Ultra Vires Vol 17 Issue 1: 2015 September

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | ULTRAVIRES.CA

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

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE UV’s Guide to 1L, p. 8

How to Prepare for OCIs, p. 7

Hemingway’s Cover Letter, p. 18

EDITORIAL/NEWS

2 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

ultravires.ca

Editor's Letter BRETT HUGHES (3L) Hello and welcome, or welcome back, to law school! By now, you have probably finalised your extracurriculars and course selection, and started to settle into a routine. I hope that reading, and contributing to, Ultra Vires becomes a part of that routine. We will continue to work hard every month to keep you informed about the goings-on at the Faculty, foster discussion on a diverse range of issues, bring you interesting interviews and long-form pieces, and make you laugh.

So what’s on Ultra Vires’ radar for this year?

Ed Iacobucci is beginning his first full academic year as Dean, having started his term in January, 2015. Iacobucci initially emphasised that he wished to consult a variety of stakeholders before setting out specific goals and plans for his mandate.

With eight months under his belt, we are now hoping to see some specifics.

Ultra Vires will, of course, continue to focus on tuition and financial aid. The Faculty of Law has been increasing tuition at the maximum legally allowable amount each year—currently 5% over the prior year—for over a decade, and seems intent on continuing to do so. It has also failed utterly at ensuring that financial aid keeps pace.

Tuition increased 90% from 2004-2005 to 20142015, while total financial aid funds increased

only 30%. Dean Iacobucci’s plan is to fundraise our way out of this mess. What will that look like?

Will he sell naming rights to the Faculty, like UBC’s “Allard Hall” law school? You can expect Ultra Vires to provide some background and context for how we got here, coverage of new developments, and a range of views on what we should do about it.

Diversity. The legal profession is notoriously unrepresentative of the populations it is meant to serve, and the U of T Faculty of Law is especially bad on this front. Alexis Archbold (Assistant Dean, JD Program) greeted first-year students at orientation week with the almost farcical assertion that the Class of 2018 contains one of most diverse groups of students one could meet in terms of “backgrounds, experiences, and identities.”

Although the Faculty has a large number of visible minority students overall, several groups remain underrepresented, and socioeconomic diversity ranges primarily from upper-middle class to upper class.

We will also make sure to follow the activities of your Students’ Law Society (SLS). The SLS plays an important role in the student experience, advocating to the administration on your behalf, participating in Faculty Council committees—

e.g. financial aid, cur r icu lum— and leading communitybuilding initiatives.

We will endeavor to keep them accountable.

Relatedly, following the recent SLS firstyear representative elections, your SLS now has a Student Affairs and Governance (StAG) team comprised of nine men and three women—one for each year. The SLS President and VP StAG are also men. Nine out of ten of our Faculty’s deans have been men, including the current Dean (and there is no indication that any women were seriously considered for the position). Precedent Magazine recently reported that “second-year male lawyers make $5,500 more than their female counterparts.” At the same time, Precedent tells us “It’s never been better to be a woman in the law.”

Let’s all see if we can find something new and meaningful to say about this.

This list barely scratches the surface; we will certainly cover much, much more. These are just some of the issues that have been on my mind lately, but this paper is for you, dear reader. I encourage you to write for us, send us story ideas, and contribute in other ways (photography, statistics, and more). Until then, allow me to conclude by endorsing Rona Ghanbari’s sage advice in this month’s Opinion section: You Do You, Boo.

Changes to the 1L Curriculum in Retrospect MATT HOWE (3L) AND ALEX REDINGER (2L) Two years ago, the Faculty of Law’s decisions to “semesterize” the 1L curriculum and introduce the Legal Methods Intensive course were the subject of much debate. Now that it has been a full year since these changes were implemented, Ultra Vires thought it would be worthwhile to explore what the new curriculum meant for those who experienced it. Did taking fewer courses each term reduce stress? Did the Legal Methods Intensive adequately prepare students for the rigours of 1L? Did students perform better overall because of one, or both, of the curriculum changes? To find

out, we spoke to students (many of whom prefer to remain anonymous) and faculty affected by the changes.

Disclosure: One of the authors of this piece, Matt Howe, worked as a Casebook Research Assistant during the summer of 2014. In that role, he provided approximately three weeks’ worth of research assistance to the instructors designing the Legal Methods Intensive course.

Legal Methods Intensive Scheduled in the last weeks of August, this two-

week intensive course was designed to introduce foundational concepts and key legal skills to incoming 1Ls before they began their core classes.

While the course was intended to level the playing field amongst students, some questioned its usefulness. “I feel it did not help at all once we got into substantive courses”, wrote one 2L student, who felt that the course’s heavy focus on the IRAC model was unduly formalistic. “I never used IRAC or any variant of it after Legal Methods, and I ended up with 5 HHs. For those who did find IRAC to be a useful tool, we could have

learned it in 1 day rather than 2 weeks.”

1L Jeff Wyngaarden also had concerns about the over-emphasis on the IRAC model. “Despite promises to teach us to “think like lawyers,” it did a better job at training us to think like law students. Over-obsession with IRAC as the “right” way to brief cases is already creeping in and being able to brief cases won’t be the most useful tool when we graduate.” Wyngaarden also had more general criticisms, noting that “anyone who googled ‘top 10 books to read before law school’ and skimmed at least one of the myriad options

Ultra Vires is an editorially independent publication. We are open to contributions which reflect diverse points of view, and our contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Faculty of Law, the Students’ Law Society, or the editorial board.

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Brett Hughes Matt Howe & Alex Redinger Lisana Nithiananthan & Rona Ghanbari Alex Carmona & Geetha Philipupillai Clara Rozee & Amir Eftekarpour Harrison Cruikshank Simon Cameron Alex Wong & Roxana Parsa Andrew Ngo Becca Howes Trevor Snider

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ultravires.ca was probably over-prepared for the course and underwhelmed when it ended.” Still, Wyngaarden thinks the course probably helped most students “get a grip on briefing in your own style, taking notes using your own methods, and balancing study time with social time.”

Students also leveled criticism at the course’s use of “cold-calling”, for causing more stress than it was worth. “We spent every day in Legal Methods going painfully through the cases, page by page, wondering who would be cold-called next and drilled about the most minute aspects of the case...

[Come September,] only one of my profs coldcalled and even then it was totally different so I don't think it was helpful for us to spend two weeks learning about one single professor's cold-calling style.” Wyngaarden was, however, less concerned about the stress caused by the course, noting that “those who watched The Paper Chase as preparation [likely] found some reassurance in discovering that Niblett is kinder and better looking than Kingsfield.”

NEWS terial that we already covered thoroughly in Legal Methods, including…how to write a case brief. It's a waste of law students' valuable time.”

Several students spoke positively about the course. One 1L, having entered law school knowing very little about the law, found that it was “extremely worthwhile” to be introduced to basic concepts before diving into more specific coursework. Another 1L commented that while it was “inconvenient when planning summer employment”, Legal Methods was a “great addition to the 1L curriculum”, which provided “a helpful introduction to reading and approaching cases.” 1L Jeremy Ungerman-Sears enjoyed the course and felt it gave him “the confidence of walking into the first class having already been exposed to some core concepts.” Several students appreciated the opportunity to write a practice exam. While some wished that more feedback had been given, others felt that “Niblett’s feedback was great.”

Other students wished that the course had focused more on introducing foundational concepts, and less on legal reasoning. “I felt I had a poor background understanding of the common law by the time I wrote my December exams…on subjects like courts of equity, legal process, constitutional provisions, etc.”, wrote 2L Adam Schoenborn.

Professor Anthony Niblett, who took part in designing and teaching Legal Methods for the last two years, has seen the positive results of the class.

“Before the Legal Methods course was introduced, many of my students didn’t really understand fundamental legal concepts until January or February”, Niblett said in an interview with Ultra Vires. “My students who took Legal Methods have performed consistently better than in past years. It is really heartwarming.”

One anonymous 1L found the course useful, but wished that there had been more coordination between the professors who taught the intensive course and those teaching the core 1L classes.

“My Legal Research and Writing prof spent most of our four hours of class time so far covering ma-

Professor Niblett also addressed some of the criticisms of the course, explaining that while not all professors choose to “cold-call” in their classes, having to answer questions on your feet is nonetheless a worthwhile exercise and a good way of receiving feedback. He explained that the instruc-

tors of the Legal Methods course met with instructors of the core 1L courses in an effort to coordinate their teaching, and will continue to do so in the future. Niblett also strives to give substantial feedback on each student’s practice exam, noting that he is still going through his classes’ practice exams and making comments.

