Ultra Vires Vol 21 Issue 1 — September 2019

ULTRAVIRES.CA

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

VOL. 21, ISS. 1

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW

DLS calls on government to reverse cuts Province slashed funding to Legal Aid Ontario by 30 per cent

JAMES FLYNN (2L) AND WILLIAM MAZUREK (2L) Lisa Cirillo, Downtown Legal Services (DLS) Executive Director, is calling on the provincial government to reverse recent cuts to Legal Aid Ontario (LAO).

On April 11, the provincial government cut funding to LAO by $133 million for the fiscal year, representing 30 per cent of the agency’s total budget. A further 10 per cent cut is planned for next year.

LAO, a publicly funded and publicly accountable non-profit corporation, administers the legal aid program in Ontario. The organization has a statutory mandate to promote access to justice for low-income individuals. It accomplishes its mandate by issuing legal aid certificates and funding clinics, among other activities.

LAO has reacted to the cuts by removing $14.5 million from legal clinic funding, including DLS. Parkdale Community Legal Services, a Toronto legal clinic affiliated with Osgoode Hall Law School, had its budget nearly halved from $2.37 million to $1.37 million.

The city’s six specialty clinics have also faced an overall funding reduction of $2.5 million.

In June, LAO informed DLS that its funding would be reduced by 10 per cent.

“DLS is at the centre of a perfect funding storm in that recent government actions have rendered all three of our primary funding sources vulnerable,” said Cirillo.

The clinic is funded through three main sources: the Faculty of Law, Legal Aid Ontario, and student unions at the university. Student levy fees represent more than 30 per cent of the clinic’s annual budget.

Cirillo said she has voluntarily reduced her pay to 80 per cent of her full-time equivalents’ as a cost-saving measure to help offset some of the clinic’s funding gaps. This is the only change in the clinic’s staffing model thus far.

The cuts have drawn broad criticism from the legal community and the general public. Chief Justice of Ontario George Strathy noted they would “ultimately [delay] and [increase] the cost of legal proceedings for everyone.” Throughout the summer, several protests have taken place at Queen’s Park to oppose the cuts.

Opponents of the cuts have alleged they are targeted at at historically liberal ridings. The executive director of the Association of Community

PAGE 9

A farewell message from U of T Law’s Wellness Coordinator VENESSA SECTAKOF (2L)

QUEEN’S PARK

Legal Clinics of Ontario Lenny Abramowicz told The Huffington Post that the cuts are “continuing Doug Ford’s unquenchable antipathy towards the City of Toronto.”

According to Dana Fisher, Local Vice-President of LAO Lawyers, even before the cuts, there was consensus that legal aid was insufficiently funded.

“Many more vulnerable people are forced to represent themselves,” said Fisher. “We are seeing that it’s more difficult for people in custody to arrange bail and the resources of the duty counsel offices are being stretched thin.”

According to the Ministry of the Attorney General spokesperson Brian Gray, the provincial government is working with LAO on a modernization project “to ensure that legal aid services are sustainable, easy to access, and meet the needs of lowincome Ontarians.”

“We are pleased to see that LAO is taking steps to be fiscally responsible, respect taxpayers, and operate within its allocation,” he added. “LAO has implemented a plan that will help it achieve savings and ensure that frontline services remain strong and that low-income people can get the le-

gal help they need.”

Gray noted that the government is also working with LAO on a modernization project: “This is an opportunity to focus on client needs, to deliver programs that are easier to access, and to serve low-income Ontarians better.”

The cuts have had far-reaching ramifications across Ontario. April’s budget removed all provincial funding from refugee law services. This caused the LAO to slash refugee law spending from $34 million to $16.5 million and rely exclusively on federal sources.

This is despite a recent increase in the number of refugee claimants in Ontario. LAO will no longer issue certificates for refugee or immigration law hearings.

LAO is also cutting legal aid certificates for bail hearings, instead favouring the organization’s own duty counsel to take on the work. Lawyers who conduct bail reviews will now only be paid for five hours instead of the ten they were allowed to bill previously. Additionally, family lawyers will no longer be allowed to bill for motions where domestic violence is not an issue.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE OUTED IN LAW

Yukimi’s Parting Words

TORONTO ARTICLING RECRUIT AND NEW YORK SUMMER RECRUIT NUMBERS PAGE 4

Yuk imi Henr y joined U of T Law in 2016, where she ser ved as the school’s Manager, Academic/Personal and Wellness Coordinator until the last academic year. In this role, Henr y prov ided invaluable support to law students. W hether we needed a shoulder to cr y on, g uidance nav igating U of T’s complicated accommodations bureaucracy, or someone to help us realize our value, Henr y was always w illing to help.

Unfortunately for the law school, she is leav ing to lead George Brown College’s counselling program. W hile we are excited for Henr y, she has been an integral part of the law school and we already feel her absence.

Before joining the law school as a staf f member, Henr y attended U of T Law and graduated w ith a joint L .L .B. and M.S.W. A fter articling and practicing as a criminal defence law yer, Henr y shifted her focus towards social work: helping combat homelessness, aiding at-risk youth, and work ing on forensic mental health. Prior to her return to U of T Law, Henr y also began running her own psychotherapy and consulting practice.

Ultra Vires had a chat w ith Henr y after she left the law school and asked if she had any parting adv ice to students at the facult y. Here’s what she had to say: “First, I want to thank the entire student body for the opportunity to be a part of your experience at U of T Law. I am profoundly grateful for the level of openness you have demonstrated in initiating, joining, fostering, and encouraging the evolving dialogue about mental health and wellbeing within legal education, the profession, and our broader community as a whole. I am also deeply grateful for the trust that so many of you have demonstrated in allowing me to be a part of your own personal processes of growth. I have such conf idence in your capacity to create constructive, lasting change in the way that mental health is viewed in the legal profession and to create a dif ferent norm for supporting one another as colleag ues.

Continued on Page 10

RIGHTS REVIEW PAGE 14

2 | September 25, 2019

ultravires.ca

EDITOR'S NOTE

UV INDEX

Welcome back to another year at U of T Law! 84 Queen’s Park Crescent Toronto, ON M5S 2C5 Ultra Vires is the independent student newspaper of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. We provide a forum for diverse viewpoints on topics of interest to our readers. We aim to foster dialogue on academic and social issues between students, the faculty, and the broader legal community in Toronto, Ontario, and Canada. Our content does not necessarily ref lect the views of the Editorial Board. We print six issues per year. Ultra Vires is printed by Master Web Inc.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Melody Chan & James Flynn NEWS EDITOR Ernest Tam ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Angela Gu & Sara Karma

It’s shaping up to be a big year for legal news: tuition has dropped to $33,040, Bay Street firms are raising their articling pay, and a raccoon has moved into the Jackman Building.

In this issue, you’ll find stories on clinic budget cuts and the Statement of Principles; a profile of this year’s mooters and Varsity athletes; and statistics from the articling recruit.

This volume also marks 20 years of Ultra Vires. We’re excited to bring you the same monthly dose of news, opinion, and sarcasm that you expect from us. We’re always on the lookout for talented editors and writers to make the paper happen. As you can always expect from us, the free food will be plentiful. (And we’re not talking Pizza Pizza.)

If you have comments or stories to pitch, you can always get in touch at editor@ultravires.ca.

Have a great year, and thanks for reading, — Melody Chan & James Flynn Co-Editors-in-Chief, Ultra Vires

NEWS

OPINIONS

1 Legal Aid Ontario Budget Cuts

18 Recruitment Ethics and Etiquette

3 O-Week 2019 Recap

18 Restricting Student Accessibility

4 Toronto Articling Recruit Numbers

19 Why Cognomos Sucks

7 New York Summer Recruit Numbers 7 SLS Update

DIVERSIONS 20 U of T Law is Full of Snakes

FEATURES

20 An Obituary for the Summer

1 Yukimi’s Parting Words

21 SOS Press Release

8 Repeal of Statement of Principles

21 Remedies for the Budget Cuts

8 Meet the Mooters

22 Cognomopogo

9 Outed in Law

22 Dear Denning

9 Welcome to 1Ls

23 Intra Vires

10 In Vino Veritas 11 1L Summer Experiences 12 Varsity Athletics in Law School

RIGHTS REVIEW 14 DVC Conference in Hong Kong 16 Advocating for Albinism 17 IHRP Prof ile: Vincent Wong

FEATURES EDITOR Claudia Shek ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR Vivian Cheng OPINIONS EDITOR Tom Collins ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITORS Alexa Cheung & Mike Bertrand DIVERSIONS EDITOR Rory Smith EDITOR-AT-LARGE Vernon Lin SUPERNUMERARY EDITORS William Mazruek & Alina Yu LAYOUT EDITOR Alexandra Fox ARTISTS Ernest Tam STAFF WRITERS Alisha Li & Adrienne Ralph

ADVERTISING If you are interested in advertising, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

BUSINESS MANAGER Daniel Gao

ERRORS If you notice any errors, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

SUBMISSIONS If you would like to submit a tip, letter, or an article, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

Ultra Vires reserves the right to edit submissions.

INTERESTING CASES, FRIENDLY FACES.

ultravires.ca

NEWS

September 25, 2019 | 3

“RETROWEEK” Recap Despite budget cuts, O-Week proved enjoyable for the Class of 2022

HANNAH LANK (1L)

DRAKE NIGHT. PHOTO CREDIT: MAX TAEUSCHEL.

1L frosh has come and gone and 210 of us incoming baby law yers are now newly initiated to the ways of U of T Law. This year’s O -Week, “R ETROW EEK,” was an attempt to “emphasize that we all share a common past.” The two weeks of or ientation involved four hours of daily Legal Methods class and many hours of attempted socializing. By the end of Aug ust, the new 1L s were thoroughly excited, exhausted, and perhaps even a bit confused about what the next three years would hold.

There were some collective highlights and low points. For those who partook, most of the or ientation activ ities planned by the O -Week Coordinators helped facilitate fr iendships for the 1L class. The outing to Dave & Buster’s and the Lex isNex is-sponsored escape room game were

particularly fun. W hile most of the mandator y administrative events were blandly informative, the one on mental health, which was perhaps the most important, generated collective fear and dread. W hile these emotions faded over the social activ ities of the next few days, the message of the session (that being a law yer is one of the worst things you can do for your mental health) was not particularly encourag ing.

The upper-years who planned Or ientat ion Week clearly thought careful ly about how to str ucture those t wo weeks in Aug ust. Organizers Ioana Draga lin, Narg is Fazli, Rober t Nanni, and Dana O’Shea were present throughout a l l the socia l events. Not only d id this showcase their ded icat ion to ensur ing R ET ROW EEK was a success, but their presence a lso dem-

onstrated that upper-year law students care about the 1L s and want to help us succeed. Nanni said that the O -Week Committee had the goa l of foster ing a sense of comfor t and communit y among the incoming class and create a space where the incoming class could get together, get acquainted, and rea lize that they can a l l get through this prog ram together. That message is a far cr y from the dog-eat-dog reputat ion of U of T Law. Nanni a lso noted that R ET ROW EEK was somewhat constrained by the Ford government’s budget cuts, a statement that highlights the potent ia l ef fects students w il l exper ience. This is the f irst year where students can opt out of committ ing fund ing for a l l lev ied clubs and societ ies. W hile these budget cuts were not immed iately ap -

parent dur ing O -Week, it is understandable that other events w il l be more apparent ly af fected by f inancia l restraints.

The O -Week Committee should be commended for the ef for t they put into planning R ET ROW EEK, ev idenced by the ind iv idua l ly hand-dyed t ie-dye shir ts that each 1L received on the f irst day. Much thought went into mak ing sure R ETROW EEK was enjoyable and accessible for ever yone: most events were not a lcohol-centered, a l l but one were free, and many were semi-str uctured in a way that was desig ned to a l low less-extrover ted students to feel more comfor table in socia l situat ions. Next year’s O -Week coord inators would do wel l to look back to R ETROW EEK in planning their ow n successful 1L frosh.

NEWS

4 | September 25, 2019

ultravires.ca

Toronto 2020–21 Articling Recruit Numbers

MELODY CHAN (2L), DANIEL GAO (2L), ALISHA LI (1L)

FIRM NAME

Total Articling Students

Addario Law Group LLP

1

Alan D. Gold Professional Corporation

1

Bales Beall LLP

1

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic Beard Winter LLP Bell Temple LLP Black Sutherland LLP Borders Law Firm

1

Clyde & Co LLP Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Bergman LLP Counter Tax Lawyers

2

21

4 3

1

1 1 10

1 3

2

2

5

4

3

1

1

1

1

1 (Thompso n Rivers)

1 1

1 1

1

1 1

2 1

did not participate 1

Genest Murray LLP

1

Glaholt LLP

2

Goldblatt Partners LLP

6

Green and Spiegel LLP

did not participate

Greenspan Humphrey Weinstein

1

Heller, Rubel Barristers

did not respond

Hicks Adams LLP

4

Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP

11

1 1 2 3

1

1

1

2

1

1 (UNB)

1 6

1

1

5

3

1

1

1 (Lakehead)

1

1 (Lakehead)

1

did not participate 1

1

did not respond did not participate did not respond

*Editor's Note: These organizations indicated that they did not participate in the recruit due to budget cuts by Legal Aid Ontario Kim Spencer McPhee Barristers Koskie Minsky LLP

1

did not respond

Epstein Cole LLP

P.C.

1

did not respond

Ecojustice Canada

Keel Cottrelle LLP

1

did not respond

1

Isaacs & Co.

1

1

Dewart Gleason LLP

Intact Insurance Company

1 (UBC)

2

3

Innocence Canada

1

6

Devry Smith Frank LLP

Iler Campbell LLP

1 (Dual JD with Detroit Mercy)

did not respond

1

Hydro One Networks Inc.

