least some interest in human rights and diversity, but rarely get to participate in a competition focusing specifically on these issues before a panel specializing in the area.
The moot is held every year at the Black Law Students Association of Canada (BLSAC) conference, and draws on competitors from across the country. This year the conference will be held in Toronto. The winner of the moot is awarded the Patricia DeGuire Diversity Moot Cup.
The registration forms, which can be found here, need to be in by December 20, 2010.
National Listserv for Social Justice Law Students
Are you a progressive law student in Canada? Join the Justice League!
Justice League-Canada is a nationwide listserv for progressive law students, articling students, and new calls. Its purpose is to create a national grassroots network, in which we can foster a supportive community of like-minded peers. One anticipated outcome of this is that by sharing resources and energy, we can do sustained cross-national work in our capacities as law students, advocates, and lawyers. Additionally, this space can be used to highlight job opportunities outside the usual big firm market, as well as to hone academic interests and assist local community organisations and campaigns.
If you’d like to join, please email justiceleaguecanada@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.
We’re also looking for help with French translation, so apologies for how heavily Anglo this callout currently is, but do email us/join the group if you can assist with addressing that bias.
UWO Law Welcomes AIDWYC @ Western
AIDWYC. Does that mean anything to you?
I, Ryan Venables, am very please to announce that thanks to Jonathan Thoburn and Lisa Lutwak, a couple of very keen and persistent (that’s a good thing) 1L law students, that UWO law students are now going to have the opportunity to be reviewing cases in association with AIDWYC.
I think this is a perfect time to bring this story forward considering the recent news of the acquittal of Ivan Henry, who spent 26 years in a B.C. prison for a series of sexual assaults that he did not commit.
Don’t know AIDWYC? Well, keep reading, and soon you will. Here’s how this great partnership has come to be.
As the President for the Criminal Law Student’s Association this year, I was contacted by Jonathan, an incoming 1L, who was eager in starting up AIDWYC under the umbrella of the CLSA. He had already contacted the administration and was given the green light and it was suggested to him that while in its infancy, that AIDWYC @ Western be under the umbrella of the CLSA.
Since I had never heard of AIDWYC I had to do some digging. Here is what I found out. From the AIDWYC Website:
*****
AIDWYC is a non-profit organization that has developed a strong reputation as an advocate for individuals who have been wrongly convicted.
AIDWYC’s primary mandate is to review and support claims of innocence in homicide cases.
However, because individual exonerations do not eliminate the conditions which foster these miscarriages of justice, AIDWYC is also dedicated to addressing the causes of wrongful conviction by:
- Making representations to governments on reforms to the legal system
- Raising public awareness about miscarriages of justice
- Participating in public inquiries related to wrongful convictions
- Intervening in legal cases which seek to rectify miscarriages of justice
There is no system in place at present in Canada for an independent review of claims of wrongful conviction. AIDWYC fills this gap, attracting some of the top legal experts in Ontario to identify these cases and, where warranted, prepare an application for ministerial review to the Criminal Conviction Review Group of the Federal Department of Justice, known as a Criminal Code Section 696.1 application.
AIDWYC’s office is located in Toronto and much of our work is done in Ontario. However, we have dedicated volunteers throughout Canada and in the United States. AIDWYC welcomes applications from across the country. AIDWYC is currently reviewing over sixty claims of innocence and actively pursuing more than 40 cases.
All Canadian citizens stand to benefit from AIDWYC’s efforts to free those who have been wrongly convicted and to reform the justice system wrongfutem of justice, but everyduce or prevent wrongful convictions in the future. Canada has an excellent sysand safeguard its integrity. Wrongful convictions are not easily corrected. The resistance to AIDWYC’s efforts is formidable and the correction of miscarriages of justice is always hard-won.
*****
Successes? Robert Baltovich; James Drisk; Anthony Hanemaayer; Clayton Johnson; David Milgaard; Guy Paul Morin; William Mullins-Johnson; Gregory Parsons; Romeo Phillion; Sherry Sherrett-Robinson; Thomas Sophonow; Steven Truscott; Kyle Unger; Erin Walsh.