Semesterization Criticisms of the move to a semester-based 1L curriculum were relatively muted. Several students we spoke to wished that they could have had more opportunities to practice exam-writing. One 2L described the argument that having fewer exams would make life less stressful as “illusory”, given that students worked harder (and had more work to do) to prepare for fewer exams. In general, though, students had few complaints about the move to a semesterized 1L, stating that they did not feel strongly about it because they had nothing to compare it to.

The Results?

While it is impossible tease out the effects of Legal Methods and semesterization on academic performance, especially given that it has only been one year since the change, we were curious to know what 1L instructors thought of students’ performance last year when compared to previous years.

Professor Niblett, as mentioned above, saw a clear improvement in student performance after having taken Legal Methods. Professor Larissa Katz was impressed with students’ performance last year, but was not ready to attribute their success to the new curriculum, noting that “it was too soon to offer an informed opinion about the changes.”

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 3 Professor Bruce Chapman felt that there were fewer students last year who “just didn’t get it” compared to years before, which he thought “could well reflect the fact that each student…has more time to focus on each particular course within the term” as a result of semesterization. Professor Chapman also mentioned what he perceived to be a “more focused student engagement” amongst 1Ls in the semesterized curriculum.

With respect to the Legal Methods Intensive, Professor Chapman noted that it “did not appear to make a huge difference in my class” but that it may have been successful in priming students to take a final exam in December. While increased readiness for exams is a positive thing, Professor Chapman cautioned that “preparing students for the exam cannot generally be the point of teaching” and that “it would be an unfortunate side effect in the first year courses if ‘priming’ the students in this way meant that we were spending more time ‘teaching to the exam’ and less on substantive content.” Professor Chapman also wondered if the increased focus on exams was simply a result of the fact that “the finals are not then so far away as they are for a full year course.”

So what did we learn?

Admittedly, not much. Opinions are decidedly mixed amongst both students and faculty, and the Legal Methods Intensive seems to evoke more passionate views (both for and against) than does semesterization. We will leave it to a future Ultra Vires editor to conduct a more empirical review of the effects of the changes, when hard data becomes available. For now, love them or hate them, the changes to the curriculum aren’t going anywhere.

Faculty Plays Musical Chairs: Making Sense of Who's Who MATT HOWE (3L)

From the construction of our new building to our search for a Dean, students at the Faculty of Law are used to things being in transition. The same must be true for the Faculty’s administrative staff, which has been playing occupational “musical chairs” for the past few months. In light of this, we decided to look back at some the moves made by the administration and report on where everyone has landed.

all students, rather than J.D. students alone, or that she was only responsible for student services.

The true role of the Assistant Dean, J.D. Program, according to Archbold is to oversee “academic accommodations, requests for leaves of absence, aca-

the law school. Sara Faherty, who fills the role of Assistant Dean, Office of the Associate Deans, is responsible for administrative issues related to the curriculum, including course selection, exams, grades, and combined programs. Archbold

The organization of the Associate Deans has also recently undergone changes. Having completed a four-year term as Associate Dean, First Year Program, Professor Ben Alarie has returned to fulltime research, and the position has been eliminated. The Associate Dean, J.D. Program which was recently filled by Professor Kerry Rittich is now the only Associate Dean responsible for the J.D. Program. When asked why the Associate Dean, First Year Program was eliminated, Archbold explained that “the law school decided that there isn’t enough to do in this role now that the review of and improvements to the 1L Program have been completed.”

Students learned in August of 2014 that Alexis Archbold, then serving as Assistant Dean, Students, would be leaving the Faculty of Law to take a position as the Managing Director of the Commerce Program at Rotman. Nine months later, it was announced that Archbold would be returning to the Faculty of Law to inaugurate the position of Assistant Dean, J.D. Program and that the title “Assistant Dean, Students,” which had temporarily been filled by Judith McCormack, would be discontinued.

When asked why she chose to return, Archbold said that while her experience at Rotman was a positive one, it also “confirmed that the law school is the place that most aligns with my interests and values.”

Her new title does not reflect a change in duties.

When asked what inspired the change, Archbold explained that it was meant to “create greater clarity regarding our structure,” noting that in the past many assumed she was either responsible for

tion of Assistant Dean – Professional Legal Education was temporarily filled by Emily Orchard while Jane Kidner was on a leave of absence. However, Orchard recently returned to her role as Director of the Career Development Office after the sudden departure of interim CDO Director Jordana Laporte.

demic support programs, the Aboriginal Law Program, the CDO, financial aid and admissions, student mental health and wellness initiatives, our diversity access programs, and all of our in house public interest program” as well as “student clubs, all other extra-curricular activities, and the SLS.” Alexis Archbold is one of five Assistant Deans at

stressed that herself and Faherty are the two Assistant Deans most directly connected to the J.D. Program.

The others “A.D.’s” are Judith McCormack (Graduate Program), Chantelle Courtney (Advancement Office), and an Assistant Dean – Professional Legal Education. Until recently, the posi-

Perhaps sensing confusion amongst the student body as to administrative staff’s various roles, the Faculty has recently added a page on their website titled “Meet your Student Services Team,” which introduces the staff most relevant to the J.D. experience, along with a picture and a brief explanation of their duties.

4 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

NEWS/FEATURES

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DLS Set to Expand Following Funding Increase MATT HOWE (3L) The Faculty of Law’s student legal clinic, Downtown Legal Services (DLS), is about to get busier. On Monday, September 21st, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) announced a $100,000 per year funding increase to each of the seven Student Legal Aid Service Societies run out of law schools across Ontario. The purpose of the additional funding, according to LAO, is to allow the clinics to “provide additional services to low-income Ontarians while helping to train the lawyers of tomorrow.” The funding is part of a broader move by the Ontario government to increase access to legal aid through additional funding.

DLS will use some of the money to expand the scope of its housing law services. “We have long been frustrated by our inability to assist vulnerable tenants in alternate forums”, wrote Lisa Cirillo, Executive Director of DLS, in an email to UV. Whereas DLS has traditionally restricted their housing law practice to matters before the Landlord and Tenant Board, the increased funding means the clinic will be able to assist clients on housing law issues before both the Small Claims Court and the Human Rights Tribunals.

DLS will also add a brand new employment law division, which will offer services ranging from employment standards claims, human rights issues, and wrongful dismissal actions in the Small Claims Court. The decision to expand into employment law came in response

to a number of assessments identifying employment law as a “high priority, under-served area of law for low income communities”, according to Cirillo. The need for employment law services is also expected to increase as financial eligibility criteria for Legal Aid increases, as there will be more individuals who are gainfully employed and yet don’t make enough to be denied assistance.

Amber Neumann, a 3L who volunteers with DLS and serves on its Executive Committee, thought the decision to use the increased funding on housing and employment was the right one. “Housing and employment are incredibly important areas of civil law for all of us, but especially for those of us made more vulnerable due to financial circumstances.”

Because of the structure of the student clinic, the only way to increase services and potential for student involvement is to increase the supervisory capacity of practicing lawyers employed by the clinic. Therefore DLS will use the additional money from LAO to allow Ben Ries, the clinic’s supervising housing lawyer, to transition from part-time to full-time practice with DLS. Additionally, a new employment lawyer will be hired to supervise for roughly 80% of the working week.

When asked what this means for students volunteering with DLS, Cirillo noted that “we have tripled the number of spots for students to participate in tenant housing work” and

that the employment law division will be comparable to the clinic’s other civil divisions, although slightly smaller to reflect the fact that the supervising lawyer will only supervise for 80% of the week. “Every student we can’t take is a missed opportunity, both for us and for them”, wrote Neumann, “[the money] means more students will be able to participate and that those who do will have the opportunity to be exposed to a broader range of legal matters.”