4

1

Deloitte Legal

Flaherty McCarthy LLP

1

1

1

Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP

1

did not respond

Deeth Williams Wall LLP

Dutton Brock LLP

1

2

1

Derstine Penman

Other/Not Disclosed

did not participate*

Deacon, Spears, Fedson & Montizambert LLP

Department of Justice (Toronto)

UVic

2

1

City of Toronto Legal Services

McGill Dalhousie

did not respond

Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Ottawa Windsor

did not respond

Caley Wray

Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP

Osgoode Western Queens

4

1

Caramanna, Friedberg LLP

U of T

did not respond

Bruder Springstead LLP

Canadian Environmental Law Association

Returning Summer Students

2

5

1

5

2

1

2

1

Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP Hydro One Networks Inc.

11

6

1 did not participate

Innocence Canada

1

Intact Insurance Company FIRM NAME Isaacs & Co. Addario Law Group Keel Cottrelle LLP LLP

did not respond Total Articling Students did not participate

1 2

Bales Beall LLPLLP Koskie Minsky

1 5

Barbra Schlifer Kostyniuk & Greenside Commemorative Clinic KPMG LLP, Immigration Law Beard Winter LLP Division Bell Temple LLPLaw Division KPMG LLP, Tax Black Sutherland LLP LLP Kramer Simaan Dhillon

U of T

Osgoode Western Queens

Ottawa Windsor

McGill Dalhousie

UVic

Other/Not Disclosed

1

1

1 1 5

2

1

2

4

did not respond 2 did not participate

Lafontaine and Associates Bruder Springstead LLP Marta Watson LLP

did not respond 1 did not respond

1

did not participate* 1 4 1 1

1

1

1 1 (Dual JD with Detroit Mercy)

1 1

1 (Detroit Mercy)

1

1

1 (UBC)

1

did not participate 1

1

did not 2respond

1

Loopstra Nixon LLP did not respond Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre did not respond Cornish LLP Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark LLP 4 Centre for Addiction and Mental McKinsey & Company did not 1respond Health (CAMH) Metrolinx did not respond City of Toronto Legal Services 6 Total Mills & Mills LLP did not Articling participate FIRM Clyde & Co LLPNAME didStudents not respond Minden Gross LLP did not respond Cooper, Sandler, Shime & 1 Ministry the Attorney General Bergmanof LLP - Agency and Tribunal Relations Counter Tax Lawyers and did not not respond respond Division, Environment did Land Tribunals (ELTO), Deacon, Spears, Ontario Fedson & 1 Legal Services Unit Montizambert LLP Ministry of the Attorney Deeth Williams Wall LLPGeneral 1 - Agency and Tribunal Relations Deloitte Legal Division, Office of the did not 1respond Independent Police Review Department of Justice (Toronto) 21 Director (OIPRD) Derstine Penman did not respond Ministry of the Attorney General - Agency and Tribunal Relations did not 3respond Devry Smith Frank LLP Division, Ontario Human Rights Commission Dewart Gleason LLP 1 Ministry of the Attorney General 2 -Dutton Tribunals Ontario Brock LLP did not respond Ministry ofCanada the Attorney General Ecojustice 4 - Civil Law Division, Civil did not 3respond Epstein Cole LLP Remedies for Illicit Activities Office (CRIA) Thorup Angeletti Filion Wakely did not participate LLP Ministry of the Attorney General -Flaherty Civil Law Division,LLP Ministry of McCarthy Health and Long Term Care, Genest Murray LLP Legal Services Branch Glaholt LLP Ministry of the Attorney General

Returning Summer Students

September 25, 2019 | 5

1

did not 4respond

did not respond 4 (one TBD)

Association (CCLA) Levitt LLP Canadian Environmental Law Lloyd Burns McInnis LLP Association Loblaw Companies LtdLLP Caramanna, Friedberg

1 (Lakehead)

1

did not participate did not respond

BordersRotsztain, Law FirmMargles, Kronis, Cappell LLP

Legal Aid Ontario Caley Wray Lerners LLP Canadian Civil Liberties

3

NEWS

did not 1respond

Alan Spencer D. Gold Professional Kim McPhee Barristers Corporation P.C.

5

1

Iler Campbell LLP

ultravires.ca

1

1

1

1

2

1 Returning Summer Students

2 U of T

2

Osgoode Western Queens

1

Ottawa Windsor

1 McGill Dalhousie

UVic

1

1 1 10

1 3

2

2

5

1

4

3

1

1

1 1

1

1 1 (Thompso n Rivers)

1 1 1

1 2 1

1

1 1

2 1

1

2

1

2

2

-Goldblatt Civil Law Division, Ministry of 3 Partners LLP 6 Labour, Legal Services Branch Green and Spiegel LLP did not participate Ministry of the Attorney General Greenspan Humphrey - Civil Law Division, Ministry of 11 Weinstein Natural Resources and Forestry, Heller,Services Rubel Barristers did not respond Legal Branch Ministry of the Attorney General Hicks Adams LLP 4 - Civil Law Division, Ministry of the Environment and Climate 3 Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart 11 Change, Legal Services Branch Storie LLP (MOECC) Hydro One Networks Inc. 1 Ministry of the Attorney General Campbell LLP Ministry of did not participate -Iler Civil Law Division, did not respond Transportation, Legal Services Innocence Canada 1 Branch Intact Insurance Company did not respond Ministry of the Attorney General Co.Division, Treasury did not participate -Isaacs Civil & Law 4 Board Secretariat, Keel Cottrelle LLPLegal Services did not respond Branch Kim Spencer McPhee Barristers 2 Ministry of the Attorney General P.C. - Court Services Division, Court did not 5respond Koskie Minsky LLP Services Division, Operational Support Branch, Counsel Unit Kostyniuk & Greenside did not participate Ministry of the Attorney KPMG LLP, ImmigrationGeneral Law did not10 respond -Division Criminal Law Division, Crown Law Office - Criminal KPMG LLP, Tax Law Division did not respond Ministry of the Attorney General did notparticipate respond Simaan Dhillon LLP did not -Kramer Indigenous Justice Division Kronis, Rotsztain, Margles, Ministry of the Attorney General 4 (one TBD) LLP -Cappell Policy Division, Justice Policy did not respond *Editor's Note: These organizations indicated that they did Development Branch Lafontaine and Associates did not respond

Other/Not Disclosed

2 3

1

1

1

2

1

1 (UNB)

1

1 2 6

2

1

1 5

1

3

1

1 (Lakehead)

1

1 (Lakehead)

1 1

2

1

1

2

1 5

2

1

6

2

3

1

1

1

1 2

1

2

not participate in the recruit due to budget cuts by Legal Aid Ontario

Ministry of theLLP Attorney General did not respond Marta Watson - Victims and Vulnerable didnot notparticipate respond Legal Aid OntarioOffice of the did Persons Division,

1

1

1

1

Branch Ministry of the Attorney General - Court Services Division, Court Services Division, Operational Support Branch, Counsel Unit

did not respond

Ministry of the Attorney General - Criminal Law Division, Crown Law Office - Criminal

10

6

2

Total Articling didStudents not respond

Returning Summer Students

U of T

6 | September 25, 2019

Ministry of the Attorney FIRM NAME General - Indigenous Justice Division

ultravires.ca

Ministry of the Attorney Addario Law Group LLP General - Policy Division, Justice Policy Alan D. Gold Professional Development Branch Corporation Ministry of the Attorney General Bales Beall LLP - Victims and Vulnerable Barbra Schlifer Persons Division, Office of the Commemorative Children's LawyerClinic (OCL)

1 did not respond 1

Beard Winter Ministry of theLLP Attorney General - Victims and Vulnerable Bell Temple LLP Persons Division, Office of the Black Sutherland LLP Public Guardian and Trustee

4 did not 4respond

Borders Mair Law Firm Moodie Walker LLP

did not 1respond

Nathens, Siegel LLP

did not respond

Office the OntarioLLP Bruderof Springstead Ombudsman

did not 1respond

1

Other/Not Disclosed

1 1 1 (Dual JD with Detroit Mercy)

1 1 1

2

1 (UBC)

1

1

1

1

2

1 did not respond

1

1

1

did not respond 3 1

1 3 3 1 4 (2 TBD) did not respond 2 4 did not participate 3

did not participate 25 1 2 did not respond did not participate 24

Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP Thorsteinssons LLP Hydro One Networks Inc. Torkin Manes Iler Campbell LLP Toronto Police Service Innocence Canada Toronto Transit Commission Intact Insurance Company (TTC)

2 11 did not respond 1 6 did not participate did not respond 1 1 did not respond

Torys Isaacs LLP & Co.

did not participate

Will Davidson LLP Kostyniuk & Greenside

3

6

Green and Spiegel LLP Stikeman Elliott LLP Greenspan Humphrey Weinstein Teplitsky, Colson LLP Heller, Rubel Barristers Thomas Gold Pettingill LLP Hicks Adams LLP Thomson Rogers

Koskie Minsky Hopkinson LLPLLP

UVic

did not respond

Shibley Righton LLP Angeletti 2 Filion Wakely Thorup did not participate LLP Total Articling Smitiuch Injury Law did not respond FIRM NAME Students Flaherty McCarthy LLP 1 Smockum Zarnett LLP did not respond Genest Murray LLP 1 Solmon Rothbart Goodman LLP did not participate Glaholt LLP 2 Stevenson Whelton MacDonald 2 & Swan LLP Goldblatt Partners LLP 6

United Steelworkers Kim Spencer McPhee Barristers P.C. Ursel Phillips Fellows

McGill Dalhousie

4

1

1 1 21 1 did not respond did not respond

Unifor Keel Cottrelle LLP

Ottawa Windsor

1

1

1 did not respond

Peacebuilders Deloitte Legal International (Canada) Department of Justice (Toronto) Rachlin & Wolfson LLP Derstine Penman Ridout & Maybee LLP

Samis + Company Epstein Cole LLP

Osgoode Western Queens

1

2

did not respond 1

Rogers Partners LLP Dewart Gleason LLP Rotfleisch & Samulovitch PC Dutton Brock LLP Samfiru Ecojustice TumarkinCanada LLP

2

1

1 did not respond did not respond

Ontario Clyde & Securities Co LLP Commission – General Counsel’s Office Cooper, Sandler, Shime & Ontario Securities Commission Bergman LLP – Office of the Secretary Counter Tax Lawyers Owens Wright Deacon, Spears, Fedson & LLP Montizambert LLP Parkdale Deeth Williams Wall LLP Community Legal Services

Rochon Genova LLPLLP Devry Smith Frank

1

1

Ontario Bar Association did not respond Caley Wray 1 Ontario Nurses’ Association 1 Canadian Civil Liberties (ONA) 1 Association (CCLA) Ontario Power Generation Inc. 3 Canadian Environmental Law did not participate Ontario Secondary School Association 1 Teachers’ Federation Caramanna, Friedberg LLP 2 Ontario Securities Commission Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Compliance and Registrant did did not not respond respond Cornish LLP Regulation Branch Centre for Addiction and Mental Ontario Securities Commission Health (CAMH) Enforcement Branch - Litigation Team City of Toronto Legal Services

3

3

1 1

1

10

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

2

5

2 1

Returning Summer Students

1

1 3

1

1

1 1 (Thompso n Rivers)

1 1

1

4 1

2 1 1 1

1

2 1 2

U of T

Osgoode Western Queens 1

Ottawa Windsor

McGill Dalhousie

Other/Not UVic Disclosed

1 3

1

1 1

22

1

1

1 2

1

2

1

22 returning summers 1 (UNB)

1

1

1 1

1

6

2

1

1

1 5

1 3

1 1

2

3

1

11

1 (Lakehead)

1

1 (Lakehead)

1 1

did not respond 1 2 did not respond 5

1 1 5

2 did not participate

Willms & Shier Environmental KPMG LLP, Immigration Law Lawyers Division LLP

did not2respond

Zarek Grossman KPMGTaylor LLP, Tax Law Division Hanrahan LLP Kramer Simaan Dhillon LLP

did not not respond respond did did not participate

2

1 1

1

1 2

1 1

1

Kronis,Note: Rotsztain, Editor's Did youMargles, hire an articling student or receive an articling position for a firm or organization not listed in this chart? Email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

4 (one TBD) 1 1 1 1 Cappell LLP

Lafontaine and Associates

did not respond

Marta Watson LLP

did not respond

September 25, 2019 | 7

ultravires.ca

New York Summer 2020 Recruit Results JAMES FLYNN (2L)

Firm Name

U of T

Osgoode

McGill

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

9

1

1

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

1

White & Case LLP

3

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

3

1

1

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

2

Proskauer Rose LLP

UBC

2

Declined comment

Milbank LLP

Did not respond

Paul Hastings LLP

Did not respond

Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP

2*

Shearman & Sterling LLP

1*

Editor's Note: *These numbers are self-reported from students. The firm did not respond.

Did you receive a 2020 Summer job in New York City that is not listed in our chart? Email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

Start of Semester Update from the SLS A note from the President of the Students’ Law Society MORGAN WATKINS (3L) And with that we are a month into the semester!

After a busy start to the year, this is a brief update from the Students’ Law Society (SLS) on the events of the summer and some of our priorities for the year.

SLS is the student government representing all JD and joint program students at the Faculty of Law. SLS has two main branches: Student Affairs and Governance (StAG) and Social Affairs, comprised of elected representatives from each year of study.

The SLS Executive appoints SLS Officers: Equity Officers, Treasurers, Communications Directors, Administrative Director, and CRO. Welcome 1Ls! You are an impressive group — we look forward to getting to know each of you. Kudos to all for sailing through the first weeks of class (including those extracurricular applications!). Keep in mind that there are volunteer opportunities throughout the year, as well as other legal opportunities outside of the law school. In general, take a breath and focus on your courses — we are all on our own path!

We are pleased that orientation week was a success. This is the second year that the mandatory blanket exercise was included in the schedule as part of the Faculty’s larger commitment to truth and reconciliation. We have also heard your constructive ideas to further improve O-Week next year.

Membership Fee). These changes impact our community in significant and complex ways.