Fast forward to today. AIDWYC @ Western is in the final stages of picking volunteers who will be assigned cases, reviewing them, and working hard to have the wrongfully convicted freed. It is hoped that as this project grows it will be able to come out from underneath the support of the CLSA and to form a group at Western Law akin to Pro Bono Student’s Canada.
Not only does this give fledgling lawyers a great way to get involved with a great cause, it will also give them practical experience that law student’s seem to lack coming out of school.
I personally look forward to seeing this great opportunity for students grow here at Western.
So We’re Still Undergrads?
Undergrad degree, check. LSAT, check. Fourteen thousand three hundred and twenty-six dollar tuition, check. Still considered an undergraduate, check. WHAT??!! Still considered an undergrad?
Welcome to The University of Western Ontario, where law, dental, medical, and business students in professional programs are all lumped in with undergraduate students. Knowing where we stand is easy part, finding out why and how to change it becomes much like a Tom & Jerry (wow did I just date myself?) cartoon of pointing fingers.
This article has been brewing (or perhaps festering) in my brain since the first week of my 1L year. Never before had I needed a parking pass during my undergrad days of the 90’s, however, entering school as a “mature” student, I now have a car. I went and purchased my parking pass only to find out that my tuition, nearly three times the undergrad rate, got me exactly nothing.
I attempted to fill out my parking pass, but stopped when it asked if I was an undergrad or graduate student. Hmm, no professional student designation? Figuring that I am in law school, I checked “graduate.” When I handed my form in I was met with a lovely lady who politely handed my application back and told me that law students are considered undergrads. As such I would have to fight to obtain a parking position in Springett.
“Don’t worry we’re adding a bunch of spots” I was told. So I carried on my merry way, drove to classes the next day, circled the parking lot like a buzzard, only to realize that ALL of the added spots were taken as well. I was late for class that day as I had a choice of parking behind Althouse (Teacher’s College) or at TD Waterhouse Stadium. I choice Althouse.
I asked around and never really received a satisfactory answer last year, and I resolved my parking situation like many law student’s do. But I’ll leave that out of print.
Fast forward to this year. I gave it another try, went and purchased my parking pass and asked again why we are considered undergraduates. The same lovely lady said “that’s the way it’s always been.” Hmm, quite unacceptable.
I said that most of my classes start at 2 o’clock, and she looked at me with a sorry face and said the undergrad lot is usually full by noon.
Now as I write this, we just finished our third week of class, and while the undergrad lot at Springett is full by noon, I would estimate there are AT LEAST 100 vacant spots in the Graduate/Faculty lot on ANY given day.
So again, why are we considered undergraduates? I decided to put my old detective hat on and hit the pavement to find out.
However, I’ve come up with another question in the meantime. Not only do we have a parking disadvantage, but also we have a health plan disadvantage.
If anybody has compared our undergraduate health plan to the graduate health plan, you will note that they have benefits for dental and vision. Two benefits that the undergraduate plan does not accommodate for.
While this may not be an issue to some, it is an issue for me. A quick insurance lesson: Many plans that your parents have provide coverage to you if you are in school fulltime and under 25. For student’s like me, that leaves no dental or vision coverage, both of which I would take advantage of.
For now, I will just role this secondary issue into with the first
As I set out to answer these questions my first stop USC office. I was met with “I don’t know, go and talk to the people at Info Source.”
Down the stairs I went, waited in line, and spoke with an employee who said they do not make the decisions go to the Registrar’s office, “they’re the ones who classify the students.”
Down the hall and into the nice shiny new Student Services building I proceeded.
Here, there was a compilation of three employees, who provided equally weak answers:
- “You are not considered a graduate because your program is an undergraduate degree.” Perhaps with law (but is that not why we just changed to J.D.? Again another article for another day), but not to so with medicine and dental.
- “The University Senate made that decision, go talk to them.” Which was probably the best answer out of the four.
- “Go and speak with the Society of Graduate Student’s to see if they will make an exception to let you in.” Riiiight, like that will happen.
- And the best, “because that’s what other universities classify law students as.” Oh, so we’re just followers now. Is that what higher education has amounted to? Herd mentality?