Other law schools across the province are also moving to expand their services in light of

the additional funding. York University’s Community and Legal Aid Services Program will begin offering employment law services, while Windsor’s Community Legal Aid will expand upon its housing services and begin offering services in consumer law. Lakehead University, which has only recently opened its own clinic, will not receive the additional funding until the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Politicians at U of T Law ALEX REDINGER (2L) It’s no secret that many politicians have law degrees. Many of our classmates have been involved in politics in the past, and some will go on to seek political office. These are a few of the many politicians who are either current students or alumni of U of T Law: Bob Rae (B.A. ’69, LL.B. ’77), Premier of Ontario Shortly after receiving his law degree, Rae was elected to the House of Commons, representing a now defunct riding comprised of parts of eastern Toronto. After four years in office, he entered provincial politics as the leader of the Ontario NDP. Rae unexpectedly won the 1990 provincial election to become the first NDP Premier east of Manitoba – incidentally defeating fellow alumnus David Peterson (LL.B. ’67). A few of Rae’s accomplishments as Premier include creating a Royal Commission on Learning (which, among other things, resulted in a common provincial curriculum and the elimination of grade 13), variously pushing for First Nations’ self-governance, and expanding social assistance in the province. Rae held this office until 1995, when he lost the position to Mike Harris. After resigning from provincial politics in 1996 and from the NDP in 1998, he was once again elected to the House of Commons in 2008 as a member of the Liberal Party, serving as interim party leader until Justin Trudeau’s election. Rae has been retired from politics since 2013.

Brian Bowman (J.D. ’99), Mayor of Winnipeg Even in law school Bowman was “interested in public service and politics,” serving as vicepresident and then president of the SLS. He has been involved in advocacy organizations in the past, including being chair of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, president of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and president and CEO of the University of Manitoba's Alumni Association (where he obtained his B.A. degree). This political involvement culminated in a long-shot victory to become mayor of Winnipeg in 2014. Bowman, who identifies as Métis, is the first mayor of aboriginal descent in Winnipeg’s history.

Jesse Waslowski ( J.D./M.B.A. ’17), MP Candidate (Libertarian) – University-Rosedale Waslowski has identified as libertarian since his undergraduate years at Queen’s University, having been involved in the Students For Liberty club. However this election is his first foray into running for elected office.

Waslowski is running in large part in order to bring up issues that he believes have not been addressed by the main parties, notably including First Nations’ rights and sovereignty. Despite still studying to complete his joint degree, Waslowski felt a sense of urgency to run given that the stances promulgated by himself and the Libertarian Party were not being taken by the main parties. While Waslowski is undoubtedly aware that no Canadian Libertarian Party candidate has ever been elected, he is especially interested in getting people to think about issues differently and thus change

the political debate. Ultimately he is hoping that people will vote on principle rather than for the least bad candidate, as “if you choose the lesser of two evils, you still get evil.”

Paul Martin (B.A. ’61, LL.B. ’64, LL.D. ’11), Prime Minister of Canada Upon graduating from law school, Martin initially went into the business world. However by the 1980s he began moving towards a political career, and was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for a riding in Montreal in 1988 – he held this position for the entirety of his political career, until his retirement in 2008. Martin was following in the footsteps of his father, Paul Martin Sr. (B.A. ’25, M.A. ’28), a long-time MP and Senator.

He famously lost his candidacy for leadership of the federal Liberal Party in 1990 to Jean Chrétien, subsequently serving as the combative Minister of Finance for most of the duration of Chrétien’s tenure as Prime Minister.

Upon Chrétien’s resignation in 2003, Martin was elected leader of the Liberal Party and thus appointed Prime Minister – he subsequently won re-election in 2004. While in office, Martin’s signature accomplishments include legalizing same-sex marriage across Canada (although he opposed legalization in 1999), refusing to join the United States’ missile defence program, introducing a $41 billion plan to improve health care, and signing the Kelowna Accord to redress inequities in First Nations’ communities. However throughout Martin’s tenure in office he was dogged by the Sponsorship Scandal, which entailed misuse of public funds intended for government advertising in Quebec. This culminated in his

2006 federal election defeat to Stephen Harper. Martin is thus far the only U of T Law alumnus to become Prime Minister of Canada (although several heads of state, including Canadian Prime Ministers, have attended the university).

Wes Hopkin ( J.D. ’17), City Councillor of Penticton After completing his political science degree at Harvard University in 2011, Hopkin returned to his hometown of Penticton, British Columbia and successfully ran for City Council. Being 22 years old at the time, he is the youngest person ever to be elected as a Penticton City Councillor. During his term, Hopkin helped secure a $250 million expansion to the Penticton Regional Hospital, which will provide access to acute surgeries for the 80,000 residents of the South Okanagan. In addition to serving as a Councillor, Hopkin volunteered as communications director for a local B.C. NDP candidate in the 2013 provincial election. Although Hopkin has no plans to return to elected office, he indicated that he would like to remain involved with politics in the future, stating that young people have an obligation to step up and take leadership roles in their communities.

continued on p. 12

FEATURES

ultravires.ca

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 5

IHRP’s Renu Mandhane Discusses New Role at Ontario Human Rights Council, Reflects on Time at U of T RONA GHANBARI (2L) ter, which provides representation to unrepresented people who want to bring a claim to the tribunal. And finally the Commission’s mandate is a guess a bit more nebulous in that it’s meant to focus on persistent systemic discrimination and to address that through education and advocacy. This includes litigation and inquests, as well as knowledge exchange and policy development.

This fall, one of U of T’s very own was nominated as Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Council. Renu Mandhane, – Director of the International Human Rights Program, and generally loved member of the law school’s community – will be leaving her position with the Faculty of Law to serve the Province of Ontario. I had the opportunity to sit with Renu on a beautiful sunny day at Queen’s Park, and talk with her about her role as Chief Commissioner, her career in human rights, and her thoughts about leaving the law school. A transcript of the conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows.

Rona: Describe your role as Chief Commissioner.

Renu: I think the role is to determine the strategic direction and vision for the Commission, and if you’re unfamiliar with how human rights law works within the province, there are three bodies. There’s the Tribunal, which decides claims of individuals or groups. The second is the Human Rights Legal Support Cen-

This tripartite system is relative new – about 10 years old – so we are still figuring out the Commission’s role and where it is best placed to make an impact, and I want to be a part of that.

Do you have a specific project in mind?

Something that you’d like to work on?

The Commission is already doing really great work related to, for example, racial profiling and carding, the rights of trans-gendered people, and the rights of people who identify with a religious minority. So they are doing some very very interesting work. Sort of boringly, what I’m most interested in is really figuring out what is the strategic impact that this institution can have, because when the Ontario Human Rights Code was enacted in 1962 there was no Charter, there wasn’t the kind of robust civil society that we have now and I think really the tough work is to think about what is the Commission’s role in this really diverse landscape. And so that’s kind of what I’m most interested in thinking about, because clearly these kinds of statutory human

rights bodies have quite a privileged role.

They’re arms length from government but have funding from government, and I think they can have a really strong voice that’s different from NGOs, but I think it takes a little bit to figure out what that voice is going to be.

What was your reaction when they called you and told you that you had been nominated as Chief Commissioner?

Well, so it had been a long recruitment process. I heard about the job last summer and I applied in November – it was a long time thinking about it. But I was obviously kind of surprised and excited! Surprised because obviously I’m relatively young and I didn’t know if maybe they would’ve gone for someone with more political connections than myself ,as I kind of have no political connections! So I guess I was surprised and I found it refreshing that somebody like me could be nominated for this role.

Do you think there was anything specific that you had done throughout your career that led the committee to be interested in you for this role?

Definitely the IHRP. I’d like to think in my time at the IHRP I sort of transformed it to be more impact driven and have a bigger sort of public profile, and to use a cliché, have it punch above its weight. So I think they were really interested in somebody who had a lot of energy and dynamic leadership and quite honestly a deep commitment to human rights.

My whole career has been focused on human rights in one way or another and I think that was compelling to them. I wouldn’t be taking the position for the status but really because I want to be part of a fairer society and want my

Make your mark.

kids to grow up in an Ontario that is really just and fair, and so I think that really resonated with them.

Did you think a few years ago when you started at the IHRP that this would be the direction you were going in?

No (laughs) any student who has talked to me about my career knows that there was no planning. It all just – I wouldn’t say it was by chance but I decided to pursue opportunities that presented themselves and if really there’s anything that emanated this trajectory, it was really just taking risks. For example, being willing to leave the big Bay Street law firm when all my friends were still there, and taking a poverty law job, and then being able to leave that job to come to U of T, and just always really thinking more of “what are the skills I’m going to be able to develop in these new roles?” So I definitely had no idea where I’d be after the IHRP. So how do you feel about leaving the IHRP after all this time, because I feel like it’s become your baby?

It is my baby! I’m sad obviously: I really love the law school; I went to law school here.