An optional Membership Fee means that the SLS budget cannot be finalized until the end of September. This has complicated the planning process for SLS-subsidized events and made it difficult to fulfil our commitment to increase funding for law student clubs.

According to a recent interim update from the Vice-Provost’s Office, 92 per cent of law students have paid the SLS Membership Fee. This highlights the large majority of students who decided to contribute to our community in this way. SLS believes that how we address fee paying and non-fee paying groups depends on the kind of community we want to be. Underlying this provincial government’s policy is the notion that individuals should contribute only to each specific service we receive, and less towards benefits for the greater community. We can say with confidence that this is not the environment we want to promote at U of T Law. This year, SLS will actively seek students’ feedback on an acceptable way to address these challenges.

SLS Priorities With the arrival of our newly-elected members, SLS plans to discuss the year in an upcoming allSLS meeting. Broadly speaking, our initial priority areas include:

Summer Update: The Impact of Ford’s Changes to Tuition Policy

1. Community Building and Inclusion

In January, the provincial government announced major changes to the tuition and fee policies governing Ontario universities. The new framework: 1) cut tuition by 10 per cent, 2) reduced and re-distributed OSAP (from grants towards loans), and 3) made non-tuition fees optional (i.e. the SLS

This year SLS will support creative events that are inclusive of more of the student body. We are building our relationships with law clubs, equity seeking groups, and staff offices (e.g., CDO, IIO), by seeking opportunities for collaborative events and coordinated communication. SLS Social made

SLS SUMMER BRUNCH WITH OUTGOING AND INCOMING SLS MEMBERS: EMMA BROWN, SHERRY GHALY, RACHAEL GIROLAMETTO-PROSEN, HANNAH JOHNSON, RENUKA KOILPILLAI, ALEX SEVERANCE, KRISTY WONG, ZARIN ZAHRA (2LS); BRITTANY COHEN, ROBERT NANNI, MORGAN WATKINS (3LS); SOLOMON MCKENZIE (PRESIDENT 2018-19).

changes to our clubs funding policy and criteria in order to align with these priorities (and address budget uncertainty discussed above). We will prioritize moving the Law Ball budget toward clubs funding and more creative and inclusive events (with better food).

2. Focusing on Financial Accessibility in a Conservative Budget Year The province’s changes to OSAP make this year particularly difficult for law students and our everincreasing debt loads. With the release of law school financial aid assessments this week, students will have a more complete picture of their financial situ-

ation. If students have feedback and questions, we encourage you to come to the SLS Financial Aid Townhall on September 30th at lunch to provide input that will inform our response to the administration.

With the 10 per cent tuition cut, our focus will shift from calling for incremental reductions in tuition, towards running the program in a leaner way that still prioritizes student programming and financial aid/accessibility. In an October Faculty Council meeting, we will hear from the Dean about the impact of the tuition cut on the Faculty’s 2019-2020 budget.

We look forward to a fun and productive year!

NEWS

8 | September 25, 2019

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Controversial Statement of Principles repealed Motion to repeal passed with 28 to 20 vote VIVIAN CHENG (1L) At September Convocation* on Wednesday, September 11, the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) repealed a controversial acknowledgement requiring lawyers to adopt and abide by a statement of equality, diversity, and inclusion. The motion to repeal passed with 28 in favour, 20 against, and two abstentions.

The Statement of Principles (SOP) required licensees to write a personal statement about how they were promoting diversity and submit it to the LSO. It was one of the recommendations listed in the Challenges Faced by Racialized Licensees Working Group’s Final Report, released after years of consultation with the LSO. Since its implementation in 2016, critics have called the SOP an intrusion to free speech and/ or a largely empty gesture to deeply systemic issues. The most recent bencher elections saw numerous candidates run as the anti-SOP slate “StopSOP”.

Murray Klippenstein, an LSO bencher, Toronto-based litigator, and long-time critic of the

SOP had previously expressed his concerns at June Convocation. “[The SOP] was an incredible invasion of our independence as independent thinking lawyers and that that was bad for society...I’m concerned that the public or members of the profession who are busy and don’t specialize in this will get the wrong impression,” he said during the debate.

Jessica**, a student who attended June Convocation, is also happy that the SOP was repealed, but for different reasons. She critiqued its superficial approach in addressing the lack of diversity in the profession. “[To address the lack of diversity], we need to do a lot of things. Having more rhetoric is not necessarily useful,” she said. “We need concrete policies, flexibility, and compassion to make people with diverse experiences welcome,” she said.

However, Jessica disagreed with the anti-free speech viewpoint. “The LSO regulates our speech already. It requires us to say certain things and prevents us from saying other things to main-

tain the integrity of the profession,” she said.

As a result of repealing the SOP, the LSO passed a new compromise motion at September Convocation that requires lawyers and paralegals to annually acknowledge an awareness of their existing professional obligation to abide by human rights legislation.

Not everyone is happy with this compromise.

Benchers at the September Convocation mentioned the hurt and sense of exclusion that could result from repealing the SOP. According to the National Post, Atrisha Lewis, a LSO bencher, said the vote to repeal the SOP “was a devastating blow to all racialized licensees and the public at large.”

Solomon McKenzie, a member of Demand Inclusion, a grassroots collective of Ontario legal professionals who support the SOP, was also disappointed by the LSO’s decision to ditch the SOP. “[The] SOP was an incredibly simple requirement that wasn’t pushing the envelope. It wasn’t

a huge affirmative action and yet received such fervent reactions,” he said.

While McKenzie acknowledged that the SOP was not perfect, he was disheartened by the tone of the debate on equality, diversity, and inclusion.

He was especially shocked by the “StopSOP” campaign that denied the existence of systemic racism in the legal profession.

“It’s hard not to be concerned when intelligent people make these offside comments,” he said.

While many agree that the lack of diversity in the profession needs to be addressed, much acrimony exists regarding how the profession can regulate equality, diversity, and inclusion.

“We need to ensure that we can provide access to justice, reflecting communities we serve with a diversity of voices and experiences,” said Jessica. *Editor’s note: Convocation is the monthly meeting of law society benchers. **Editor’s note: The student’s name has been anonymized at her request.

Meet the Mooters Candidates selected for 13 competitive moots TOM COLLINS (3L) Mooting season is officially open. Between September 10 and 12, 2L and 3L students tried out for 13 competitive moots. Approximately 100 students signed up to compete for 62 positions on the various moots.

Candidates ranked their moot preferences according to their interests. They then argued an imaginary case before three-judge panels. This year, the case to argue came from the 2014 Wilson Moot. It was a section 15 Charter challenge to an imaginary British Columbia adoption statute.

The legislature drafted the imaginary section 17(5) of the Adoption Act to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in foster care. The section was also meant to address the challenges and isolation that transracial, Indigenous adoptees faced in adoptive families outside of their respective communities.

The statute required that parents of Indigenous children consent to their children’s adoption. Pursuant to s. 17(5) of the statute, a court could disregard that consent in two cases: (1) if there were a risk of serious harm to the child in the custody of the child’s biological parent and (2) if a suitable placement with an extended or different Indigenous family were not possible.

In this case, the child in question was Indigenous but his prospective adoptive parents, the respondents, were not. However, the four-yearold child had lived happily with the respondents, his foster parents, for most of his life. The child’s biological father, who had not previously shown an interest in the child, refused to consent to the adoption and threatened to separate an already happy family to create his own. For the purposes of the try-outs, prospective mooters argued three

main points, for the respondents: 1. s. 17(5) of the Adoption Act draws a distinction on the enumerated ground of race, contrary to s. 15(1) of the Charter; 2. s. 17(5) of the Adoption Act is not protected as an ameliorative program under s. 15(2) of the Charter.

3. s. 17(5) of the Adoption Act causes a disadvantage by perpetuating prejudice and stereotyping without regard to the actual circumstances of the respondents.

The judges were mostly 3Ls who had mooted competitively the previous year, while faculty members joined the panels for the second round of tryouts. Judges gauged the quality of candidates’ analyses, their ability to respond to questions, and their speaking style and presentation.

Below are the final results. The male-to-female ratio is 46 per cent men to 54 per cent women.

Bowman Tax Moot Paul Hildebrandt (2L) Jae Won Hur (2L) Nikhil Mukherjee (3L) RJ Reid (2L) Callaghan Moot Emily Baron (2L) Leah Brockie (2L) Labiba Chowdhury (2L) Ryan Deshpande (2L) Lilly Gates (2L) Isaac Gazendam (2L) Cori Goldberger (2L) Keely Kinley (2L)

Zachary Kroll (2L) Lauren Lam (2L) Adrian Ling (2L) Genevieve Madill (2L) Sarah Nematallah (2L) Ashley Qian (2L) William Rooney (2L) Jeffrey Wang (2L)

William Mazurek (2L) Teodora Pasca (2L) Isaac Diversity Moot Elizabeth Chan (2L) Kristen Kephalas (2L) Liam Thompson (3L) Daniel Yang (2L)

Class Actions Moot Amanda Cutinha (2L) Sherry-Maria Ghaly (2L) Renuka Koilpillai (2L) Tabir Malik (2L)

Jessup Moot Hana Awwad Eidda (2L) Spencer Nestico-Semianiw (2L) Alex Smith (2L) Emily Tsui (2L)

Competition Annette Latoszewka (2L) Justin Mayne (2L) Cody Miller (3L) Jacob Webster (2L)

Labour Arbitration Moot Samantha Nault (2L) Luka Ryder-Bunting (2L)

Davies Corporate/Securities Moot Brian Huang (2L) Gregory Ringkamp (3L) Scott Wodhams (2L) Alina Yu (2L) Fox Intellectual Property Moot Sara Bolourchian (2L) Sam Hargreaves (2L) Paul Jeronimo (2L) Amanda Wolczanski (2L) Gale Cup Moot Olivia Eng (2L) Saambavi Mano (2L)

Laskin Moot Ryan Dorsman (3L) Hanna Goddard-Rebstein (2L) Katelyn Johnstone (2L) Lauren Scott (2L) Walsh Family Moot Ryan Chan (2L) Rory Smith (3L) Lauren Wildgoose (3L) Hanna Yakymova (2L) Wilson Moot Geri Angelova (2L) Karen Chen (3L) Ahmed Elahi (2L) Zoe Sebastien (2L)

NEWS

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September 25, 2019 | 9

Outed in Law

Students express concern over seating at 2019 Welcome Day ALEXA CHEUNG (1L) AND ADRIENNE RALPH (1L) Traditionally, Welcome Day at the Faculty of Law is a day of celebration—for making it through the LSATs, for gaining admission into one of the top law schools in the country, for meeting new friends, and for embarking on a new stage of your career. But one group of students at the 2019 Welcome Day in February was troubled by an attempt at inclusivity during their introductions to the school.

At lunch, students were divided into groups based on legal interests and placed with upper-years and alumni who specialize in those fields. For most groups, their shared legal interest was obvious. The incoming students had specified their interests in a pre-event survey.

The alumnus or alumna seated at their table also wore a name tag indicating their corresponding interests. However, for one table, no common legal interest could be immediately identified.

When the students attempted to find a common legal interest, Sara-Marni Hubbard, the Student Programs Coordinator, allegedly hinted that theirs “was more specific than that.”

Over the course of the lunch hour, students were encouraged to guess what characteristic bound them all. When someone suggested that all the students were LGBTQ+, Hubbard allegedly confirmed it.

A student placed at the table said the experience was uncomfortable for several participants. “It instantly made everything super uncomfortable because it was a semi-professional event, and it’s not like anyone else was grouped based on their personal/cultural identity,” the student said.

The student added that there are already opportunities for students to meet others who share their identity.

In an email to the law school, Rebecca Xie (1L) said, “Not only was this a betrayal of my implicit trust in the Faculty of Law’s discretion and confidentiality with our personal information, outing people without their permission can be unsafe for people who remain partially closeted for various reasons, even to other LGBTQ+ people.”

In her reply to that email, Hubbard apologized for putting students in an uncomfortable

position. “If I knew … going into the lunch, I would not have encouraged the group to guess what [the] commonality was. It’s certainly not my place to out anyone, and I value and honour everyone's coming out process,” said Hubbard.“I’m sorry and regretful for any part I played in that.”

Asked to comment, Hubbard told Ultra Vires: “Since writing my email ... I have learned from the organizer of the event that the students were not placed at the tables based on personal identity.”

“I didn’t know why we were seated together, and like many others at the table, made an assumption that wasn’t true,” Hubbard added.

According to Assistant Dean Alexis Archbold, “Those students were placed there because they indicated on the pre-Welcome Day survey that they were interested in social justice law/constitutional law/admin law.”

“If several students at the social justice law/ constitutional law/admin law table also identified as LGBTQ , it was truly a coincidence,” added Archbold.

“It’s interesting that [Hubbard] said she

was uncomfortable with the table, since she was the one that made us aware that it was the ‘gay table’. The first thing she said when everyone arrived was that we should guess why we were all seated together,” said Jeffrey Wang, the 2L assigned to the table.

“When no one spoke up, she continued to push the topic until she left. If she didn't say anything, no one would have known and it wouldn’t have mattered that we were seated together,” Wang added.

Students commented that, regardless of intention, their experiences at the table marred what would otherwise have been a pleasant welcome to the Faculty of Law. “Considering the multiple LGBTQ+ friendly societies which are designated safe spaces for members and allies of the community, it’s incredibly surprising that they didn’t run this initiative by any relevant student groups,” said another 1L student who was placed at the table. *Editor’s note: Some students quoted in this article requested to remain anonymous.

FEATURES

Welcome to 1Ls A primer on success WILLIAM MAZUREK (2L) To all the 1L s out there: welcome to the Facult y of Law. I hope that, by now, you’ve gotten used to the pace of life around here.

The short class hours followed by long readings. The small fortunes squandered on Goodmans cof fee. The regrettable lack of nearby lunch options.

