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March 27, 2019 | 9
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Kosoian v Société de Transport de Montréal, scheduled to be heard on Apr. 16, 2019
In 2009, Ms. Kosoian was rummaging through her backpack on a Laval subway station escalator when an officer told her to hold the handrail and pointed to a nearby pictogram depicting a rider holding a handrail. Ms. Kosoian ignored the instruction, interpreting the pictogram as a mere recommendation. Upon request, she also refused to show the officer her ID. With the help of backup, the officer responded by arresting Ms. Kosian, detaining and handcuffing her in a separate room, searching her backpack, and issuing two tickets. A Montreal Municipal Court eventually acquitted Ms. Kosoian of the charges. Ms. Kosoian sued the officer and the City of Laval for unlawful arrest, claiming $24,000 in moral damages, pain, suffering, inconvenience, and exemplary damages. Her claim was rejected by both the trial court and the Quebec Court of Appeal.
Police officer’s knowledge of the law This case has garnered international coverage primarily due to the ease with which the facts can be summarized into a clickbait-y headline. Indeed, “Canadian woman arrested for refusing to hold an escalator handrail” is bound to pique interest. This case is equally intriguing, however, for the legal issues it raises. The particular question at issue is whether police officers may be held liable for carrying out an arrest based on an honest but mistaken belief in the state of the law. The majority of the Court of Appeal deemed the applicable standard of care to be that of a “reasonable police officer” in the circumstances, not that of a “lawyer or reasonable judge.” Shrager JA, in dissent, contended that arresting someone for a nonexistent offence should not be deemed legal simply because the officer acted in good faith. If upheld, this decision may afford wide latitude to police officers in justifying arrests on the basis of a sincere but false belief in the existence of a law.
New Director for the CDO Interview with Neil Dennis ALINA YU (1L) the position, but the students and what the school stood for that spoke for me. Howard didn’t have the same level of resources as Georgetown. So, I built much of their career ser v ices program up. Howard was the only universit y for me, in the United States. So what brought you to Uof T?
PHOTO CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW.
Neil Dennis is the new Director of the Career Development Of f ice. We took some time to sit down w ith him and ask about his new role at the CDO. The follow ing interv iew has been condensed and edited. U V: There’s a litt le bit of a blurb on you on t he facult y website; is t here anyt hing else you’d like t he student body to know about you?
You get to the point where your career and family don’t intertw ine properly. W hen you start v iew ing a world like A mer ica— w ith all the racism, g un v iolence—through the eyes of your child it changes you. There’s a case in Ohio where a twelveyear-old boy was shot dead by a cop on the playground. My k id was nine, at that time, and that scared the heck out of me. To be honest, it was always the plan to raise our k ids in here. W hile I was at Howard, I was building things up, I had a network here, I had some exper ience for the Canadian and A mer ican recruiting. I threw my hat in the r ing. A re t here any new projects planned for t he next year? We have in the works a pilot program for the incoming 1L s. It’s going to be small groups for self-ref lection on each student’s goals, streng ths, and what they want to work on. Students’ streng ths stay w ith them. So, no matter what grades a student comes out w ith, f irst semester, they w ill remember that they have something marketable.
N D: I was born in Montreal, but I spent my whole adolescence here [in Toronto]. I decided to go to the States for law school and, after graduating, I ended up work ing at a large D.C. f irm that no longer ex ists. Have you made any changes to t he I wasn’t talk ing to other law yers but current prog ra ms t he CDO of fers? grav itating towards students. Telling them A re t here any planned changes for what to do, what not to any of t he current do. That appealed to me CDO prog ra ms? more than wr iting br iefs, memos, factums, “I also want to do more We restructured the emthat sort of thing. A s for students interested ployer carousel for the things were turning 2L recruit. We used to down in 20 08 and the in pursuing a career in hold it in J250 w ith staf irm looked to be in a dium seating. This year, public interest.” bad place, I inter v iewed we used f lat classrooms w ith Georgetown for a and we all put the stucareer clerkship coundents in rotating groups sellor position. I didn’t get that position, so there are no empt y rooms and ever y stubut I was brought on in a new position dent has the opportunit y to split ever y em[Georgetown] created for me in their caployer. It allowed the employers to always reer ser v ices of f ice. see a full room, and it allowed students to From there, I always had my eye on see the full spread of employers. Howard Universit y Law School. It wasn’t
W hat about any big picture projects?
litt le more livable. That’s something I’m look ing into developing. I have three ver y broad ideas, and out of A nd I also want to encourage more of those, specif ic programs and initiatives our students who have an interest to apply w ill be rolling out. to the New York recruits. There are some I’ve been talk ing w ith f irms that w ill only take students that want to the HH students. But take alternative routes— there are other f irms go into consulting, busithat br ing in hundreds “You get to the point ness, other k inds of poliof summer student at a where your career and cy work. These are time, three times as family don’t intertwine many as the largest f irm alternatives where you didn’t need the J D, but here, and they aren’t properly. When you the J D has value. I found only look ing at the top start viewing a world an alternative career my10% of our classes. We self. like America—with all had the same problem I also want to do more [at Howard], because the racism, gun for students interested in they were not T14. Stuviolence—through the dents thought only the pursuing a career in public interest. We place stutop 10% of our student eyes of your child it dents at M AG of f ices, body would be able to changes you.” Ontar io ser v ices, Cit y of land inter v iews. I enToronto, the DOJ. Stucouraged more students dents who want to do that should know we to apply, and f irms dug into the top third aren’t just cater ing to the law f irms. I don’t of our class. I was able to do that [at Howwant to hear a student say to me: “I wanted ard], and I want to do that here. to do public interest work, but I feel like I W hat do you ant icipate t he impact of need to go to a big f irm.” t he Ontario govern ment tuit ion cut To the extent that our students are lookis going to be on t he CDO? ing to come to the States. There are so I do not know just yet. The powers that be many more f irms out there than those come (that are above my paygrade) are trying to on campus or do resume pickups, and there f ind ways to deal with that issue. Whatever it is room to expand. I know about the A meris, I am very much secure that they underican market, I made a lot of great connecstand our off ice is very important to our stutions in my time in New York and the U.S. dents. I built [the Howard Career Services I think Massachusetts could be a market for Off ice] from nothing. So, whatever we are our students. They pay New York rates, dished, it’s not going to take away from the they have a great pharmacy industr y, they students’ experience with us. have interesting cor porate work, Boston’s a