In the end, I still do not know why professional schools within The University of Western Ontario are considered undergraduates, and equally it does not sit well with me.
I raise this question, not because I think law students (or any professional school) are better than undergraduates. But if the answers above are any indication, how can you justify charging almost 15 000 per year in tuition when university officials see this program as an undergraduate program?
As a strike vote looms between faculty and the university, I can surely guarantee the UWO Faculty Association (UWOFA) will not accept such arguments as “the Provincial government said no raises this year, so no raises,” as a bargaining position in the upcoming contract negotiations, so why should we?
Three things to know if you are applying to law school
It’s mid-October. I’m halfway through the semester, and a quarter of the way through first-year hell.
One of my classmates has taken the liberty of describing what these first six weeks at McGill law have been like. I would have written something similar, but I lack the time management skills and energy that my classmate possesses. And so, with her permission, I have recopied her note from Facebook and pasted it below.
N.B.: To my friends and family — if you find that when you phone me I sometimes sound tired, busy and unenthusiastic, this is why:
Three things to know if you are applying to law school
I’ve noticed that there have been quite a few people I know whose statuses recently read something about law school applications and/or LSATs. Some of you may have perhaps contacted me asking about law school. Some of you may have simply attempted to contact me to keep in touch and I haven’t yet responded.
There’s probably a couple things you should be aware of. I’ll be brief. My opinions now may perhaps change soon enough and probably differ from experienced upper years. But this is what I see so far:
1) It’s hard.
People who got into law school told me it was hard. Yeah, I didn’t believe them. So I’m telling you it’s hard. I suppose it’s out of sheer idiocy that by writing that, I’d hope you’d believe me.
Now why is it hard? There’s a lot of readings. Generally, in undergrad, I made it through generally not reading stuff timely. I’ve only recently just fallen behind in readings in law – but the consequences are much higher than in business school. Following along in class really does not work well. You’re not talking about what was the content of the readings but you’re applying it and creating new hypotheticals. You’re comparing legal scholars’ points of view. You’re comparing cases that have opposing judgments with seemingly similar facts. Not reading timely makes this nearly impossible.
2) You’re on your own
This won’t make sense to you if you didn’t do a group-based undergrad like business. There’s no group work. Currently, it seems like it’s you versus the above-mentioned hundreds of pages of readings (note: I’ve probably read two semesters worth of reading in the past month, I’m not exaggerating). Some people form study groups; others don’t. Studying individually has benefits in that your mark doesn’t depend on someone else, but there’s the disadvantage of having only your point of view on a difficult subject.
Students generally seem to now disappear at lunch to bunker down in the library. In some cases, it seems to me that this takes away from a sense of community. You’ll probably pass people in the halls that you somehow have half your classes with but have not said a word to in a week.
3) Stress is in the air
There seems to be a lot of similarities to the LSAT and law school. If you’ve done the LSAT, you’ll remember the amount of anxiety in washroom lines at the break. Nervous people chattering, attempting to compare answers or find out which section was experimental.
From what I’ve heard of upper years, this stress anxiety atmosphere is characteristic of first year law school. Apparently it gets better in upper years. But you can really see it in people’s faces that we’re all getting a little nervous somehow, sometimes. Part of it is a common fear that all our efforts currently are useless and we’re spinning our wheels into the mud.
Notably, we haven’t gotten to the point of Scott Turow’s fragility in the opening pages of One L:
“By Friday my nerves will be so brittle from sleeplessness and pressure and intellectual fatigue that I will not be certain I can make it through the day […] I am distracted at most times and have difficulty keeping up a conversation, even with my wife. At random instants, I am likely to be stricken with acute feelings of panic, depression, indefinite need, and the pep talks and irony I practice on myself only seem to make it worse.
“I am a law student in my first year […] and there are many moments when I am simply a mess.”
It certainly does not seem too far off from the possible truth. Let’s see how we’ll be in late November.
My two cents (since that’s all I can afford right now): Add to this post to the new words I’ve learnt (“scintillated,” “interstitially,” “res judicata,” “res nullius,” “stare decisis,” et al) and constantly comparing common law and civil law (two legal systems + two languages = twice the mental work and a headache), and there you have it — my first few weeks at McGill law. It’s unlike anything I have ever experienced academically. You will begin to question your intelligence and everything you know to be true (like justice, the state, and other airy-fairy notions). I still don’t know what I am doing, or how I should be reading this stuff…
Strangely enough, I love it!