Maybe at this point you feel like you have ever ything together. If you’re anything like I was, you probably feel lost.

In my f irst few weeks of 1L , I started to wonder if I was on the r ight track. L ike you probably have, I’d already been lectured ad nauseam about how to read, how to br ief, and how to wr ite. Yet, I still didn’t understand what it took to get a “good” mark. A s the year went on, I slowly came to grasp what seemed to be successful.

How to read, brief and go to class I learned in 1L that it is cr itical to read and br ief all your cases before ever y lecture. If there is one predictor of academic success, this is def initely it.

My approach to br ief ing was quite consistent. W hen br ief ing I would ask myself a few questions. How does the case’s reason-

ing work? Do I understand it? Do I agree?

If ever I didn’t understand or agree w ith the case, I would make a note in my br ief.

Then, I would ask about it in lecture.

Sometimes I had misunderstood; sometimes it was a f law in my reasoning.

How to study A round reading week, in the fall, I began exam preparation. First, I re-read all of my br iefs and summar ized each of them in three bullet points: one for facts, one for law, and one for the holding.

Once I had completed my summar y, I would make a map, which included a list of questions w ith instructions on how to answer them, sourced from relevant cases.

Finally, I would go through two or three practice exams. If my map missed any cr itical areas, revealed by the practice exams, I would ref ine my map accordingly.

How to w rite an exa m For me, the best way to conduct legal analysis was to take reasoning from the cases and apply it to the exam fact pattern.

I would use the facts of past cases to determine if the reasoning was applicable to the exam, but I wouldn’t direct ly compare the facts of the exam to the facts of the case. I would then think of ever y legal arg ument which was applicable, relevant, and could inf luence the outcome of my conclusion, before discussing the more contentious arg uments in greater depth.

The standard of qualit y required for exams is nowhere near per fection. I received good marks on exams for which I made a number of grammatical errors or questionable judgement calls.

How to net work I w ish I had networked more in 1L . Network ing is extremely important when it comes to getting a job. It is helpful to get a head start in 1L .

Take ever y opportunit y available to v isit f irms. These could be competitions or f irm open houses. W hen I went to an event, I would attend the cocktail part y after wards and meet one or two law yers.

A fter ever y reception, I would make a

quick note of who I met and what I talked to them about. I would then add them on L inked In. This was useful come recruitment time, when I had more specif ic questions about the f irms. It also helped me identify which practice areas interested me.

How to extra- curricular I was really worr ied about hav ing a good set of extracurr iculars in 1L . In retrospect, this fear was completely unfounded. 1L begets the opportunit y to tr y a broad range of activ ities w ith minimal commitment required. They are not the turning point in one’s career. In 1L , I participated in extracurr iculars that I enjoyed rather than ones I thought would benef it my CV. In conclusion 1L was intense but also exceedingly rewarding. If nothing else, sit back and enjoy it. You’ll never get to do it again. *Editor’s Note: William Mazurek will be working at Sullivan & Cromwell L L P ’s New York City of f ice in Summer 2020.

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10 | September 25, 2019

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Yukimi’s Parting Words (Continued from page 1) I would very much like to leave the law school by sharing some pithy and cleverly worded insight or words of advice for you as students. However, the truth is that I generally mistrust inspirational quotes because I think that life is too complex to be captured by them, and I am simply not that clever or pithy. Another truth is that you all know better than I do anyway about what would make your lives, and those with whom you work with and care about, as satisfying and meaningful as it can be.

Based on my experiences with you, I f irmly

believe that with a bit more self-compassion and more conf idence in your internal markers of value and success you will be the lawyers that make the profession and our community a better place for us all.”

Dana O’Shea (3L) is a leader in the mental health community at the law school and spoke to Ultra Vires about how Henry’s time at the law school affected her. In her time at the faculty, Dana has seen the mental health culture change greatly, which she believes was largely due to Henry and her work. Henry not only acted as support, but

encouraged support amongst peers.

Dana notes, “Law school can, at times, feel ver y isolating; hav ing someone at the law school who encouraged vulnerabilit y, empathy, and mentorship around mental health made a dif ference for so many students — myself included.”

As the law school community waits for a new counsellor, students should know that there are resources available should they need support. Within the law school, 1Ls can rely on the Peer Mentorship Program for conf idential support from upper years.

In Vino Veritas

A ll law students can access the Peer Mental Health Support Program which is meant to establish safety nets and strategies for mentees to rely on.

The U of T Health & Wellness Centre offers psychotherapy, group counselling, and other services and it can be booked online.

There are also crisis hotlines from the broader community available 24/7. Should you f ind yourself in need of support, a full list of resources is available on the U of T Law website under the heading ‘Student Life & Services - Health and Wellness’.

Summer Recap (or Recork) TOM COLLINS (3L) Another school year is upon us and that means the return of the law school’s own wine club, In Vino Veritas. Whether you are looking for something to share with friends, or for an evening escape, we have you covered!

Back in June, In Vino Veritas went to a tasting in Queen West, where we discovered the often neglected país grape. It makes for a refreshing, easy drinking table red. So for this issue, we decided to share with you our favourite summer finds.

Danica Chip off the Old Block Chenin Blanc 2016 Available in BC This summer, I took a trip to the Okanagan Valley to explore all of the great wines that BC has to offer. While I enjoy Ontario wines, the BC wines blew me away. My favourite (and the one I kept coming back to) was Road 13’s Chip off the Old Block Chenin Blanc 2016. It is a very clean and crisp white with a pleasant mix of papaya, apple, and kiwi notes and balanced minerality. It is the perfect summer patio sipping wine. It also transitions well from happy hour to dinner, as it paired really well with fish.

I stocked up on bottles and you can bet I even ordered more when I got home! Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) I haven’t been able to find any Road 13 wines here in Toronto.

Terres de Saint Louis Rosé 2018 $13.20 at the LCBO Luckily, I did stumble upon something in Toronto for the rest of my patio wine needs.

Terres De Saint Louis Rosé 2018 is a fine offering from Provence. I actually picked up this wine because of the beautiful pale pink colour, but it ended up being delicious as well! This is an extra dry rosé with strawberry and cherry flavours and citrus notes—another crisp, clean wine to quench your thirst on a hot day. The price point isn’t bad either at $13.20 per bottle.

If there are any warm days left in September (or if you’re just craving a glass of rosé), I’d definitely recommend picking up a bottle.

Tom Susana Balbo Signature White Blend 2017 $20.95 at the LCBO In last September’s issue, I declared that my favourite find was Susana Balbo’s Signature Rosé. This summer, Susana did it again! I tried a number of their whites, but the Signature White Blend 2017 stole my heart. This blend of Semillon, Torrontés, and Sauvignon Blanc

hails from Mendoza, Argentina. It opens to an unusual aroma of fresh cat pee—you read that right. But, it then reveals a delicious, almost sickly-sweet scent, containing peaches, grapefruit, and passion fruit. The main flavours were lychee and white peach. It also had a nice, subtle tartness on the finish. It would go great with spicy, Singapore-style noodle dishes.

Corte Medicea Aristeo 2015 $25.95 at the LCBO This summer, I ate a lot of pungent and savory Italian dishes. So, I acquainted myself with a number of Tuscan reds. Corte Medicea Aristeo 2015 was my favourite. It is a phenomenal, raspberry-coloured blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. It has quite a heady bouquet. Expect red fruit, especially cherry, as well as dark chocolate and cured meats. But the full-bodied flavour is where this wine really stands out. KA-POW! It is an explosion of red fruit, blackberries, and blueberries. Bright and bold acidity tingles against the fine tannins that also give this wine a waxy tartness, like crushed blackberry seeds. A very long smooth finish follows.

Kimia Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio 2018 from Italy $19.95 at the LCBO At the very top of my summer favourites list, this Pinot Grigio is balanced and intensely f lavourful. From Valdadige, Italy, the wine is unique for its fermentation method, which includes fermenting the grapes off the skins.

It is pale lemon in colour with delightful aromas of peach and cherry blossoms. On the palate, it is pleasantly dry and multi-layered, with notes of golden pear, apricot, peach, and a hint of lemon. It pairs well with grilled chicken and salmon, as well as with a variety of gourmet salads.

Beringer Founders’ Estate Pinot Grigio 2017 from California $16.95 at the LCBO Almost clear in colour, this California Pinot Grigio was another summer favourite. Be careful with this wine because it is extremely light and drinkable—you may find yourselves going through several bottles in a short time! It is highly acidic with nose of lemon and green apple. On the palate, it is crisp and clean, with hints of melon and pineapple. It pairs well with all the classic summer foods and snacks, such as salads, cold pastas/noodles, fruits, and seafood.

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FEATURES

September 25, 2019 | 11

1L Summer Experiences Five students provide a glimpse into their summers outside of Bay Street VIVIAN CHENG (1L) The summer after 1L is full of opportunities—for some, a chance to gain practical legal experience; for others, a chance to explore interests outside of the law. As the autumn weather creeps in and students return to Jackman, we asked some newly-minted 2Ls to reflect on their pursuits over the last few months.

Rachael GirolamettoProsen and Sam Mitchell, Toronto tour guides Girolametto-Prosen and Mitchell both deviated from law-related jobs by starting their own tour company of the city.

“When I was on a school exchange in Europe, I fell in love with walking tours. They were a great way to familiarize myself with a new place. However, back in Toronto, I realized there were no walking tours that provide a general introduction to the city,” GirolamettoProsen explains. “There was a gap in the market.”

By using Airbnb Experiences, they advertised their walking tours to people from all over the world. “It was the next best thing to travelling,” says Girolametto-Prosen.

For the duo, it was a fun and exciting time that allowed them flexible hours and a chance to take risks and make their own destiny. However, it wasn’t always easy.

“There was a lot of trial and error. There’s no instruction manual for this kind of business.

We had to learn what motivated customers in the tourism market,” says Mitchell. “We had to work as a team. There were many strategic decisions to make, so we always had to be on the

same page.”

Overall, they were incredibly happy with their experience. “It was the last summer to try something new before diving into our legal careers. While building our own business had its challenges, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Mitchell. “We’re both interested in business law, so starting our own business just made sense.”

Venessa Sectakof, Youth Summer Program Educator at U of T Law Sectakof took part in the Faculty Hiring Process and worked with high school students interested in the law through the Youth Summer Program as an Educator.

Secktakof was a LAWS Lab volunteer during 1L, so this opportunity was her dream summer job. As an Educator at U of T, she worked with three other individuals to develop a law-related curriculum that canvassed areas including criminal law, corporate law, and international law.

They also facilitated workshops, mock trials in real courtrooms, and Model UN simulations. The program included weekly law firm visits and guest speakers such as former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci and Justice Rita Maxwell of the Ontario Court of Justice, who worked on the International Criminal Court’s first conviction.

“One highlight was setting up crime scenes in the Rowell Room and Fireplace Room,” she said. The crime scene included fake blood, crime scene tape, and the alleged murder

weapon.

“Meeting all 400 of our students was my favourite part. I love teaching and working with high schoolers. Watching their nervousness grow into excitement by the end of each week was extremely rewarding and a fantastic experience.”

She encourages students interested in working with youth and summer camps to apply and to reach out to her if they have any questions.

Kristy Wong, Downtown Legal Services (DLS) division leader in Criminal Law and University Offences Wong has always been passionate about criminal law. So when she saw a position at DLS for criminal law, she was ecstatic.

Wong’s role consisted of managing cases and clients. “We had the case files from the beginning of intake to the resolution, including running our own trials and hearings. I got to negotiate with Crown counsel, and speak to peace bonds and pleas,” she says. Their team also got the opportunity to conduct satellite clinics at women’s shelters and churches to identify legal issues for members of lower-income communities. Wong adds that she reviewed police notes and disclosures, and was responsible for writing facta and submissions. Through this role, she had to do plenty of research and write legal memoranda.

“What was really exciting about this job was litigating in court,” she says. “You barely see law students or even articling students in court,

so to have established counsel acknowledge you was exhilarating.”

“What I loved about clinical experiences were how different they were to the classroom experience. They really help you build handson skills.”

Amanda Wolczanski, Legal and Policy Researcher, Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) Over the summer, Wolczanski had the opportunity to work in the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto conducting research. The SGC’s work in drug discovery is related to high-profile illnesses and rare diseases, among other areas.

As a legal and policy researcher, Wolczanski explains that she primarily worked on a publication about open science as a viable business model for drug discovery. But she adds that this business model deviates from the norm.

“Usually in drug discovery, the industrial instinct is to patent everything right away and have that monopoly, but SGC’s philosophy was to conduct research without patents so other researchers had access to materials,” she says.

As someone who did an undergraduate degree in chemistry and politics, she was thrilled to combine her interests of innovation and knowledge in cities along with law while working a flexible schedule.

“I really liked my summer job. It defeats stereotypes about patenting early to draw in investors and encourages innovation.”

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12 | September 25, 2019

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Meet two varsity athletes at U of T Law Because law school just isn’t competitive enough…

ERNEST TAM (2L) I interviewed two of my friends, Caroline and Daniel, who were crazy enough to tack on varsity athletics on top of law school, in true U of T Law, type-A, psycho fashion. The two were generous enough to provide insight on their experiences.

volved with. For example, I only went to one or two Call to the Bar pub nights because we had practice on Thursdays. I also chose to limit my law extracurriculars to the Tax Law Society and would have liked to work for a clinic if I had the time.

Caroline Harrell

UV: Overall, would you say it was worth it? Would you do anything differently?

Ultra Vires (UV): Tell us a little bit about yourself — what sport do you compete in and how did you get into it?

Caroline Harrell (CH): I run the 800m for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. I played a lot of sports in high school but I focused on track in 11th grade after deciding that I was more likely to get a scholarship in track than in soccer.

UV: Why track and law school?