I really care about the faculty and I care about the students a lot. But I also know that I’m literally just down the street and the great thing about the law school is that they find ways to engage you and keep you engaged in the law school, so I don’t really feel like it will be a formal goodbye. It’ll more be just a different kind of role, and I’m sure I’ll still be involved in the IHRP in some capacity. I’m already slated to speak at our alumni careers panel in November and through the mentorship program and other things. I feel sad but I think I’d feel sadder if I was going to work in Geneva or somewhere where I wouldn’t be still pretty closely connected to the law school.

What about the mystery person who is going to take over the IHRP? I’m sure you’ve been part of the process of deciding who that is.

The Toronto Student Experience

Actually not really! I’ve had some insight into it. But I think it’s good that the faculty is running quite a neutral, transparent process.

It isn’t like there was some hand picked candidate, it’s a real hiring process.

For information contact:

Are you excited for whoever is taking over? Do you know who it is yet?

Sally Woods Director, Professional Development 416 868 3468 sallywoods@fasken.com

I don’t know who it’s going to be. I do know that the quality of candidates was extremely high, so I’m not worried. It’s reassuring to me that amongst the pool of candidates everyone was exceptional, so I’m not worried about passing it along. If anything I hope that whoever is hired can expand the IHRP in new and different directions. I really see my time as more setting up the ground work and I feel now it’s poised to do even more, and I hope that the next person will be able to do that.

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What is your best memory and what will you miss most leaving U of T and

6 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

stepping into this new role?

There are two things really. A highlight is teaching the clinic course. There are moments in the course where you’ll see almost before your eyes as students’ ideas or thoughts or thinking expand or change, and I think that is really cool. Especially when we talk about some of the critiques about human rights and some of the limitations I think just seeing students change their thinking and outlook is neat. Obviously what’s so cool about the program is that it’s all student work that then often leads to really significant impact like wins at the Supreme Court or at the United Nations. I think those are really satisfying moments– it’s really amazing for students to feel like they got to really impacted international law. It is very cool.

And then the second thing is the internship program. I’m quite honestly living vicariously through all of the students and all of the amazing places they go and the things they are learning and absorbing. I have young kids, so my travel bug is not being itched as much as I wish it could be, so seeing students travel and how much those experiences transform their whole outlooks on law and their careers is amazing. That’s more than one “aha” but those are some of the highlights.

It’ll be so weird without you! As a student who has done the IHRP internship and who is in the clinic with you now, it’s been so amazing having you as a mentor and for support and I’m sad to see you go, although I’m excit-

FEATURES ed to see how this next step unfolds for you.

Awhh. Yeah, I’m really truly going to miss the students. In this field, the change is so incremental, it’s slow, it’s fragmented and I feel really lucky because the students are a constant inspiration. Students have a much more idealistic and fresh perspective and I really feel that even as a lawyer I’ve benefited from that. I will for example think “oh we could never make that argument, it wouldn’t work” and a student will convince me that we really should do so because it’s the right argument to make, and so I feel like I’ve grown a lot from working with students in terms of not becoming jaded, and pessimistic. Our partners actually - when interns go and intern with them say to me “oh it was so amazing to have them, it made me remember why I wanted to do this work.” So I don’t think it’s actually one way, I think that the person who comes into this role and all of our project partners actually really benefit from that fresh, excitement, because you, can as I said, become a little bit – Exhausted right? It’s tiring and sometimes you’re dealing with really tough stuff – Exactly! And what’s cool about this program and about being in this role is that you obviously want to make an impact on the big issues, but even when you aren’t doing that or don’t feel like you are, you are making an impact on the students and you do feel like that will translate into a new group of young lawyers who are willing to take on this kind of work, and work pro bono when they are at firms. So you’re kind of cultivating the next

generation of human rights lawyers which feels meaningful. It feels really good and satisfying.

I wonder out of all the students that you’ve taught over the years and have gone through this program, who is going to end up before the Commission or something!

It’s really neat that your students become your colleagues- I think profs feel this way too.

I have lots of students for example from the first year I taught the clinic who are now going to be professors at law schools, or are now mid-level associates at their firms and are doing field research. It is really neat to see that transformation, and I keep in touch with a lot of past students and love seeing where they end up. I hope I will remain in touch with a lot of the students that I’ve met at U of T, and I’m sure I’ll see some of them at the Commission.

Is there anything else in general you’re really excited about or looking forward to?

One thing about the commission that I’m really excited about is that there’s a lot of growth potential. You could look at doing human rights work in Ontario and Canada and say “we’ve kind of got it figured out – what’s the point really?” But I also think there’s something really exciting about being at the very cutting edge for human rights protection.

For example Ontario is one of the first jurisdictions to recognize trans-rights and I think that in that way this can be a jurisdiction that

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impacts other jurisdictions and that plays a leadership role for other jurisdictions within Canada as well as internationally. So I am really excited to further the ground breaking areas!

We are all very excited as well to see you step up and take on this new role and be a part of an organization that has such huge potential for change! The IHRP is definitely sad to see you go.

Thank you! I feel really good about the IHRP though, there were a lot of great things I got to achieve but for any institution you need fresh perspectives. I wouldn’t see my leaving as a loss for the faculty but rather a chance for someone new to bring fresh energy and new networks. I think that the law school is thinking about who can grow and expand the program rather than just keep the status quo. As much as people get comfortable with you, it’s actually not good for any institution for one person to just stick around forever. So I think this will be a positive thing for everyone.

Renu Mandhane will be transitioning from her role as IHRP director to Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission in the coming months. With a rich, dynamic, and inspiring human rights career already under her belt, the University of Toronto student community would like to extend our best wishes to Renu as she embarks on her next step!

Poverty Shouldn’t Be a Barrier to an Appeal MAUDE WOODS (2L) When I came to law school, these many months ago, I had some ideas about how the law worked. As it turns out, I was wrong about a lot of things. To be fair, a lot of these ideas were informed by such reliable sources as “assumptions” and “television”. Considering their dubious origins, their upending was no surprise. Many of these things have been easily corrected in my mind: on Law & Order, they have felonies and misdemeanours; in Canada, we have indictable and summary offences. Some, however, have been harder to wrap my head around. I came to law school with the general idea that Canadians probably kind of had the right to an appeal. As it turns out, that right is not always easily exercised.

Working in the Criminal Division at DLS this past summer, I encountered for the first time the very real barriers that people can face in attempting to appeal a summary conviction from the Superior Court of Justice.

Section 821(3) of the Criminal Code requires the appellant to provide copies of the transcript of trial proceedings to the appeal court and to the respondent (the Crown) for use on the appeal. The appellant is also going to need one, so in total that’s three copies. So far, so good.

This requirement is complicated by the fact that prospective appellants are required to pay for these transcripts. Ontario Regulation 94/14 sets out the fees for court transcripts: $4.30 per page for a first certified copy, and $0.55 per page for any additional certified copy in printed format. This brings us to a total of $4.85 per page. These fees cannot be

waived, and it appears that judges do not have discretion to intervene on this requirement. If you’re thinking that $4.85 isn’t a lot of money, consider that the proceedings being transcribed may have gone on for several days. $4.85 per page adds up, and prospective appellants can find themselves having to pay amounts in the hundreds or even thousands just to have the opportunity to have their appeal heard.

Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that this cost is just an arbitrary fee. There are real costs associated with an appeal, and I accept the premise that appellants should bear some of that burden. The court transcriptionists who produce these transcripts need to be paid, and that money has to come from somewhere.

As well, theses costs may serve a legitimate function in deterring prospective appellants from bringing frivolous appeals, thus contributing to the conservation of judicial resources.

As it stands, however, this requirement disproportionately affects prospective appellants experiencing poverty, as is the case for the majority of DLS clients. As a reminder, unless you are a U of T student, DLS uses Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility criteria to determine who is eligible for services. For a single person, that’s an annual income lower than $20, 225. A person in that situation is clearly not in a position to pay hundreds of dollars for their transcripts.

For appellants granted a Legal Aid certificate, usually because they are in custody, transcript costs will be covered, but what about the overwhelming number of cases that don’t

qualify for Legal Aid? This is the situation in which the vast majority of people convicted of a summary or hybrid offence find themselves.

At best, the requirement that appellants pay for transcripts will force low-income appellants to delay their appeals, scrape together the money from wherever they can get it, often at the expense of other basic necessities. At worst, this requirement may deter prospective appellants from bringing an appeal in the first place. Appellants who do file a Notice of Appeal and order their transcripts but are not able to pay up front will have to explain to an increasingly impatient court why their transcripts are still outstanding, and, in extreme cases, run the risk of having their appeal marked abandoned.