Law School State of Mind
Lyrics:
Yeah Im in that Law School
Learning in the Lawbrary
Right next to my starbucks
Ill be legal forever
Im a new Learned Man
Learning law from Learned Hand
Friendly and Cardoza, SCOTUS Opinions pack it in
I used to cop w/ glannon,
Nutshells and Q&A
Civ Pro Bible told me
what he gonna say
to the study carousel
On top the Underwood
Catch my on that westlaw working on my 1L brief
Clicking yellow flags
Gotta Sheperdize this
Thats how Dedman Roll
2nd best in Texas
Me Im in that SMU
Home of that W
Now I live on Law review
Soon Ill be pimping doc review
Shout out to tha big laws
With a partner memo due
Sitting latenight
Cleaning staff givin; high-5s
BigLaw I be topped out
I Could write a winning brief
Tell from my attitude that Im most
definitely in
Law School
Legal Jungle where law is made from
Is this what you wanna do?
To go to Law School
Reading opinions is all youll do
Highlights in your case books
Let hear it for law school, law school law school
Call me Socrates cuz I be about the same
rock his method so hard Im Socratic Method man
Put on my ghostface, but I aint in Wu Tang
But I got Wu Gang do my study group
Welcome to the top ten
Learning marshal Madison
Expanses of the commerce clause
And jurisdiction
District court appellate court supreme court remand it back
Third branch of govt going to check and balance that
Bell curve grade is there for the taking
Top tens a pity 9/10 wont make it
Me I gotta deans list and OCI made
Interviewing with you, Im expecting to get paid
140- K is low
not enough hardly,
You want to defer me, Thank you but sorry
Im a hot commodity
Long live this law student yo
Im from that grad school you know as
[chorus]
The bell curve in Binding
Yall are finding
You need to change expectations quick
O-C-I is
mostly Non Interviewees
Who only studied casually, gradually became the bottom third
Somebodys gotta get the C
Left out of the interview
Now youre stuck in debt
And job security aint set and employments not a sure bet
Job market looks grim Gotta pity them
students w/ bad grades city jobs are filled with them
College took a grad trip, and now her debt is busting out
But at this point, might as well just ride it out
Stafford Loans are your God when your working
Cant afford not work life starts when a Bar ends
Came into this school, now cocky as you could be
Big partner job with 2 commas in the salary
LSAT gotcha tricked but you got tricked on the final
Shouldnt have gone to sleep should have slipped you an adderal
Law School
Legal Jungle where law is made from
Is this what you wanna do?
Reading opinions is all youll do
Highlights in your case books
Let hear it for law school, law school law school
No hands in the air cuz Im not a gunner
Dont talk but gotta job for the summer
Get paid, wined and dined while Im there
Putcha highlighter in the air, everybody say yeaaahh
Come on come
T I M E – the treasure that will measure…
If there is one word that distinguishes a simple undergraduate degree from a law degree, then that word is TIME.
As a newly minted law student, never before has time appeared so essential, so vital, and so treasured. The extra second or two of sleep after a long night of dense reading can seem like an eternity in the comfort of one’s bed.
In the classroom setting, if one loses focus for just a single second or just between the “tick” and the “tock,” then you may miss the ratio of an important case or fail to comprehend the professor’s explanation of a key theory. The great coefficient of human efforts does not ignore law students or legal professionals.
Looking ahead, time may become our friend or foe, as we write down how we spent our billable hour. In fact, our worth may one day be appraised by these “billable hours.” Whether one is working, listening, or studying, time always seems to transform into the one treasure that will measure who we are and what we will become.