CH: After finishing my undergrad at the University of Victoria (UVic), I had two years of eligibility left and I felt like I hadn’t maximized my potential. I also knew the coach, Terry Radchenko, and many of the girls on the team, who are wonderful. I figured track would give me an outlet from law school and a strong support system. I hoped that being on a varsity team would make me more competitive in the Bay Street recruit and offset any weakness in my grades.

UV: What was the time commitment like?

CH: A regular training week has about 20 hours of training. This doesn’t include hours spent in physio appointments, travelling to races, and eating/resting enough to recover.

The racing schedule also happens to conflict a lot with law school commitments. For example, our first race of the indoor season was in early December, the night before an LRW assignment was due.

UV: Did anyone warn you against doing it?

CH: Several people told me that school at U of T would be significantly harder than UVic and that managing both would be nearly impossible. There was a lot of pressure not to compete given the importance placed on first-year grades. However, a U of T Law and Varsity Blues Track alumna insisted it was manageable as long as I was focused and diligent. She was right.

UV: So how did you manage varsity and law school, and do you have any advice for someone considering this?

CH: Be disciplined and take advantage of spare time in your day. For example, during the 90-minute lunch break every day, instead of socializing I would study. Also, I was lucky to have an extremely understanding coach.

Communicating your schedule and priorities to your coach is critical.

UV: On the other side, what were some downsides of doing track and law school?

CH: The same downsides of running track during my undergrad applied in law school.

My social life suffered a bit and I was limited in the amount of extracurriculars I could be in-

CH: Definitely. I think much of my success in the 1L recruit can be credited to being a varsity athlete. Lawyers understand the difficulty of balancing law school and a varsity sport and how well that experience will prepare you for working at a firm. There’s not much I would do differently; maybe I would have studied more for my first semester exams.

Daniel Gao UV: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What sport do you compete in and how did you get into it?

CAROLINE HARRELL

Daniel Gao (DG): I was on the 2018–2019 Men’s Curling team for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. I started curling in grade 9 when I realized I was too short to play hockey and curling could keep me on the ice. However, I fell in love with the sport immediately and competed at the provincial level during high school. I stopped after starting undergrad, but when I saw the opportunity to return to the competitive curling landscape, I was more than happy to take it.

UV: Why curling and law school?

DG: I love feeling stressed all the time! Kidding aside, I really enjoy being on the ice, and curling is a great outlet away from law school.

When you’re playing sports at a competitive level, it’s hard to focus or worry about anything else. For those three hours I’m in the game, the 100 pages of reading, 3,000 word essay, and 20 job applications that I have to do (and should be doing) feel like they don’t exist.

UV: What was the time commitment like?

DG: For the first semester, we focused on team building and general preparation. We did three 3-hour sessions on ice each week during that time — usually one game with a local team and two training sessions. The peak curling season is from January to February, which is when it really ramps up because we are preparing for provincials, which take place at the end of February. During that time there is an additional 3-hour practice every week on top of out-of-town tournaments from Friday to Sunday every other weekend.

UV: Did anyone warn you against doing it?

DG: Most people thought it was a bit crazy to do both but surprisingly other varsity athletes were very much in favour of doing it. During Welcome Day, I talked to a law student who was a varsity figure skater and also a SLS executive. She recommended varsity for several of the reasons that I ended up doing it for: it is a great change of pace from readings, it adds another social community, and it is great on the resume. With proper time management,

DANIEL GAO, SECOND FROM THE RIGHT, ALONGSIDE THE REST OF THE 2018-2019 VARSITY BLUES MEN’S CURLING TEAM.

she assured me that doing both is definitely possible.

UV: Any special moments or memories from the year?

DG: The biggest highlight of the year was when we had a home tournament that was pretty far away and I invited a couple of classmates to come and watch me play. These were people that I had only known for a couple of months, but roughly 20 of them still made the hour-long trek to the game and showed up to support me and the team. People made signs, cheered us on, and watched the whole threehour game, and seeing that was really touching. I think it really speaks to the whole community at the law school and just how supportive it really is, which makes me especially proud to be a varsity athlete and law student.

UV: Did you perform as well as you wanted academically?

DG: I don’t know if not having done curling

would have made a difference in my academic performance. Overall, I felt like I performed as best as I could in the circumstances, and I would not change anything if I had a chance to do it again. Even if my grades suffered from the 10-20 hours a week I put into curling, I probably still would have done it. An extra H or two on my transcript, to me at least, was not worth losing the enjoyment I got out of competitive curling.

UV: Overall would you say it was worth it? Would you do anything differently?

DG: I would say that doing varsity curling was well worth it and I wouldn’t have done anything differently. In addition to all the benefits I stated before, I also made a lot of good friendships through it. In terms of doing anything differently in regards to first year overall, I probably would’ve gone to fewer Call to the Bars, but nothing else really. *Editor’s Note: Daniel Gao is the Ultra Vires Business Manager.

FEATURES

Why did you choose McMillan?

I initially chose McMillan because of its team-oriented culture and its commitment to training and mentorship.

I know I made the right choice because I have received the support required to help me build a career that I am passionate about with people I admire and respect.

Caroline Samara Associate, Business Law Group

2017 • 2018 • 2019

Take the lead in your career.

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14 | September 25, 2019

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RIGHTS REVIEW

The International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law An independent student-led publication Editors-in-Chief: Julie Lowenstein (3L) and Emily Tsui (3L, JD/MGA) Senior Editors: Rachel Bryce (3L) and Maddy Torrie (3L) Graphics and Social Media Editor: Adil Munim (3L)

A TIMELY SUMMIT HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOVEREIGNTY IN THE SPOTLIGHT IN HONG KONG

By Amitpal Singh (2L) and Milica Pavlovic (2L)

A GATHERING OF DVC CHAPTERS, WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, THE UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA, THE UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, JOINED BY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTITIONERS, ACADEMICS, AND TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD. PHOTO CREDIT: AMITPAL SINGH AND MILICA PAVLOVIC

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s Digital Verification Corps (DVC) working group arrived in Hong Kong on the cusp of the 30th anniversar y of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre of 1989. In addition to being a host city for the University of Hong Kong’s DVC chapter, Hong Kong has a storied histor y of human rights advocacy. This rich tradition was on display on a number of occasions, including a historic vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre just a few days into the summit, which drew tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens. Some estimates repor ted that nearly 200,000 people took to the streets.

Only days later, Hong Kong’s citizens took to the streets again to protest a controversial government extradition bill, which would allow for mainland China’s cour ts to have jurisdiction over Hong

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Kong residents and Hong Kong visitors.

The protests, which began only a day after the DVC Toronto team left Hong Kong, continue in the city.

Protestor estimates range from the hundreds of thousands, to two million.

These protestors were largely peaceful in nature, with protestors carr ying signs reading slogans like “Free Hong Kong.”

vigil was a reminder how past events continue to inform the human rights landscape in Hong Kong, China, and Asia more broadly, to this day.

The third annual DVC summit centered heavily around themes of technology and online media as the nexus for issues concerning censorship and human rights abuses.

We had the chance to see some of these signs with our own eyes at the Tiananmen vigil. The solemn atmosphere leading up to the Tiananmen

Hong Kong’s relationship with China was also the subject of many informal conversations amongst the summit’s par ticipants.

We were reminded of the influence of the three-decades old massacre during the summit. We learned that the phrase “Tiananmen Square,” and associated images, continue to be aggressively censored with the help of ma-

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chine learning and image recognition software. The mainland’s most sustained response to the protests has been a decidedly digital one: the Chinese government has orchestrated a misinformation campaign using social media about the protests in response.

Summit Over view The third annual DVC summit centered heavily around themes of technology and online media as the nexus for issues concerning censorship and human rights abuses. Each par ticipating university chapter presented one or more projects about their work in the past school year.

They highlighted unique techniques or effective organizational strategies that were implemented.

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Like past DVC summits, this summit included presentations from renowned human rights experts, who document the use of open source technologies and other digital tools in their human rights work.

The global breadth of the DVC’s work was on display at the summit. The presentations reported on human rights and technology work across jurisdictions, geographical regions, and issue types. Among them, the Toronto DVC team in Hong Kong, including George Ghabrial, Aaqib Mahmood, Amit Singh, Sarah Bolourchian, and Milica Pavlovic, also presented the Toronto DVC’s work at the summit.

Our presentation focused on one specific event: verif ying tear gas and rubber bullet attacks on two hospitals by government armed forces following a predominantly peaceful protest in the Sudan. The University of Toronto’s DVC team worked collaboratively over two weeks to track the chronology and verif y the location of this event. Through our collective effor ts and using various open source technologies, including Google Ear th and Google Maps, we had determined that this event spanned two different hospitals. Using stills of landmarks and physical features on the hospital structures, DVC team members corroborated this imager y to other photos and videos taken of these two separate hospitals. Once locations were verified, the team conducted research to determine whether these government forces could be held accountable for their actions under public international law.

We drew helpful insights on managing the difficult emotional toll from viewing and verifying problematic content.

The summit opened with a presentation on the role of technology in two projects, one of which documented the crisis in Syria and the other which tracked abusive content towards women on Twitter. Both projects exemplified novel ways to incite accountability using digital tools. In the context of the Syrian crisis, Amnesty’s work in meticulously documenting and corroborating the number of civilian injuries and deaths resulting from the US-led Coalition’s offensives prompted calls for further inquiry into the US’ role in these tragedies. Likewise, the Toxic Twitter report put pressure on Twitter to address policies around reporting and removing problematic content and comments.

In another timely discussion, Amnesty’s East Asia Regional Office discussed this theme of censorship in their presentation at the summit, providing an overview of the extent of social media censorship behind “The Great Firewall of China.”

They discussed the creative ways that people in China have pushed back. Popular examples include memes depicting the my thical “grass mud horse” creature (a euphemism for a similar sounding profanity), Peppa the Pig, Winnie the Pooh, and a range of others with numerous variations – all of which have acted as political commentar y or stand-ins for banned content, until they themselves became subject to censorship filters.

The summit continued with presentations from other DVC university teams and human rights exper ts, including presentations from a Hong Kong-based or-

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September 25, 2019 | 15

ganization disrupting modern day slaver y practices, a remote sensing exper t from Amnesty International, a New York-based accountability agency which teaches citizens to document human rights abuses, and a panel discussion with renown exper ts in the human rights field.

Collaboration and Moving For ward at the IHRP’s DVC At the summit, the various DVC chapters shared techniques and organizational tactics for successful verification, and also repor ted par ticularly challenging tasks and reflected on novel ways to overcome challenges. Another impor tant collaborative topic was creating an accessible guide for laypersons on how to produce pictures and videos that were easily verifiable. If used effectively, easyto-implement tips—like filming within sight of a landmark or enabling location ser vices while filming—could make the DVC’s work significantly easier. It could also democratize the process of separating genuine online content from misinformation.

THE TORONTO TEAM PRESENTING DURING THE SUMMIT, HOSTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG FACULTY OF LAW. PHOTO CREDIT: AMITPAL SINGH AND MILICA PAVLOVIC

Looking to the future, par ticipants reflected on expanding the DVC to new geographical regions, and coordinating a robust online presence where those not familiar with the group’s work could go for accessible information. The group also reflected on ways to preser ve institutional memor y as new members join and previous members depar t the DVC. At the University of Toronto chapter, the upcoming year will bring fur ther collaboration with the other university groups, which will include launching a dedicated online presence for accessible information. We will also be reflecting on how to incorporate best practices showcased by other DVC teams in light of our own unique position as a human rights program at a law school. Finally, we drew helpful insights on managing the difficult emotional toll from viewing and verif ying problematic content. Repeated exposure to violent and disturbing images and audio can result in vicarious trauma. From several excellent presentations and informal conversations on this topic with our peers from other institutions, we now feel better prepared as a chapter to deal with the challenges of interacting with such materials in the future.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW’S DIGITAL VERIFICATION CORPS TEAM IN HONG KONG. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: AAQIB MAHMOOD, AMITPAL SINGH, MILICA PAVLOVIC, GEORGE GHABRIEL, AND SARA BOULOURCHIAN. PHOTO CREDIT: AMITPAL SINGH AND MILICA PAVLOVIC

Introduction The University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s chapter of the Digital Verification Corps (DVC) is housed within the International Human Rights Program, and suppor ts Amnesty International’s human rights research projects. The DVC digitally verifies videos and pictures posted to the Internet by journalists and ordinar y citizens, often on social media, which capture alleged human rights violations. At a time where online content is so rapidly generated and fake content is per vasive, separating information from misinformation is crucial. This is par ticularly impor tant for human rights research, which aims to effect change through advocacy and legal mechanisms. The DVC is par t of a global credibility building project tasked to challenge governments who seek to discredit claims that they are falling shor t of their human rights commitments.

Using various methods, DVC members assess the credibility of the content source and determine whether other indicators corroborate the alleged event the picture or video depicts. Techniques can include checking the metadata of an image, conducting reverse image searches to check whether the content has been recycled, and using major landmarks or satellite imager y to identif y the location of the event being depicted. DVC team members are constantly updating, refining, and expanding these techniques.

The DVC consists of teams of university students, technology exper ts, and human rights practitioners across four continents. Chapters exist at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pretoria, the University of Essex, Cambridge University, the University of Hong Kong, and the University of Toronto. These working groups have reviewed hundreds of hours of video footage and thousands of photos since the inception of the DVC. In recent years, the DVC hosted annual summits as par t of its collaborative effor ts across these various university chapters. This year, the 2019 Global Annual DVC summit took place on June 2nd to 5th, at the University of Hong Kong. The summit drew representatives from all member chapters, and aimed at reviewing the past year’s work, outlining fur ther possibilities for future collaboration and lesson sharing from individual projects across these chapters.

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16 | September 25, 2019

RIGHTS REVIEW

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FROM UN ADVOCACY TO COCKTAIL PARTIES ADVOCATING FOR THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH ALBINISM

By India Annamanthadoo (3L)

When I accepted the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) Summer Fellowship, I envisioned myself holed up in a little corner of Flavelle for 16 weeks. I did not imagine myself schmoozing with models at a cocktail party on Fifth Avenue, or discussing world politics with a Kenyan senator whilst Uber-ing to said party. But, as I grabbed another falafel hors d'oeuvre and sidled out of the Uber, my dark corner in Flavelle felt worlds away. I can now attest that the IHRP offers students the full international advocacy experience—from desk research to glamorous global networking.