Requirements like this one have been challenged in other jurisdictions. In 2014, Caroline Allart, a disabled woman living on a pension, challenged the Supreme Court of British Columbia’s rule requiring an appellant to provide a transcript of a Provincial Court proceeding under appeal. She argued that the cost of transcripts was analogous to government-imposed court fees, and so the judiciary should be able to waive the fees in situations where the cost creates an unconstitutional barrier to justice. The Supreme Court acknowledged that the case raised “complicated and serious questions about the adequacy of the government’s actions to ensure access to justice for all persons regardless of their economic status,” but ultimately found that Ms. Allart had raised insufficient evidence to support a constitutional challenge. While it was

acknowledged that the need for a relief mechanism for transcript fees was compelling, Ms. Allart had not exhausted every avenue for covering the cost. Similarly, the British Columbia Court of Appeal held that Ms. Allart had not presented enough evidence to establish that the cost of transcripts was a true barrier to justice.

The situation in Ontario is similar to that in B.C., and many of the arguments that Ms. Allart made in her case ring all too true in the context of the appeals I saw at DLS. It’s also worth noting that Ms. Allart’s case was a civil one; the issues raised in her case become even more troubling in a criminal appeal, where the cost of not appealing a decision may be a wrongful conviction and the stigma of a criminal record.

What all of this amounts to looks an awful lot like yet another access to justice problem, one that seems to fly under the radar of the general public. Because of the requirement that appellants provide transcripts, low-income individuals who wish to appeal a decision may be effectively barred from doing so.

If you saw me at all over the summer I probably told you about this, so I apologize for subjecting you to it again, but I think it’s a point that bears repeating. In too many cases, you may have a right to an appeal, but only if you can pay for it.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 7

Campus Alert Criticisms LISANA NITHIANANTHAN (3L) On September 8th, 2015, over 84,000 students began the school year at the University of Toronto with all the fanfare and summer nostalgia one would typically expect of the first week back to school.

Two days later, on September 10th, all students received an alert about campus safety from Vice President and Provost, Professor Cheryl Regehr. The email (reproduced below) told students that the University was working with Toronto and Peel Police to investigate anonymous threats made against U of T, that these threats were taken very seriously, and that the police presence on all three campuses would be increased.

dling of it.

The administration reportedly followed police advice in holding onto the details of the threat. While one cannot know the nature of this advice, one can only speculate that what

will be unable to take the necessary precautions to ensure their safety. It is better to be fully informed than to be ignorantly blissful.

The failure to provide students with detailed, timely information may have actually caused

The June threats only came to light on September 11 when the administration held an emergency meeting and revealed the existence of the earlier threats. Why did the administration keep information for months without alerting the students and staff ? Given the consistency of the threat, why were students and staff not informed about the June threats in June? Or at the very least, in September when they were informed about the September threat?

Beyond the minimal information provided in the email, the University remained tightlipped about the situation. But in a tech-savvy era, it only takes moments to fire up Google and immediately find out what the University was so reticent to release of its own accord. In this case, what the University was not telling students was that: The online threat was posted in the comments section of blogTO, the post was made on September 5th 2015, the poster’s username was “Kill Feminists” and the post specifically targets feminists and students in Women’s Studies classrooms.

When this information came to light from other media outlets the University faced criticism, including at the hands of the University of Toronto Students’ Union. The UTSU criticized the administration for failing to clarify the target of the threats and organized a march to protest both the threat and their university’s han-

all of us, whether it is at U of T or not — it is a threat to our city and our society,” said Chow.

The lack of critical information is unforgivable considering that similar threats were made in June on BlogTO, reported to police, but never shared with students or staff. The June threats were equally if not more harrowing, mentioning the use of machetes and guns on women, referring to Mayor John Tory, and most sickeningly referring to Marc Lépine.

the University ultimately conveyed to students was in an effort to allow the police to do their jobs without jeopardizing the investigation, to avoid panicking the students and staff, and to deter copycat threats.

However, while I can see the rationale for it, allegations that the University was withholding important information are not without merit. Without knowing the explicit and targeted nature of the threats, students and staff

more panic from a fear of not knowing.

Even Federal NDP candidate Ms. Olivia Chow weighed in on the situation and recalling the tragic and horrific circumstances of the Montreal Massacre.

“It took Marc Lépine [the shooter responsible for the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal in 1998] 20 minutes to ... snuff out the lives of 14 women, which he called a bunch of feminists, so a threat to feminists is a threat to

Does it matter that the administration withheld crucial information on not one, but two instances, given that the police ultimately declared that the threat was not credible? Yes. The administration withheld the information before it was ever concluded to be not credible.

The failure to provide full information sets a dangerous precedent and a climate of distrust.

If students are not fully informed, how can they be safe? This whole ordeal suggests that on top of the readings, midterms, tuition, debt, and the disturbing threats online, students also have to worry about what their University is not telling them.

The 6 Steps To Beating OCIs NITAI BEN-SHACH (3L) 1. Don’t talk about OCIs 2. Prepare yourself 3. Cheat Codes 4. A Strong Handshake etc…

5. Thx Bae (The Art of Being Nice After

You’ve Been Nice) 6. Breath (or drink) OCIs are fun. Keep repeating this mantra to yourself from now until October 8th and you may just come to believe it. In actuality, they aren’t that bad. Everyone meeting you already thinks you’re at least kind of cool.

They like something about you. So go in and wow them! This article won’t tell you what to say and do. That’s for the endless rounds of CDO panels to do. This article will give some helpful tips, broken down into 7 simple steps, that will help you live out your mantra…OCIs Are Fun!

STEP 1: First rule of OCIs is don’t talk about OCIs Some of you will have 20 OCIs. Some will have one. It doesn’t matter. All you need is one interview and one offer. You can only accept one job. Anything else is just fodder for you to spit out at the following pub night and which will begin the process of alienating you from all of your friends. No one cares how many interviews, dinners, compliments or offers you got. Keep it yourself. Tell your parents. Write it in your diary. Keep that s#!& personal. I see I have begun to digress….

Seriously though...don’t talk about your

other firms…especially with the firm you are interviewing with. Imagine wanting to go on a date with someone, telling them how badly you want to date them and then saying sorry…

I have 6 other dates this week that I think I might like more. Are you free February 2019?

Good luck getting any “Netflix and Chill” out of that date. Take the same approach with firms. Show your interest. Get your priorities in order. This is step one to eventually going

The best way to answer the #deep question of whether or not YOU are ready, is to practice. Practice answering everything from “What do you do for fun”? to “Is there an area of law that interests you?”. You don’t need to have a Sean Penn Oscar speech for each one.

What you do need is to have a basic idea of what you want to say and how you want to the interviewers to see you. Work with a friend! I recommend Pat Chapman. Seeing as how he

you know Pat Chapman. Knowing your employer shows a genuine interest above and beyond seeking employment so that the thought of debt repayment doesn’t keep you awake for the next 35 years. Only 34 years!

Sidenote…if anyone throws you a curveball like “what animal would you be” or “what fruit best describes you”, go with something light hearted. No one asks those questions expecting a serious answer. When asked what fruit I would be, I answered “Kiwi. Because I am fuzzy on the outside and delicious on the inside”. I will be articling with that firm come August. Just be you!

STEP 3: Cheat Codes

If at any point throughout the day you feel tired, worn out, exhausted, defeated, deflated, inflated, infuriated, defuriated or refuriated then just try using this code: ^,^,v,v,<,>,<,>, B, A, start, select If it doesn’t work, at least you tried.

STEP 4: A strong handshake etc…

to that firm you want for Netflix…and ending up totally ignoring for the entire first season of Narcos.

STEP 2: Prepare yourself

Your schedule is set. Your suit is pressed.

Your lucky underwear from grade 4 with the hole in the side and the stretched elastic band is sitting neatly folded beside your new expressive yet still tame socks (or your nude stockings). This is the physical. But what about you gurl/boi? Are you ready?

is on exchange in Ireland, feel free to bombard him with Skype/Facebook/FaceTime conversations.

Another key tenant of preparation is “Know Thine Enemy”…um I mean Employer. This doesn’t mean know everyone’s names. Interviewing at Dentons? Know that they are now the biggest firm in the world. Interviewing at Cassels? Know that sadly, they are in Scotia Plaza and not in fact, as their name negligently misrepresents, spread out over a wide array of Chateaus. Interviewing at Torys? Tell them

This is where my Bar-Mitzvah first paid off dividends. All that practice of shaking old wrinkly hands gave me the confidence to judge exactly how firmly to grip the hand that was offered to me. This is KEY! There is nothing less appealing than a “limp fish” handshake. The grip should be firm but not vicelike. Your hand should be dry but not rough.