For those law students vexed with their skilled procrastination tendencies (practice truly does make perfect) and who would like to turn a new page in their lives, then seek out and learn how to wrestle with time, so you can pin it to your wall (literally and figuratively). For those individuals still procrastinating after reading the previous sentence or who are genuinely interested in learning about the real oxygen of a law student’s life, this video will certainly be useful:
OCI Fever
I decided to write a note because there is a lot of tension going around Macdonald Hall and elsewhere. Apparently OCI fever is rampant and has taken many victims. My purpose in writing this is fourfold: I want to congratulate people; encourage others; express some concern; and finally, I want to challenge everyone with a few thoughts. This was originally just going to be a facebook note, so bear with me.
1. Amazing
If you have gotten emails about OCI interviews, that is great! I am really happy for you. You’ve worked hard and the work is now paying off. You should be proud of yourself and you should be happy. But remember, your peers are also bright, hard-working students and they will end up being your colleagues. Treat them with respect and keep in mind that because a firm wants to interview you does not mean you are inherently better than anyone else. I’m not saying that to take away from your accomplishment, just a reminder to stay humble (not an easy task, I know from experience). Life has a way of keeping us humble when we start to think too much of ourselves. We’ve heard about more than one student that had 17 interviews, and many in-firms and ended up jobless last summer. But again – I’m proud of you and excited that you’ve got this great opportunity in front of you – enjoy it.
2. Depressing
IT SUCKS! I’ve already gotten 3 rejection emails, *BUT* I’m not going to go around law school moping. I realize that it’s disappointing (I’m disappointed), but it’s NOT the end of the world! Rejection is difficult to stomach and your feelings are legitimate, but remind yourself of the broader perspective. You are a successful student – getting into law school is not easy. Did you know that most people in law school are in the 98+ percentile of intelligence? You have been blessed with brains, wits and a solid work ethic, not to mention all the other things you have like money, a good education, a supportive family/community, good friends, health, a great country, etc. You will eventually get a job. It might not be the one you thought you wanted, but there is something out there for you that you will LOVE. Don’t give up on that hope, and don’t break down because it’s not easy to get there. You’re in law school, you’re not a quitter!! Don’t let things that are entirely out of your control make you go off the deep end! You can still do this.
3. Ridiculous
You are NOT what you do. Why are you making your worth contingent on how many firms want to interview you? Let me tell you a story:
Once upon a time there was a law student who grew up extremely poor and who had gotten into law school on a whim with no undergraduate degree. He applied to all the Wall Street firms and was one of two students from Harvard left without a job. But he joined a couple of his friends as an associate and they started a firm. They took any work they could get and started into an area of law that was untouched by the big Wall Street firms, and they hit on something big. Do you know who that lawyer is? It’s Joe Flom – and his partners were Marshall Skadden and Leslie Arps – perhaps you’ve heard of them?
OK, that’s a nice story, but what’s the point? Life won’t always make you a big star, but maybe being a star isn’t the point. WHY ARE YOU VALUABLE? This is a question you need to find the answer to. If you’re going to base your value on your job, your salary, your age, your looks, your pro bono efforts, your fame, your athletic abilities – then you need to face the fact that at some point in the future you will lose that thing and you will be left without definition. You will be like a Michael Jordan unable to compete in the NBA, or a washed up movie star, and it will break you. You HAVE to find something outside of this earthly place to stake your identity on, or it – like everything else in this world has a habit of doing – will die.
Michael Jordan’s life isn’t valuable because he can play basketball, and YOUR value is not related to your interview count. It’s not about what you do, it’s about who you ARE. Life is about so much more than Bay Street. We all know this, but we seem to have forgotten.
4. Challenge
Those of you in the first category – I realize you’re thrilled, and that’s great. But if you were at a funeral, would you go up to the family of the deceased and tell them exciting news? Probably not.
Those of you in the second category – if you received some horrible news, would you think the best time to tell your friend would be their birthday party? Might be a bit of a buzzkill.
We essentially live together, and we all need other people to help us when things are rough and to celebrate when times are good. Let’s ALL be a little more sensitive to other peoples’ feelings – whether happy or sad – and be encouraging no matter what the circumstances. Let’s be excited for those with interviews, and let’s comfort those who are going through disappointment. Let’s stop making inappropriate value judgements and maybe talk about something else? I can suggest a few topics if that’s an issue…
~ Joy
Reminiscing about the history of legal education and law schools in Canada
For those looking for an interesting reminiscence about the history of law schools and legal education in Canada, view Christopher Guly’s article in The Lawyers Weekly:
“Apprenticeship to academe: The history of law schools in Canada – Part 1 of a 3-part series” – A LOOK at the past, present, and future of legal education in Canada
http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=1255
Wise Advice for 1Ls
Christopher Bird, an articling student with Wise Law, offers some advice to law students who started this fall:
1.) Distinguish yourself.