To explain how I found myself mingling with models and politicians, let me rewind.

As an IHRP fellow, my main responsibility this summer was supporting the mandate of Ms. Ikponwosa Ero, the UN Independent Expert on Albinism. Albinism is a rare genetic condition in which an individual lacks the gene that produces melanin. Although not everyone with albinism has a disability, the melanin deficit can result in susceptibility to skin cancer and low vision. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, persons with albinism are subject to a range of human rights abuses, from discrimination to physical attacks. In some countries, persons with albinism—even children—are mutilated or killed. Witchcraft-related myths claim that their body parts have magical powers and bring about wealth for the proprietor.

With the help of IHRP alumna AnneRachelle Boulanger (JD/MGA 2019), I worked with Ms. Ero to draft a report to the UN General Assembly about the human rights abuses that persons with albinism experience globally. Our task was to synthesize over 90 surveys administered to states and civil society groups into a report of common violations by region.

The process of synthesizing primary data into a coherent, compelling account of human rights issues by region was fascinating. Persons with albinism in each region face distinct violations and challenges, depending on the social, political, geographical, and economic contexts. For instance, in Africa and some South American countries, persons with albinism are discriminated against because of their skin colour.

Often, people view them as foreigners in their own country and their communities socially exclude them. By contrast, in northern European countries, persons with albinism may go undiagnosed well into their adult years as they may be indistinguishable from the generally fair-haired and fair-skinned population. Ironically, that limits their access to disability services to which they are entitled.

Drafting the report challenged me to balance competing needs. On the one hand, working on this report reinforced, to me, the importance of tailored advocacy; a one-size-fits-all approach to human rights overlooks distinct regional contexts that are key to addressing violations. On the other hand, too much granularity can derail efforts to build solidarity, which is necessary to compel government action.

In addition to the General Assembly re-

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MS. IKPONWOSA ERO, THE UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON ALBINISM (FRONT RIGHT), AND OTHER PERSONS WITH ALBINISM FROM AROUND THE WORLD GATHERED AT TIMES SQUARE FOR THE COLORFULL BILLBOARD REVEAL. PHOTO CREDIT: INDIA ANNAMANTHADOO

port, I also helped Ms. Ero collect evidence to convince the UN Human Rights Commission to pass a resolution condemning harmful witchcraft-related practices. The resolution is strategically important in efforts to addressing right-to-life violations against persons with albinism. My work involved combing through UN and civil society documents to build a database of witchcraft-related human rights violations (e.g. deaths, assaults, and kidnappings).

Our team documented thousands of victims of such violations in the last decade alone. Before this project, I had never fully grasped the importance of data in advocacy. I learned that a robust, traceable dataset can be pivotal in a government’s decision to support a human rights issue on the international stage.

Given that most of this work involved sitting at a (very nice) desk, I jumped at the first opportunity to travel for the project. In June, the IHRP team flew to UN Headquarters in New York City to attend an albinismfocused side event at the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP).

The event, which coincided with the International Albinism Awareness Day, focused on highlighting the resilience of persons with albinism. It was inspiring to see dozens of people with albinism, from India to Tanzania to Long Island, stand united against the collective adversity they face.

After the UN event, we made our way to Times Square for a billboard reveal. The billboard was part of the “ColorFull Campaign”, a campaign designed to raise awareness about albinism. This campaign featured supermodel Diandra Forrest, a person with albinism. The grand reveal was followed by a consultation to discuss issues faced by members of the albinism community. Afterwards, we invited a sena-

FORMER IHRP DIRECTOR SAMER MUSCATI (FAR RIGHT) AND OTHER PANELLISTS AT THE ALBINISM SIDE EVENT AT THE UN HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK CITY. PHOTO CREDIT: INDIA ANNAMANTHADOO

tor from Kenya (who had been present at all of the day’s events) to accompany us to the ColorFull Campaign launch party on Fifth Avenue. Driving through Times Square while learning about the Kenyan political system from an elected member of parliament was a surreal experience that I will never forget. At the party, we tried to blend in with the model-studded crowd (which included Diandra Forrest) but our hunger for free hors d'oeuvres quickly blew our cover.

As the night wound down, I reflected on all of the incredible growth opportunities I enjoyed because of my involvement with the IHRP. In addition to my work on albinism, I also developed content for a global, mental health campaign with Human

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Rights Watch and provided support on two refugee and immigration projects. In just 16 weeks, I developed networks across several organizations and countries, honed my primary research skills, and continued to learn the art of global advocacy. Although my time with IHRP has come to an end, I will be continuing my work with Ms. Ero as an independent legal consultant until June 2020. This will entail drafting a report for a new global alliance on albinism, and rapporteuring meetings in Paris and at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

After a summer at the IHRP, I feel better positioned to take on the many facets of international human rights work—from UN advocacy to cocktail parties. Thank you to the IHRP for an amazing summer!

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RIGHTS REVIEW

September 25, 2019 | 17

IHRP ALUMNUS PROFILE: AN INTERVIEW WITH VINCENT WONG REFLECTIONS ON HIS LAW SCHOOL EXPERIENCES AND RETURN TO IHRP

By Julie Lowenstein (3L) Vincent Wong is an adjunct professor and the William C. Graham Research Associate with the International Human Rights Program. He is spearheading U of T's involvement with the Global Media Freedom Model Laws Project this year.

Ultra Vires (UV ): How did you end up in law?

Vincent Wong ( VW): I did an economics and finance undergraduate degree at U of T, so I worked at a number of banks and hedge funds before I went to law school. I found that I didn’t really like the work or agree with the culture. So I began looking for exit options, and that’s how I came to look into law school. I thought law was interesting and I really wanted to get a sense of how power operates in society. I realized that there were a lot of assumptions I had going into my finance degree that I wanted to revisit.

UV: Once you got to law school, what were your main interests?

VW: Essentially, I wanted to learn everything that I didn’t have a chance to learn in business school. I tried just about everything I thought I might be interested in. I did criminal case work at Downtown Legal Services, constitutional work at the Asper Centre, took the Law and Development and Climate Change Law courses, and joined the Indigenous Law Journal and the International Human Rights Program. I guess you could say I became interested in “law and society,” or how law actually operates on the ground.

These interests led me to Avvy Go and the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic. In my 2L year, I organized an event for the Asia Law Society on the Chinese head tax and redress campaign. This panel exposed me to areas such as poverty law and immigration law, and these areas became my continuing interests for the remainder of law school.

UV: Did you have any experiences outside of law school that bolstered your interests?

VW: I did a lot of reading outside of law school. I felt like I knew what I wanted out of my legal education, so I skipped a lot of class reading and read a ton for my own interest. I really liked histories and biographies—I read histories of places like Rwanda, China, and Myanmar, and found that a lot of the time, fact was way more unbelievable than fiction. This really broadened my mind, and I think that this outside reading was just as important as the formal education I was getting in law school.

UV: Can you walk us through your path after law school?

VW: I struggled to get a job both during

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and after law school. I taught the LSAT after 1L because I didn’t get an internship, and then in 2L, the IHRP and Renu Mandhane, who was the director at the time, were nice enough to direct me towards their summer fellowship. I did a summer at the University of Hong Kong researching mass expropriation of land and forced evictions in rural China, and that was an unbelievable experience.

When I got out of law school, despite many applications, I had only one interview. Luckily, it was with the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic and they gave me a shot. At that clinic, clients come to you not only because they are low-income, but also because they can’t speak English, which means they can’t easily access other clinics. Because of this, we took on a broad range of cases—municipal law, social assistance and disability, mental health, employment law, stolen wages reprisal, immigration and citizenship, housing, summary advice in family and criminal law. You really had to find creative ways to help wherever you could.

Working at the clinic was great and I was able to get mentorship from some of the best and most caring practitioners I know. In addition to the case work, I got to go to the UN a couple times for Canada’s review as a civil society delegate. I was also able to participate in constitutional challenges and go to the Supreme Court— it was really an acceleration of what I thought I would be able to do with in law during an early portion of my career.

I also had a lot of imposter syndrome. I was at important tables where important law and policy reform was happening, and I didn’t always feel fully prepared or that I was the most appropriate person to have been at those tables. I was also burning out and having some mental health issues.

I loved the work and the people I worked with, but the emotional toll of the work was really getting to me. I decided that I needed to take a break and explore new things, so in 2018 I went to Columbia Law School to do my LLM, and I was fortunate enough to get a human rights fellowship.

At Columbia, I had the chance to work with Professor Sarah Cleveland, who was the Vice Chair of the Human Rights Committee at that point, some great critical race theorists like Kimberlé Crenshaw and Kendall Thomas, as well as some great migration scholars like Seyla Benhabib.

My peers were also so amazing and inspirational. I got so much out of my degree at Columbia, and it essentially parlayed into this job with the IHRP. UV: Can you tell us a bit about the projects you’re working on with the IHRP? VW: The main project I’m working on is called the Global Media Freedom Model

VINCENT WONG

Laws Project. It aims to produce a set of comprehensive thematic reports that contain specific legal guidance for states that may (at least outwardly) want to protect freedom of the press and media freedom but are running into competing interests, with respect to national security, anti-terrorism, espionage, hate speech and disinformation or “fake news.”

We’ve been able to put together a clinic course with eight students, and we’re going to be leading on the Official Secrets and Espionage Law report, which will look at issues related to people like Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning. We’re looking at the nexus between what a government considers a secret, and transparency with respect to things like human rights and issues of significant public interest. If information with respect to surveillance, national defence, and drone killings is not proactively shared or leaked to the press and discussed robustly, then there is no way for the citizenry to hold government accountable. These are the core questions that are at the heart of the project.

U of T is part of a network of academic institutions around the world that will be looking at different thematic issues with respect to media freedom. We’ll be working with the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, as well as an independent panel of legal experts including Amal Clooney and Irwin Cotler,

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who was the former Attorney General of Canada. I think we have a great opportunity to make a lasting contribution to this area.

UV: If you could give any additional advice to U of T students interested in human rights work, what would it be?

VW: I’d give two pieces of advice. The first is a bit cliché but it’s really important: you need to have a sense of what values you have as a person. You need to explore exactly what values you won’t compromise on, and try not to stray too far from that. Of course, there are sometimes compromises that will need to be made, but if you identify one or two values that you find really important and won’t compromise on, everything will follow from that.

The second is that there can be a lot of doom and gloom that, if you care about human rights and social justice, you’ll never get a job. While it’s true that it might not pay as much as some other avenues that you could take, if you have a more holistic conception of what human rights are, then I guarantee you there is no shortage of jobs. If you’re a criminal defence lawyer, you’re protecting people’s rights to a fair trial. If you’re working with trade unions then you’re defending people’s rights to a fair and decent living. There is no shortage of human rights law jobs.

This inter view has been edited for clarity.

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18 | September 25, 2019

OPINIONS

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Faking It After Making It Revisiting recruitment ethics and etiquette TOM COLLINS (3L) You have one reputation. The fall 2L recruit is one of your earliest opportunities for you to tender that reputation for scrutiny. Take that opportunit y ser iously. Toronto’s legal market is relatively small. So aside from the moral implications of maintaining a good reputation, there is a practical dimension.

The pur pose of this article is not to tell you how to use your napk in or to expound on the v irtues of discretion. It is only to admonish one especially reprehensible practice: tak ing advantage of a f irm’s generosit y while know ing that you have no intention of accepting an of fer from that f irm.

Back in Aug ust, I wrote a short post in the Class of 2021 Facebook group. The post responded to some disturbing infor-

mation I had received about the New York recruit. I learned that students who had already accepted job of fers at certain f irms were nevertheless attending recruiting events for other f irms.

That was plainly unethical for three reasons. First, those students were know ingly misleading the hosting law f irms. Those students could not—and would not—accept any of fers that the other f irms might extend to them.

Second, those students were depr iv ing deser v ing and actual candidates the opportunit y to market themselves. Many recruiting events, such as the coveted dinners, are by inv ite-only. It is wrong for someone who has no leg itimate business being at such an event to take one of the limited seats that

would other w ise go to a real candidate.

Third, even at initial network ing events, those students’ presence stood to depr ive real candidates of their potential employers’ attention. A ny time that an associate or partner spent speak ing to a fake candidate would be time that they were not spending assessing the relevant qualif ications of a real candidate.

The New York recruit is now over, but my obser vations remain relevant for two reasons. One, there w ill be another New York recruit. Two, the Toronto recruit is similarly v ulnerable to exploitation.

I recognize that the LSO’s reg ulations prevent early of fers dur ing the recruit.

However, were you so inclined, you could attend a dinner after hav ing decided to de-

cline any of fer forthcoming from the hosting f irm. Doing that would be wrong for the same reasons out lined above.

Even if your presence would not directly deprive another student of the opportunity to attend, you should recuse yourself. To be clear, if you are midway through an event and you decide the f irm is not for you, then you should politely excuse yourself.

If you take advantage of a f irm’s generosit y that you have no intention of accepting an of fer from, you are inter fer ing inexcusably w ith actual candidates’ abilities to secure employment. In short, you are a greedy asshole. Do not be an asshole. Do not make the recruitment process any more stressful than it already is.

Restricting Accessibility Is the administration doing enough for student accessibility services?

LUCY YAO (1L) Volunteer note-tak ing is the most commonly required accommodation prov ided to students reg istered w ith Accessibilit y Ser v ices. Unfortunately, it is an inef fective way to address the accessibilit y needs of students. There is no qualit y control process to ensure that the notes submitted by volunteer note-takers are accurate or even complete. The professors don’t rev iew the notes to ensure that ever ything important mentioned dur ing the lecture has been accurately wr itten down. The volunteer notetak ing program also requires other students to take the initiative to volunteer their notes. There is no g uarantee that notes w ill actually be available.