Your shake should be strong but not “elbow dislocating”. Above all else, for the love of God, Buddah, Allah, Christ and whatever Tom Cruise prays to, MAINTAIN EYE

continued on p. 14

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A Guide to 1L ALEX REDINGER (2L) AND RONA GHANBARI (2L)

Previous editions of the Ultra Vires 1L guide have professed to be definitive, or at the very least “definitive(ish).” We opted to use the indefinite article for a reason. Most upper year law students will be eager to give you advice and answers to your questions, but you should take it all with a grain of salt – this guide included. Use this guide as a source of information with which you can make your own decisions and create your own path for 1L! Keep Healthy While 1L is inevitably stressful, do not let it damage your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The law school and university provide a variety of services including athletic centres, personal counselling, subsidized yoga classes, and prayer spaces. The services are listed on the law school website at http://www. law.utoronto.ca/student-life/personal-support, or you can contact Student Programs Coordinator Sara-Marni Hubbard at 416978-4908 or sara.hubbard@utoronto.ca.

Make sure you try to exercise regularly, keep engaged in your hobbies, and spend time with friends (as well as any non-law friends and family you might have in Toronto). Make time for things that you enjoy doing and that make you happy. It is possible to do all of this and still keep on top of your work (more or less). In fact, you will find it increasingly difficult to succeed in 1L if you don’t maintain your health.

It is also easy to fall into the trap of secondhand stress, by feeding off the stress that your peers may be feeling. It is great to be around peers as a form of comfort and source of support, but if you find that others’ stress over exams or assignments is adding to your stress, don’t feel guilty taking a step back from your peers and spending some you time. On a related note, it is normal to be continually amazed and humbled by the brilliance of your peers, sometimes giving rise to what is termed “imposter syndrome” – you might feel that you managed to finagle your way into this prestigious group of students. Don’t let it get to your head: remind yourself that you were also admitted for good reasons, and that you deserve to be here.

Schmoozing, Making Friends, and Networking One of the best things about attending U of T Law is the quality of the student and alumni base. Getting involved in law school events is a wonderful way meet friends and make valuable connections (who knows, maybe you’ll even meet your Bill/Hillary here…). Attend social events (for instance, SLS pub night is every Thursday), play sports, and join clubs to meet people and make friends. Pay particular attention to opportunities to attend events held at firms or with practitioners as speakers—they provide great exposure to the actual practice of the law and are nice to mention when you’re writing your cover letters. But don’t panic if networking isn’t your thing—it’s an advantage, but lots of students get lots of interviews without it.

Grades and Studying Your grades will determine to a large extent which employers are willing to interview you (although you can do absolutely fine with a transcript full of Ps!). The typical law student will mostly have Hs and Ps, with perhaps an HH or two. This is fine for most law firms, although you will generally need more HHs to work at a New York firm or to clerk (particularly at appellate courts). Having mostly Ps

will by no means doom you to unemployment.

It is worth keeping in mind that once you actually get an interview, your grades are unlikely to be mentioned again. At that point, being interesting and charismatic is far more likely to determine whether you are hired, as firms want law students/lawyers who are good with clients and pleasant to work with in the office.

Your study habits got you into U of T Law, and will probably suffice to get you through law school. We have a few suggestions, which by no means should supplant your current habits but might be worthwhile to try in conjunction. If you generally study alone, you should try studying in a group, particularly come exam time. Study group members are often able to answer your questions, and will sometimes ask questions that you might not know the answer to, and might not have considered prior to then. Being able to throw more brains at legal issues can make the difference between providing P-quality answers and H or HH-quality answers (although the difference in quality between them is not always clear). Also, try condensing your notes throughout the semester, occasionally adding them to your course summaries and maps every now and then when a few units are complete. Then as you refer to your summaries and maps to update them, you can revisit old material. It will make exam season much more efficient and manageable.

What are summaries and maps? A summary is self-explanatory – it is the entire course, condensed into the vital information that you will need to know for exams. A map is an even shorter document, providing quick references to material in a form that makes it easy to memorize or refer to during an exam (if the exam is open book). The SLS keeps a database of old maps and summaries to download, and upper year students will usually be happy to provide you with their old maps and summaries. It’s helpful to ask an upper year for their maps and summaries early during the semester, so you have something to sort of follow along to during the semester. Keep in mind that different people include different things in their summaries. Don’t rely entirely on an upper year map/summary though! It’s important that you understand the material and write it down in a way that you understand and can access quickly during the exam.

adjust to your new responsibilities. As well, everything is done under the supervision of a lawyer. The lawyers at AIW are extremely generous with their time and expertise, and are committed to ensuring you produce high quality legal work. When I started last September, I was given two files and I was responsible for them throughout year. This meant conducting medico-legal research, writing memos, interviewing clients, and much, much more. The work itself is incredibly rewarding, not only because it helped hone my legal skills, but because it gave me the opportunity to make a difference in my community.” –Kaley Duff, 2L Artist Legal Advice Service: “Volunteering with ALAS was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my first year. The clients scheduled at the clinic are grappling with entertainment law and intellectual property issues, including copyright disputes, trademark protection, licensing agreements, and contractual concerns, among others. As a result, volunteer shifts are an incredible way to gain real-world exposure to areas of the law that aren’t necessarily covered in depth during 1L. The whole team is incredibly friendly, and the lawyers are genuinely concerned with ensuring that the students understand the legal issues being discussed. Since shifts are split between shadowing the lawyers and conducting client intake, ALAS provides students with a great opportunity to learn how to engage with clients without the pressure of taking on any client files.” –Amanda Bertucci, 2L Downtown Legal Services: “Downtown Legal Services is U of T’s in-house legal clinic. It serves students and community members, many of whom would be forced to go without legal representation otherwise. DLS has five divisions – Criminal, Refugee and Immigration, Tenant Housing, Family, and University Affairs. Between these five divisions, students have opportunities to litigate trials, assess and assemble evidence, write factums to support arguments at court, and meet with clients, lawyers, and other stakeholders. While DLS’ application period is now closed, students can volunteer or take the credit program in their 2L or 3L years. Above all, DLS represents the opportunity to do something tangible in between reading all of those two-hundred-yearold contracts cases.” –Amir Eftekarpour, 2L

Extracurriculars Clinics The legal clinics at the law school offer you an early opportunity to experience the actual practice of law. The responsibilities variously entail phone intake, legal research and writing, handling clients, oral representation, and advocacy.

Advocates for Injured Workers: “Volunteering at AIW as a caseworker was my favourite experience of first year. The clinic specializes in [Workplace Safety and Insurance Board] claims, and caseworkers guide injured workers through the WSIB appeals system. As a caseworker, you are responsible for communicating with the WSIB on your client’s behalf, developing case strategy, and representing your client in written or oral submissions. Though this may seem daunting, upper year volunteers are extremely supportive, and help you

Pro Bono Students Canada: “PBSC is a national organization that was founded at U of T in 1996. Our students volunteer with a broad range of clinics, organizations and courts working in family law, human rights, immigration, LGBT rights, health law, business law, among others. When you volunteer with PBSC, you develop the kinds of skills will serve you well for the rest of your career, and precisely the skills employers want to see in a student. You get exposure to areas of the law you might never encounter otherwise, meet practitioners devoted to those fields, and work with like-minded students to help people who really need it. It doesn’t stop with 1L, either.

Our upper year placements provide opportunities to work with small claims court judges, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and even to personally represent the underrepresented.

As a returning volunteer, you get priority in

these exclusively upper year projects, so I highly recommend that you join in 1L and stay on board for your 2L and 3L years!” – Debbie Wang, 2L Journals U of T has five law journals that welcome student editors: the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, Journal of International Law and International Relations, Journal of Law and Equality, Indigenous Law Journal, and Critical Analysis of the Law. The Law Review publishes legal scholarship on a variety of topics, while the other journals each have a particular focus.

Working on a journal as a 1L entails reading submitted papers, commenting on each paper’s strengths and weaknesses, performing background research, and verifying that citations are properly formatted. I found that the most interesting aspects of working on a journal in 1L were researching legal topics not covered in 1L courses, and debating the merits of papers with fellow editors. Law review is a time commitment of about twenty hours each semester, but you will get free food at the meetings.

