Will McNair is a second-year law student at Osgoode Hall. He has a BA in History from Huron University College at UWO. He’s been posting on How the Other Half.
Will caught my eye with a post on Oct. 9 when he visited Western Law,
…I thought I would pay a visit to the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law and find out what life might be like if I had chosen a different path.
It’s worse than I feared. Western Law makes Osgoode look like U-571: Western’s walls are painted in muted, elegant hues; the hallways are filled with natural light; the ceilings are high; the library, though smaller (cosier, more intimate) than Osgoode’s, is equipped with grand wooden tables and carrels half again as large as ours. There is a triumph of modernity and timelessness here, compared to which my alma matter is a dated 70s monstrosity (true, at least for two more years) and 905 nouveau riche at the same time.
I have to say, I do enjoy the architecture of our building at UWO.
The true testament to timelessness though is on the western wall (no pun intended), with a dedication to Hammurabi, Solon and Moses, all of whom existed well over a thousand years before the common law was even conceived.
(Photo Credit: Omar Ha-Redeye)
Yeah, laws have been around for a long, long time, and are usually associated with what we term “civilization.” Whether lawyers are more civilized than most is an entirely different question.
Will makes some further observations,
I can only presume that the students here enjoy relationships of scholarly camaraderie, that they help one another without a moment’s hesitation to consider how such altruism will affect their positions on the grading curve. They’re better looking, too.
They don’t get Jewish holidays off though, so it balances out.
I would love to say you were right on all counts, but I’ll agree with you on aesthetics alone. And not to rub it in, but we do get Jewish holidays off in every class I’ve ever been in here.
Will brings a sense of wit and humour to our site that our readers will be sure to enjoy. He’ll be joining us as a full contributor, and promises to keep all profanities off our site.
Thanks for the welcome! But now I’m going to be ostracized from the Osgoode community when people click through and actually read what I wrote. Scurrilous libel, all of it.
Will,
You’ll have a tough time making out an action for libel in a statement of claim when you’re being quoted directly. Had I quoted others that cast you in a negative light, it would be an entirely different story.
Besides, from what I’ve seen of law students they’ll rejoice in your confessed resignation (see “scholarly camaraderie,” Supra.).
We’ll have a fun time, promise.