A nother underly ing issue w ith the volunteer note-tak ing program is that it places the onus for prov iding accessibilit y ser v ic-

es on other students rather than on the school itself. The school should be doing more to ensure that they are meeting the accessibilit y needs of students and not of f loading this responsibilit y to students.

A better solution for students w ith accessibilit y needs is allow ing those students to record lectures. Audio recordings address issues related to qualit y control and potential lack of volunteer note-takers, while shifting the onus of accessibilit y onto the school itself.

However, as per the Academic Handbook, “the Facult y of Law does not permit the recording of classes, nor does it permit instructors to grant such requests. In instances of disabilit y accommodation or extraordinar y circumstances where students are required to miss class, students should

expect to rely on class notes.”

The administration, as well as several professors, have expressed concerns about allow ing students to record lectures. These include potential drops in class engagement, as well as pr ivacy issues if statements made by professors and students are taken out of context.

However, Professor Kent Roach said he “can think of at least a few justif ied exceptions [to the policy]—k ind of like mandator y minimum sentences.” A nother professor, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that recordings should be allowed if they help students learn, but specif ied conditions that must be attached to the recordings, such as recordings being personal to the students w ith accessibilit y needs and the recording being destroyed when the

course f inishes.

According to A ssociate Dean, Students A ndrew Green, “A ny potential benef it of taping lectures is, on balance, far outweighed by the r isks of negative ef fects on attendance as well as on the quantit y and substance of participation.”

However, I f ind it dif f icult to believe that these negative ef fects would be substantial enough to outweigh the benef its of taping if only students w ith accessibilit y needs are granted this pr iv ilege.

Ultimately, the volunteer note-tak ing program is, by itself, an inef fective learning tool and should be used in conjunction w ith tools like audio recorded lectures. The Facult y of Law’s restr iction on recording lectures should be modif ied to consider the needs of student accessibilit y ser v ices.

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OPINIONS

September 25, 2019 | 19

The Porcelain Inconvenience of Cognomos Why course registration sucks ass TOM COLLINS (3L)

Cognomos is a shit hole. Hear me out.

Course reg istration is like defecating —we all need to do it, and, while it is never particularly pleasant, the degree of unpleasantness depends, in large part, on the technolog ies w ith which we engage for the pur poses of accomplishing our end goal.

In modern bathrooms, the abject realities of the human body are swept away so quick ly, it is like they never existed. A n ergonomic throne conceals a sophisticated plumbing system pur pose-built to ferr y your waste along a modern-day R iver St y x.

It is wonder ful, and it is totally unnecessar y.

Well into the 20 0 0s, my Canadian cottage had an outhouse in the forest. There were four weathered cedar-planked walls and a bench w ith a robin’s egg-blue plastic toilet seat plonked over a deep black hole.

The inev itable cloud of mosquitoes was not part of the or ig inal design.

“A toilet seat,” you cr y, “you bourgeois elite!” You are r ight, dear reader, to call out my pr iv ilege. I could have made do w ith just a hole. However, g iven the choice, I suspect that you would choose the discrete toilet and the mood lighting any day.

In fact, I suspect that you expect that porcelain convenience.

Much like we take bathrooms for granted, we take for granted the seamless user inter faces of websites like Facebook and Google. These companies have spent millions of dollars on streamlining their usabilit y. They employ entire squadrons of web designers whose job it is to maximize your happiness. That is the standard that we expect as end-users. So, it is shock ing when we are confronted w ith web-based software like Cognomos.

Cognomos is a metaphor ical shit hole. It is probably “enter pr ise” software i.e. a more or less bare-bones system marketed to cor porations which, the designers assume, w ill tailor it to their own needs. A s is, it does the job but not in any intuitive way. It is designed to be used by specialists, not by unsophisticated users like you and me. It can, of course, be customized. User interface / user exper ience designers could make it more user fr iendly—but that is expensive.

I am not a software designer; I cannot

prov ide a well-founded cr itique of Cognomos’s dig ital architecture. A ll that I know is that it has some infur iatingly bad features. Let us beg in w ith the log-in portals.

W hy are there so many of them? It should be enough to log into the hilar iously poorly named E .Legal.

Want to reg ister for courses? OK. You have to select enough courses so that you end up w ith tw ice as many credits as you can possibly take. So, f irst, you need a list of all the courses that could possibly interest you. There is no descr iptive list of courses on Cognomos. You need to f ind the list of course descr iptions on the law school website. The list that Cognomos does have is also spread unhelpfully over about eight pages and does not automatically sort them into any discernible order. There is also no way to sort the courses into any useful order. Cognomos does not div ide the courses into fall and w inter semesters, either. You need to f ig ure that out on your own. ( Pro tip: search “*1F ” to display fall courses and “*1S” to display w inter courses).

Once you have selected approx imately ten extra courses that you have no intention of tak ing, you then need to order them according to your preference. This is where the fun really beg ins. On a separate page, Cognomos sets out four rank ing categor ies: Favour ite, Great, Good, and Acceptable.

You get to rank one “Favour ite” to pr ior itize that class. I am not sure what the restr ictions are for the other categor ies; I put the rest of my ideal schedule into “Great”.

That alone took considerable ef fort.

The rank ing categor ies are boxes stacked one on top of each other. They do not f it all on one screen. That is frustrating, because the only way to rank your selections is by dragg ing and dropping them into the boxes. So, you have to click on a class, at the ver y bottom of the page, pull it up to the top of your screen, and then wait while it jitters up to the box you want.

This would be slow enough on its own, but another annoy ing idiosyncrasy stops you from mak ing even semi-smooth progress. You cannot drag and drop more than three courses in a row. If you tr y to rank a fourth class, Cognomos just does not respond. You have to save your selection and reload the page. Remember, you have to

select, and therefore rank, double the credits than you can actually take. So, this takes a long time and a lot of page reloads.

A lso, ever y time you save your selection, Cognomos sends you an email to tell you what you have just done. My inbox was over f low ing w ith point less messages by the end.

One of the most absurd parts of this process is that, after all that toil and drudger y, you have ver y litt le say in what courses you get. It is a lotter y. I was lucky. I got most of the courses I wanted (and then, inexplicably, a few more, which pushed me to an impossible thirt y-some credit year). Other people ended up w ith a semester’s worth of credits spread thin over the entire year and daunting wait list positions for the rest of their choices.

The wait lists were also plag ued w ith technical problems. Those problems turned what should have been a simple automatic process into an administrative nightmare.

Beg inning July 24, the administration shut down the whole add/drop system for days just to tr y to rejig the wait lists.

Less structural ( but similarly vex ing) quirks included the way in which Cognomos displays students’ schedules and the process for manag ing courses already in your schedule. Cognomos displays all of your courses—fall and w inter —in the same chart. The crowding makes it hard enough to read. Worse is that Cognomos only displays the course codes that no one has ever used for reference and which have no clear relation to the name of a course. W hat that means is that you cannot decipher your schedule at a glance. You have to hover your cursor over each class and wait for the pop-up w indow to tell you what it is.

To drop a class, you have to t y pe “DROP [ NA M E OF CL A SS]”, when prompted.

You cannot copy and paste that text from the prompting w indow. Just let me drop the damn class!

I am going to stop here. There are other problems, but the point of this article is not to prov ide a comprehensive g uide to areas for improvement. I simply want to assert that we deser ve better. Cognomos is a shit hole. Course reg istration was a shit storm.

The whole situation is a shameful testament to administrative mismanagement.

DIVERSIONS

20 | September 25, 2019

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U of T Law is Full of Snakes

Also eels, skinks, glass lizards, slow worms, and caecilians

ALINA YU (2L) I’m sorr y M iss Jackman, I am four eels.* Law student gossip mills both domestic and abroad, unimpeachably reliable online sources ( lawstudents.ca), and word on the ( Bay) Street agree—U of T Law is full of snakes. No other Canadian law school is as infamous for the integr it y, or lack thereof, of its student body. U of T law students are rumoured to tear pages out of textbooks, take in-f irms for jobs they don’t want to depr ive other candidates of the chance, and deliberately spread misinformation. Within ever y joke there is a kernel of truth and this is said kernel: the Jackman Law Building is infested w ith cold-blooded, venomous, literal snakes. I personally exhibit many t y pical traits: I yoked academic high-per formance to my fundamental sense of self. I pursue HHs like my life depends on it. A nd I am a legally incor porated person made up of four ectothermic, venomous, cerebral cortex-def icient moray eels. ( Part of the human empathy instinct is

based in the cerebral cortex’s supramarg inal g yrus. The cerebral cortex is notedly underdeveloped in eels and other f ish).

It’s about time I said what ever yone knows to be true. Uof T Law is full of fellow snake and snake-adjacent high-per formers suck ing up all the jobs, the grades, and the extra-curr icular positions w ith our phar yngeal jaws. My identit y as four eels in a human suit has allowed me to succeed personally and professionally, at...

INTERVIEWS The pressure-cooker env ironment of the law school, the deep f inancial burden of tuition, and the impending spectre of another recession pushes many people into the most high-strung versions of themselves dur ing the recruits. I, on the other hand, do not falter. I lack a prefrontal cortex to process complex anxiet y-inducing stimuli (a crucial neurolog ical component of anxiet y is the

input of complex sensor y and cognitive information into deeper brain structures responsible for pr imal fear responses), and hence have never frozen in an inter v iew, gaf fed, or hesitated. In fact, I have never felt any anxiet y in my life, ever. Plus, as an eel-identify ing person in a snake-identifying major it y profession, I score major diversit y points w ith recruiters.

LANDING JOBS I have already accepted four 2020 summer associate positions (one for each eel), and I am holding onto an additional 35 offers. This has the benef it of deny ing 35 worthy candidates the spots while, at the same time, holding onto just enough to secure positions for an entire hy pothetical brood of elvers. I feel no loyalt y to anyone in a position of job uncertaint y, just as I feel no loyalt y to any of these f irms. I am using the f irms strateg ically as launchpads

(into the Hudson R iver, to pursue my tenyear plan of mak ing partner in The Sargasso Sea L L P).

ACADEMICS Ever y map, course summar y, past exam, or set of notes I’ve ever sent to a colleag ue or junior has been injected liberally w ith deliberate legal errors to undermine students’ understanding, destroy their academic career, and grease my slipper y body to straight-HH success. I also like to take all the books out of the course reser ve section at peak hours, and cram them full of unfertilized eel eggs. *L ibe r t i es t a k e n w it h t h e ge n d e r of ou r l a w sch ool . ‘Mi ss’ a ccord s bet t e r w it h my d es ire t o p ro mot e ge nu i n e af f ir m at i ve a ct i on , a n d t o foll ow t h e p r i m a r y sou rce . I realize it i s Mr. Ja ckm a n , n a m ed af t e r on e of t h e g reat est li vi n g mi n d s fou n d i n all co m mon l a w ju r i sdi ct i on s , Hu gh Ja ck m a n .

In Memoriam: Summer 2019 Christian Girl Autumn can wait a little longer ANGELA GU (1L) Hot Girl Summer, who strutted into the mainstream consciousness and encouraged us to live our best lives, passed away on Labour Day, surrounded by her family and loved ones. A fter a long struggle w ith the apprehension of school-year stress, the sudden onset of the two-week-long Legal Methods course concluded her time among us.

Summer was born on the f irst nice, warm, and sunny day of 2019 to parents Keanu Reeves and Gaia Climatechange (née Globalwarming). Born as Summer Twent ynineteen, she was g iven the nick-

name Hot Girl Summer by the fans of Houston-born rapper Megan Thee Stallion in May, and this sobr iquet set the tone for the rest of her short life.

Summer came into being w ith the twangs of L il Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and its def iant lyr ics “Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ / You can’t tell me nothin’.”

She grew up w ith the power ful verses of L izzo’s “Juice” on repeat.

Over her br ief, legacy-f illed life, Summer taught us that just as one does not require a dick to have Big Dick Energ y, one does not have to be a g irl to have a Hot

Girl Summer. It’s all about hav ing conf idence and ambition. It’s all about hav ing goals and achiev ing them. It’s about feeling inv incible.

This summer, there were hordes of youth pledg ing to storm A rea 51. Keanu Reeves was liv ing his best life w ith John Wick 3, Toy Stor y 4, and a cameo in A lways Be My Maybe. Boys turned themselves into literal hot g irls w ith the Snapchat gender-swap f ilter. There is literal heat w ith the A mazon rainforest burning in Brazil.

No other nickname has ever been as apt.

Summer is sur v ived by her parents,

Reeves and Climatechange. She w ill never truly leave us—Hot Girl Summer —the motto, the meme. Hot Girl Summer is a state of mind, an attitude, a spir it that w ill continue to ex ist as long as there are people embracing what it stands for —unabashedly liv ing life on one’s own terms.

Thank you, Hot Girl Summer, for what you brought to the lives of many and the impact you made. You were truly inspir ing.

May your legacy live on.

In lieu of f lowers, memor ial contr ibutions may be made to the count less students tr y ing to have a hot scholar semester.

DIVERSIONS

ultravires.ca

September 25, 2019 | 21

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, please contact: Students’ Ostracized Society diversions@ultravires.ca

Intra Vires Presents Students’ Ostracized Society (SOS) Organization will inject free-market competition into monopolistic behaviour of student government

By Honghu Wang (3L) TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2019 -- Intra Vires is proud to announce the creation of the Students’ Ostracized Society (SOS), a new student society created “by law students, for law students” here at the Faculty of Law. This new organization will inject some good old free-market competition to the monopolistic market behaviour of the existing student government.

In addition to the traditional free-market values for which this Faculty is renowned, the SOS is also ardently committed to being what can only be described as “recklessly progressive”. The SOS will, for example, fund previously shunned activities such as alcohol and cannabis tastings. The society will, of course, feature blackjack (and other poker games) and hookers (and other rugby positions) in its social activities, following the guidance of Bender B. Rodríguez, a noted philosopher ahead of his time.