The résumé benefits of a law journal position are debateable. It is definitely an asset, however it carries more prestige in the United States than in Canada. Its precise benefits in the U.S. probably depend on whether you are interviewed by a Canadian or American.

Clubs There are a large number of clubs at the law school, and it is very easy to create your own if you have a good idea. This is a non-exhaustive list, meant to give an idea of the breadth and variety of the clubs at U of T Law: Business Law Society: “Let’s face it, a good chunk of law students show up at U of T with the goal of working on ‘Bay Street’ with only the vaguest idea of doing this amorphous thing called ‘business law.’ The BLS aims to give people a window into what business law actually is and also prepare them for a career in that area. We run discussions panels, firm tours, events on OCI and in-firm preparation, in house tours (last year we visited Coca-Cola) and a bunch of networking events with lawyers practicing in all areas of business law (including the ones you didn’t even know existed). Join BLS and at the very least when 2L OCIs roll around you’ll be able to believably assure firms that you really are interested in their 'premier securities law practice.'”–Michael Stenbring, 2L International Law Students’ Society: “The ILS encompasses all areas of international law and aims to promote an understanding of both public and private international law. This year, the ILS plans to host speaker events with professionals in the field, as well as firm tours to give students an opportunity to network with real-world practitioners. In late January, ILS will also host the 21st annual Canadian International Law Students' Conference (CILSC), in collaboration with Osgoode Hall Law School, an event for which past keynote speakers include Denis Halliday (former UN Assistant Secretary-General) and the Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire.” –Kartiga Thavaraj, 2L For more information about the ILS, visit http://www.law.utoronto.ca/student-life/student-clubs-and-events/international-law-society Law Games: “Law Games is an annual national law student athletic competition bring-

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ing together 700 students from across Canada.

The Games themselves are four days of sports, talent competitions, and well-watered evenings. Law Games presents an amazing opportunity to meet law students from across Canada and also to build a sense of community with your fellow Uof T Law students who attend. This year the games will be held at Sherbrooke University in Quebec from the 3rd to the 7th of January, with sports ranging from rugby to waterpolo to basketball to dodgeball. An information session will be held for interested students soon. This year there are 40 spots available.” – Michael Cockburn, 2L

Law Follies: “By far my favourite memory of 1L was the feeling I had getting laughs and claps from my peers, professors, friends, and family at the annual sketch comedy show Law Follies. Picture Saturday Night Live meets the law. Can you act? Sing? Dance? Write skits?

None of the above? GREAT! Law Follies has a place for you! Everyone is invited to participate in the show in whatever capacity they are comfortable. You don’t need any prior experience. This annual tradition happens in February, and is a highlight for all those who watch and participate. I promise you a super fun time!” – Rona Ghanbari, 2L For more information about Law Follies,

email rona.ghanbari@mail.utoronto.ca.

Out in Law: “Out in Law is the Faculty of Law’s group for LGBTQ folks and their allies.

The group hosts monthly social events (often with other LGBTQ groups at U of T or from other schools), organizes academic panels, and updates members on local networking opportunities. Involvement in the group is very flexible, and confidentiality is always respected.” –Jessica Kras & Benjamin Hanff, 2L For more information about Out In Law, email outinlaw.universityoftoronto@gmail. com or like the ‘Out in Law at University of Toronto’ Facebook group.

Students’ Law Society: “The SLS is the Faculty of Law’s student association, that deals with social and political issues relating to law students. There are two branches of the SLS: Social and StAG (Student Affairs and Governance). The SLS provides support for students in a variety of ways such as planning social events, doing advocacy work on behalf of students, providing funding for students groups, and more! If you want to have a hand in organizing fun social events, or perhaps even sit on faculty committees and advocate on the students’ behalf, the SLS may be the place for you! As a 1L on the SLS I learned a lot about what the school had to offer, what supports there are for students, and what issues are at the forefront at the law school. It’s a great way to get engaged, familiarize yourself with the school, and meet upper year students!”

–Rona Ghanbari, 2L For more information about the SLS, email andrew.wang@mail.utoronto.ca

The Supreme Chords: “The Supreme Chords is U of T Law’s premier a cappella group. If you like to sing (even in the shower), perform, or drop a beatbox, the Supreme Chords may be the group for you! We perform a diverse repertoire from Bastille to the Beatles. Prefer watching acapella Pitch Perfect style rather than singing yourself ? That’s still cool! Come out to a variety of acapella shows throughout the year and be serenaded by magical harmonies!” - Rona Ghanbari, 2L For more information about the Supreme Chords, email TheSupremeChords@gmail.com.

Trivia: “Myself and my fellow organizers form teams of students, staff, and faculty, which then compete in trivia over one lunch period. Successful teams advance for several additional rounds, with the winning team facing both a team from Osgoode and a team of UT Law alumni. Our team defeated both Osgoode and the alumni last year, so hopefully we will successfully defend our titles again.

There’s minimal time commitment, it’s a good way to meet new people and see staff/faculty outside a pedagogical contest, and it’s fun.”

–Alex Redinger, 2L For more information about Trivia, like the ‘U of T Law Trivia Competition’ Facebook group.

U of T Law Union: “The U of T Law Union is a group of rabble rousers interested in social

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change, both on campus and out in the broader community. At the Faculty of Law we’re been involved in advocacy around issues like tuition and mental health, host talks on subjects like police violence in Canada and the detention of Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay, and trek out to Yale for the Rebellious Lawyering Conference every February. If you came to law school as an activist, or came to law school wanting to use your law degree to pursue justice, you’ll find a home in the Law Union.”

– Riaz Sayani-Mulji, 2L For more information about the U of T Law Union, email utlawunion@gmail.com.

Ultra Vires: “In a survey conducted by Ultra Vires, Ultra Vires was voted the best extracurricular at U of T. It’s the best platform for keeping up-to-date with what’s going on at the law school and the legal world at large. Writing for UV is fun (and being an editor is not required). Our content spans from practical-minded articles like this one, to more serious investigative journalism, to our ever-popular annual results for summer positions, to hilarious satire and humour.” - Brett Hughes, 3L For more information about Ultra Vires, email editor@ultravires.ca.

Overall, 1L has so much to offer you and your experience will be whatever you make it! We hope this guide has given you some information to make your decisions easier.

Happy 1L-ing!

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Academic Offences NICOLE WILKINSON (3L) The academic offense process basically goes something like this: First, a university staff member (usually a professor, TA or an exam proctor) becomes suspicious that a student might have committed an academic offense. This might be because a paper seems like it might have been plagiarized or because an exam proctor caught a student with a cell phone during a closed book exam. Typically the staff member will then speak with the student–the professor might call the student in for a meeting to have them try to explain the suspicious activity, or the exam proctor will confiscate the cell phone and then have the student sign an Acknowledgment form confirming that they had a cell phone during the exam.

Then, if the staff still thinks an academic offense has been committed, they report it to the Dean of the Faculty, who follows up by calling the student in for something called a Dean’s Meeting. At a Dean’s Meeting, the student can either plead guilty or not guilty (or not plead at all). If the student pleads guilty the Dean has the option of recommending a sanction to resolve the matter at this level – the Dean is only allowed to recommend a maximum sanction of one year’s suspension. This recommendation goes to the Provost, who either confirms the Dean’s recommendation, in which case the matter’s done with, or declines it and charges the student, in which case the matter moves on to the next step. If the student doesn’t plead guilty, the Dean will recommend to the Provost either that the matter be dropped (if the Dean doesn’t think an offense occurred) or will recommend that charges be laid and the

matter move on to the next level.

If charges are laid against a student, they move on to the Tribunal level. They’ll be notified that the Provost has decided to lay charges against them, and they’ll receive a disclosure packet from a very skilled and highly paid lawyer at Paliare Roland that the University has hired to prosecute them. The student will then appear before a 3-person panel at Tribunal, where what is essentially a full trial will be conducted, complete with witnesses who are examined and cross-examined, and exhibits that are presented before the panel. The panel then deliberates on the student’s guilt (you’ll be unsurprised to hear that the vast majority of students are convicted if they get to the Tribunal stage). Then the student and the Paliare Roland lawyer will have the opportunity to make sanctioning submissions, after which the panel will again deliberate before imposing the final sanction against the student.

While the process itself might seem straightforward, it’s full of pitfalls for the poor students that get caught up in it.

First, the email requesting the student attend a Dean’s Meeting makes it seem very casual and informal, which lulls many a student into a false sense regarding how serious this meeting should be taken. Many students don’t even think to bring a legal representative with them to these meetings, and oftentimes end up saying far more than they should because they think it will help their case. And since everything they say can be used against them at Tribunal, the Dean’s Meeting often comes back to bite them.