2.) Your marks are important.
3.) Don’t assume it’s the end of the world if you get a C.
Read the entire post over at the Wise Law Blog.
A Legal Student – Then and Now
It’s a lot of tuition, and even more hard work. But the journey to be a lawyer in Canada just might be worth it.
In my column of this week’s Lawyers Weekly I ask the question, “What’s a lawyer worth these days?,” discussing the B.C. S.C. ruling in Danicek v. Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang.
Michelle Danicek, a recent UBC Law graduate, was injured days before the bar at a law firm event. She had a motor vehicle collision soon after that. The judge assessed her promising career as a corporate lawyer with a particular knack for working with clients and awarded nearly $6 million dollars.
Not everyone will be a legal superstar the way Michelle Danicek was expected to be.
But that wasn’t really the point of my article. I also cite Alan Watson and Khaled Abou El Fadel, in Fox Hunting, Pheasant Shooting, and Comparative Law, 48 Am. J. Comp. L. 1 (2000), who suggest that there may have been traditionally more to being a lawyer than just making money or winning cases.
Although jurists were men of the world, aware of social, political and economic realities, they also reveled in the very practice of interpreting the law. Legal interpretation was a sport. Yes, it was actually fun to analyze the law.
And they’re off to the races of … 1L Summer Jobs!
Ten days after law school started, I began to check off all the things that I needed to do in the first two weeks. Allow me to go through my checklist.
Settled in my new home, check. Made friends, check. Bought all required textbooks, check. Know where the washrooms are on the third floor, nope. Applied for summer jobs … WHAT! Who wrote that on this list?!?
Yes, we are less than two weeks into the first semester and there are emails, student service sessions, and peers buzzing loudly in my ear about 1L summer job applications that have deadlines on the horizon. Needless to say, this unexpected news startled me for a couple of reasons.
First, the time required for my alma mater to process my undergraduate transcript is four to five days – that does not include the number of business days needed for the transcript to be shipped to me. Unfortunately, many of those 1L summer jobs have deadlines that would have expired by then.
Second, the time needed for just one reference to whip up a stellar letter about me, albeit they could easily look up the numerous synonyms of outstanding – and copy and paste, is approximately one week, and that does not include the time necessary for them to reply to my “urgent” emails. Now some 1L summer job applications require three references. Can you sense my excitement about 1L summer job applications in the second week of law school yet?
Third, I’m not alone here as many of my peers have raised a similar yet pertinent comment: “Applying for summer jobs in the second week of law school is awesome CRAZY!”
But they (summer job applications) are not holding me by the wrists and dragging me to apply. Maybe we (law students in Canada) should accept the idea that this is a professional degree, where before you know what date all your exams are in December, you must know what date the deadline is to apply for summer jobs, which most students will miss if your alma mater’s printer can only crank out a transcript once every four to five days. Maybe we as first-years should make peace with the fact that many things in law school are on an expedited time frame; perhaps the best example I can construe is that we will apply for jobs well in advance of graduation.
To those 0Ls who will one day go through or are currently going though the OLSAS cocoon and will transform into 1Ls, this is what I wish someone told me before entering 1L:
1. Before you take your first step through the doors of law school, make sure you have an updated resume.
2. Before you take your second step through the doors of law school, make sure you have two or three individuals from your pre-law school era who can be on standby if a reference letter is needed or whose names can be used on your resume.
3. Before you even think about taking your first or second step through the doors of law school, radio your alma mater and ask them (way in advance) for your undergraduate transcript.
4. Last but not least, ask the administrative staff in your first week of law school whether they have any information about which organizations, government agencies, and law firms will require 1L summer job applications in September, so you can apply and put a neat check mark next to applying for 1L summer jobs: check!