The SOS will pay its employees a livable wage, funded through a wholly transparent system where exactly enough is skimmed off the top to fund lavish parties exclusively for executives while also flying below the radar of our dependent auditors.

The SOS will also represent student voices to the Faculty twice as effectively as current approaches by sending half as many representatives to Faculty Council meetings.

The SOS will, following the move of its competitor, hold in camera meetings with the Dean, except the meetings will also be on camera. Lastly, we propose to rename Robert's Rules of Order to Edward's Rules in honour of our glorious dean.

- 30 -

Remedies for the Budget Cuts Because if there’s anything this school needs, it’s branded hand-dryers ERNEST TAM (2L) Seeing that we’re a bit tighter on cash this year due to those darn budget cuts, I thought I’d do my part and help Dean Iacobucci with some new ways to convince law firms and affluent donors to part with more of their hard-earned/bloodsoaked treasure. Sir, if you’re reading this, give me a call before Osgoode does!

More Named Spaces Nearly every space in the school is named after a firm or person. From the Bennett Jones Bridge on the third floor to the William C. Graham Collection in the library basement, people and firms have paid serious dough to get their names on the wall. However, there are still plenty of high-traffic spaces that could do with some cold stainless steel lettering such as the Student Kitchen, washrooms, and every garbage can in the building.

Although it isn’t immediately obvious why a firm would want their name towering over the bathroom stalls, associating a firm’s name with the pleasant feeling of answering nature’s call might just be the difference for a student picking between two firms during the recruit.

Screensavers for the Computers Hundreds of students go in and out of the library every day, and they pass just over a dozen computers each way. Currently, the monitors are void of any sign of life—similar to how law students feel as they make their way to the pedagogical purgatory that is the library. So, if we had firm logos flashing on the desktop monitors as screensavers, maybe it will reassure students that

if they work hard enough there is light (arguably more darkness) at the end of the tunnel.

More Heads, Busts, and Statues!

Sponsored Events

The most interesting pieces of art in Jackman are probably the ones that honour individuals integral to the founding of U of T Law: the heads of Bora Laskin and Cecil A. Wright. Now, what if we gave law firms the option of immortalizing those who were integral to the founding of their own firms, such as Britton Bath Osler of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP or Fraser Elliott of Stikeman Elliot LLP, but in sculpture form? And what if we told them that if they pony up some more cash they can get a towering life-sized monument the likes of that badass statue of King Edward VII on a horse in the middle of Queen’s Park? There are over a hundred named partners from firms participating in the fall OCIs alone, so the opportunity here is bountiful.

Yak’s Snacks? Davies’ Cravies? McMillan’s Fill ’ems? OKT’s Wednesday Tea? Baker McKenzie’s Food Frenzy? I could go on all day. Law students love free food, so why don’t we have firms sponsor the monthly indulgence of carbs, sugar, and burnt coffee at the law school instead of poor ol’ Yak? In fact, maybe firms can even step it up a notch and showcase some of the food that they’ll be providing students while they’re busy toiling away at the office at 2:00am. That way students have a more tangible measure of the right firm for them rather than solely relying on “fit.”

DIVERSIONS

22 | September 25, 2019

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Cognomopogo Invasive cryptid devastates local ecosystem RORY SMITH (3L) The Cognomopogo (schedulus fuckupus) is a large predator y cr y ptid native to the northeastern United States. A n invasive species in Canada, the Cognomopogo was introduced to U of T Law in June 2019 as part of the administration’s policy to control the proliferation of pr ior it y letters, which had beg un to tax the administration’s resources/patience.

Upon its release, the Cognomopogo laid waste to the hopes and dreams of upper year students and drove the complacent pr ior it y letters to extinction. Unexpectedly, the Cognomopogo made no distinction between 2L s and 3L s, indiscr iminately

leav ing a trail of all-caps emails and broken monitors in its wake.

The administration has declined to comment on whether raccoons are being deliberately introduced in an ef fort to eradicate the Cognomopogo.

Behaviour Slugg ish and tor pid, the Cognomopogo is an ambush predator, lur ing unwar y law students w ith promises of simpler procedures and max imized happiness. It feeds mainly on poorly-wr itten code and the ang uish of upper-year students, although it

can also feed on the administration’s passive aggressive emails if its preferred food sources run low.

The Cognomopogo hibernates throughout the w inter, emerg ing in late July to feed. Throughout July, it engages in a br ief f lurr y of feeding, gobbling up the entiret y of the administration’s patience. By late July, almost all of the food has been consumed, and the Cognomopogo contents itself w ith the occasional morsel before returning to its w inter hibernation.

Incredibly dif f icult to k ill, rumour has it that the Cognomopogo can regenerate, undoing any damage received in the prev ious

few days. Students are adv ised to maintain a safe distance and stable internet connection if they spot the Cognomopogo.

Distribution & Habitat Pr ior to its introduction in Toronto, the Cognomopogo pr imar ily lurked in the northeastern United States in habitats as diverse as business schools and communit y colleges. A s global temperatures r ise, Cognomopogo has expanded its natural range further north. Native to Pennsylvania, the invasive cr y ptid has established stable populations across the East Coast since the spr ing of 2017.

Dear Denning Nothing must be left unanswered LORD DENNING

Dear Denning, do judges wear clothes under their robes, or like, what’s going on down there?

Irene Inquisitive (1L) Dear Irene,

Jur idical undergarmentr y is a subject of great pr ide in the courts of England and Wales. Judges of all ages, sexes and states of genital cleanliness have long participated in the great traditions of juris nudus.

The old rule at common law was that judges went naked under their robes. Ever yone went commando. It was a glor ious time to be alive. (Sur pr isingly, the courts were the one place where the Scots were scrupulously covered below the waist).

C um balls tantum in boni s sit ser vata mea non sit in deci sions was t he ancient ma x im.

I n Plaintif f v D efendant (1900) 1 E R L ord Dingleber r y stated it t hus: “ My L ords, it seems to me t hat on ly w it h h is scrot um upon a soft velour can a L ord of L aw prop erly adjudge t he pett y squabbles of a commoner”.

The rule was beloved in the common law but was loathed in the Courts of Chancer y.

This was not for want of pr inciple but because the Lord Chancellor himself suf fered an unfortunate incident.

Dur ing the Great Updraft of 18 60, a f ierce w ind exposed Lord Chancellor Dr ibblebit’s genitals to the entire Queen’s Pr iv y

Council as he left Westminster Hall. It was a ver y cold day. There was great shr inkage. On her seeing, Queen Victor ia proclaimed: “There goes Lord Smallcock!”

The Queen subsequent ly forgot that the moniker was not his real name.

Thus began the start of a great r ift between the courts of law and equit y. Barr isters petitioning to the Chancer y were required to wear four pairs of under wear.

Their colleag ues before the Court of Common Pleas wore none.

With the fusion of the courts in 1875, the equitable rule prevailed. Six centur ies of tradition was no more. This has been for the better. W hile f irmly f ixed, the common law rule had allowed side-w inds to pose a ser ious r isk to judicial propr iet y.

The number of subway grates in London had increased dramatically. There were more updrafts than ever before. The urchin boys who cleaned the Lords’ loins pr ior to the hear ings were needed in the coal mines.

My Lords, it seems to me that the time has come to renew the maxim in English law. Under wear is becoming more expensive. The subway has been replaced by SU Vs. Updrafts are no more. Lady barr isters f ill the courts. For this reason I would allow the appeal and overturn the verdict of any litigant whose judgement was not delivered jur is nudus.

Dear Denning, my man T keeps coming home at four in the morning. I ask him where he’s been but he just tells me not to worry about it. My girl saw him at the club talking to Susan (THAT Susan). I know they’re sleeping together, but I don’t have any proof. Are there any remedies available at law?

Brittney Babymama (3L) Dear Brittney,

In summertime, cheating on your “ babymama” is the delight of ever yone. Nearly ever y cit y has its own club where the young men go to get something their woman ain’t g iv ing them and the old men go to get anything.

The Cit y of Toronto, Prov ince of Ontario has such a club. The club owner tends it well. The bathrooms are cleaned biweek ly of vomit and forgotten lipstick tubes. The bar is well stocked w ith Cr istal. The dance f loor is well coated in a layer of spilled dr inks, tears, and bodily f luids. Simpleton bouncers ensure there is always a line.

On Fr idays and Saturdays (and Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays) the local v illagers dress up and come to the club. Sometimes they hook up. On other evenings, they go home alone.

For 40 years no one has complained about the club. The other babymamas did not seem to mind it. Now you seek an injunction to stop T from going to the club and doing what he does best.

For many years the law of England was f irmly on the side of T. The old rule was that “she who dates a fuckboy so doeth at her own per il.” But the law of A mer ica has been more sympathetic. In the T hru Your Phone case, great A mer ican street jur ist Cardi B. stated the A mer ican rule: “ Wanna send nudes to my man? Wake up and see your boobs on the ‘gram, litt le bitch”.

It seems to me that the time has come for the law of England to adopt such an equitable rule.

The remedy is thus: If T comes home late at night and w ill not disclose his pr ior location, you may search his phone. A ny nudes from Susan that you f ind, you may post on Instagram. You may then k ick his ass, w ithin reason. T may attempt to say “Babe, don’t babe, I’m sorr y babe”, but the court w ill not hear it. It does not lie in the mouth of a cheating fuckboy to say “Babe, I’m sorr y babe, don’t break my Xbox babe.”

My Lords, only one minor exception to the rule is required. Should the fuckboy in question be named Denning M.R., the estoppel shall not apply. Such an exception is required to get a certain babymama to lay of f a particular fuckboy who was simply at the club w ith his boys.

DIVERSIONS

ultravires.ca

September 25, 2019 | 23

Intra Vires Totally real news from around the law school RORY SMITH (3L)

Witness me, blood bag!

A fter back lash over the introduction of the Cognomos course selection system, the administration has decided to quote “ fuck it” and revert to the “Batt le Royale” system employed under former Dean Mayo Moran. Sales of silver spray paint skyrocketed follow ing the announcement.

Intro to Statistics added to 1L curriculum Sara Fahert y has added introductor y statistics to the mandator y 1L curr iculum after explaining to the umpteenth student that max imum aggregate happiness does not imply max imum indiv idual happiness.

Wellness sharks need new handler after departure of Yukimi Henry The departure of Manager, Academic/ Personal, and Wellness Coordinator/ Shark-Handler, Yuk imi Henr y has hit no communit y at the law school harder than the school’s school of wellness sharks.

Stikeman Elliot (Great Hammerhead), Paliare Roland (Shortf in Mako), and Fasken ( Bask ing) have been particularly despondent. Applicants must have three years counselling exper ience and all of their f ingers.

Robert Wagner surprised to find himself Chief Justice of Canada Retired auto-worker Robert Wagner, 67,

of Trois-R iv ières, QC was sur pr ised to wake up one morning to f ind himself Chief Justice of Canada. W hen asked about his pr ior ities for his tenure, he hoped that he would be able to “ br ing presents to all the good boys and g irls”.

New Chief Justice?

A panicked Dean Iacobucci reportedly made a frantic phone call to the Supreme Court of Canada order ing Chief Justice R ichard Wagner to legally change his name to Robert Wagner after an embarrassing email sent to the entire student body. W hen pressed on the mistake, the Dean held up a copy of Justice Wagner’s birth certif icate w ith “R ichard” scr ibbled out in Shar pie and replaced w ith “Robert”. The R ight Honourable R ichard/Robert Wagner could not be reached for comment.

Rite of the Yakarist delayed The f irst R ite of the Yakar ist of the new school year was delayed when the wafers failed to arr ive on time. Student eagerly awaiting renew ing their covenant in the Dean’s blood were forced to pretend that they totally would gather in the atr ium in such large numbers at 10 am.

Nothing of note happens in main floor bathroom hallway Absolutely nothing of note happened in the hallway leading to the main f loor washrooms in September. Entirely unrelated, nothing of note occurred in the reception area either.

PHOTO CREDIT 2: MELODY CHAN (2L)

STIKEMAN ELLIOT GREAT HAMMERHEAD. PHOTO CREDIT: ERNEST TAM (2L)

BACK PAGE

24 | September 25, 2019

ultravires.ca

My name is Dana O’Shea and I’ve created a website dedicated to mental health transparency at U of T Law. I want to share what I’ve learned from my three years of law school and through my exper iences in the Peer Mental Health Support Program.

The site w ill have info about mental health mentors, group chat sessions, and other resources available on and of f campus. Starting at the end of September, I w ill also release a monthly podcast featur ing a mental health professional who w ill discuss a topic of mental health as it relates to law students specif ically. The September podcast focuses on unpack ing and mitigating the Imposter Complex.

In your time at law school, have you felt as though you were a fraud or that you, unlike ever ybody else, did not belong? Did you know that the Imposter Complex manifests itself in 6 dif ferent ways depending on your personalit y? These coping mechanisms can be disg uised quite well and can actually exacerbate the feeling of not belong ing.

Take a listen to the podcast to f ind out how the Imposter Complex might operate in your life and learn techniques that w ill help to mitigate its detr imental ef fects in high-stress situations. The good news is that the Complex can also be positive! Tune in at jackman-lets-talk.com to f ind out more.

— Dana O’Shea (3L)

Merit is everything.

If you’re talented and do great work, we have a place for you. Reach out to our students to learn more.

John Aziz Class of 2020

Zachary Green Class of 2021

Andrew Helsdon Class of 2019

Kimberly Legate Class of 2020

Kate Mazzuocco Class of 2020

Samantha Rosenthal Class of 2020

Timothy Shin Class of 2019

Teraleigh Stevenson Class of 2020

Nicholas Tomazos Class of 2019

Michael Xia Class of 2019

dwpv.com/students

@daviesstudents