Second, consider for a moment the vast in-

equality of power between the prosecutors in this situation – highly paid Paliare Roland lawyers that can include a named partner at this top-notch litigation firm – and students, many of whom are self-represent at Tribunal.

Most students can’t afford to hire a lawyer, and even if they could, there aren’t many lawyers that practice in university affairs. While DLS has a division for these kinds of offenses and take on all University of Toronto students, the University Affairs division is the smallest department at DLS and there frequently aren’t enough caseworkers for the number of students calling in. Which means that most of the time, you’ve got a scared student representing themselves at Tribunal against a topnotch litigator. (Consider also the amount of money that U of T is blowing to pay for these Paliare Roland lawyers–you can be sure they’re getting paid a pretty penny to prosecute these cases!).

Third, there needs to be some serious examination of the kinds of students that are most frequently caught up in the academic offense process. The vast majority of the students who are accused of academic offenses are visible-minority students. They are also typically international students or students who are recent immigrants to Canada. This acts as a further disadvantage because English often isn’t their native language and they’re unfamiliar with our legal proceedings. It also raises serious questions about why such a gross disproportion of students accused of offenses are minorities. This is something that U of T seriously needs to look into – international students either aren’t being made properly aware

of the rules for academic conduct at U of T, or they’re being unfairly targeted for academic offenses, whether purposefully or unconsciously.

Finally, there are serious procedural concerns regarding the increase in sanctions from the Dean’s level to the Tribunal level. If a student accused of having a cell phone during an exam is sanctioned at the Dean’s level, s/he’d probably get a decrease in grade, for the exam or maybe for the course itself. At worst, the student is probably looking at a failing grade for the class. If that same student went to Tribunal though, s/he is probably looking at a minimum 1 to 2 year suspension on top of a failing grade in the course, even if s/he pleads guilty at the Tribunal level. This automatic increase in the severity of sanction from Dean’s level to Tribunal level exerts a lot of pressure on students to plead guilty at the Dean’s level even if they are innocent, just to avoid the possibility of some extremely severe punishments if they try to protest their innocence. There’s no good rationale for this increase in sanction severity, except maybe that the University wants to discourage students from getting to the Tribunal level in order to save the University time and money. In my opinion, this isn’t nearly good enough of a reason for compromising the fairness of the process.

While I’m sure none of us protest the need to have some way of ensuring that academic offenses are investigated and punished, there are some problematic features of the current process that U of T really needs to address.

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Canada’s System of Refugee Exclusion ROXANA PARSA (3L) The image of young Alan Kurdi lying lifeless on the shore brought public attention to Canada’s destructive policies and attitudes toward the global refugee crisis. The outpouring of criticism towards the government’s continued failures to provide assistance has begun to affirm years of work put in by refugee advocates. While there seems to be a sincere desire to help amongst individuals and communities, this is not enough. The power of a single image is fleeting, and the conversation around the crisis needs to continue onward in order to examine the systemic barriers facing refugees in Canada.

The media’s attention has largely been focused on the need for immediate assistance for Syrian refugees. This need is of course urgent and predominant. Syrians are by far the fastest growing group of refugees, with an estimated 4 million who have been forced to flee their homes. Neighboring Gulf countries have continuously failed to provide major assistance, pushing Syrians to face the dangerous journey towards Europe.

Western governments are being forced to face the question of these Syrian refugees. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander recently announced new measures to speed up private efforts to bring Syrian refugees to Canada, with the promise of bringing 10,000 refugees

by September 2016. While on its face there seems to be a slowly emerging reaction to the crisis, the backdrop of this narrative remains troubling. As pointed out in a recent article by UT Law’s Audrey Macklin , the government’s pointed intent to prioritize Syrian “ethnic and religious minorities” remains code for helping model refugees—mainly Christians and nonmainstream Muslims. This attitude is not surprising when viewed in conjunction with the complete lack of media and governmental response given to other large groups fleeing their homes as refugees, stemming mostly from the Horn of Africa. Eritrean and Somalian refugees form a substantial portion of refugees fleeing towards Europe, yet they are rarely a part of the public conversation. It is impossible to ignore the role played by race and religion of the other in continuing to

shape and underlie much of our attitudes and policies towards refugees.

Moreover, the focus needs to move beyond discussing shallow assistance and towards policies which will enable more refugees to settle in Canada. While quickening the timeline of accepted individuals is a positive (albeit minor) step, the process for refugee settlement is ultimately shrouded in unnecessary bureaucracy. While Chris Alexander has announced a removal of “red tape,” it is unclear how the process will be streamlined, and the Canadian Council for Refugees has called for a stronger, more secure government commitment.

The current scale of the refugee crisis is too vast to allow for these procedures to continue as they are.

The government’s focus on establishing private sponsorship of refugees places a huge burden on individuals and evades any responsibility to resettle government-assisted refugees. Sponsorships will continue to embed everyone involved in a process that can take several years to complete. This can be partic-

ularly harmful to those attempting to sponsor their own family members. As a caseworker in the refugee division at DLS, it has become extremely clear to me the ways the functioning of the refugee system can continuously traumatize individuals within it. The endless periods of waiting during the process have an enormous effect on the mental health of refugees, and many will remain separated from their families for years on end. The government’s failure to provide alternative solutions highlights the lack of real desire to assist these families.

The dialogue surrounding the refugee crisis needs to continue moving forward and must focus on broader issues of systemic change.

The reality is that in the current situation, Canada’s refugee policy remains embedded in overly bureaucratic and discretionary processes which do not demonstrate its apparent commitment to providing asylum.

You Don't Have to Work on Bay Street AURORA CURTIS (CLASS OF 2015) So you’re going to U of T Law and, unlike the vast majority of your classmates, you think you want to work in public interest. It is true that our school has a well-earned reputation for being a conveyor belt to Big Law, and you’ll have to do more of your own legwork and ignore the stressed-out zeitgeist, but it is possible to avoid all that. I know, because I’ve done it: I was a student caseworker at our school’s in-house legal clinic, Downtown Legal Services (DLS), during my 1L summer. I spent my 2L summer working at Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), and am now articling there.

The following are some tips and tricks that I found helpful in opting out of Bay Street: 1. Volunteer. Volunteer early. Volunteer often. Public interest law organizations will want to see that you actually want to work in the public interest, so it’s pretty critical to be able to show an interest through your CV. (Or, maybe through volunteering you’ll decide that public interest law is not for you, which is fine too—better to figure it out sooner than later.)

Clinics such as DLS give you the opportunity to do real hands-on file work. Pro Bono Students Canada also has many wonderful opportunities. If you didn’t get the chance to volunteer with either organization, there are other community organizations that could use a hand. Think community centres, soup kitchens, adult literacy projects, that sort of thing.

2. Learn to ignore your peers. Okay, that sounded a little harsh, but remember that just because everyone else seems to want to work for a certain few full-service firms with offices downtown, it doesn’t mean you have to

apply there too. Life is too short and the legal field is too broad to do work that doesn’t, at the very least, interest you on some level. Remember, although your pay rate might be lower in public interest, your Bay Street peers will be bent over their computers under fluorescent lighting while you are spending your evenings and weekends on things that, in the long run, are likely to be more satisfying than drafting memos to help corporations make/ hold on to their money. There is a great deal to be said for both enjoying your work and having the time to enjoy your life outside of work.

3. Do your research early. Do you want to work for the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG)? LAO? A clinic? Other nonprofits? Start learning what different ministries and organizations do, how they fit with your longer-term plans, what skills and interests you have that would be transferrable, and what paths their lawyers took to get there. If these organisations take volunteers, see if they’ll take you. If, for example, you want to be an environmental lawyer, join the Environmental Law Club. Don’t apply to places where you wouldn’t want to work if hired. A number of public interest organizations recruit through on-campus-interviews (OCIs) and Articling Week. Some don’t.

Here’s the takeaway: Your peers will by and large want to work on Bay Street. The Faculty has a very narrow definition of success, which is—wait for it—working on Bay Street. If you also want to work on Bay Street, you will have ample opportunity to do so. If, on the other hand, you’d rather work in public interest law, those opportunities exist as well.

This article was originally published on August 21, 2014 on the U of T Law Orientation Week 2014 blog.

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1L Students Demonstrate Against Anti-Alcoholism Sentiments NICK PAPAGEORGE (1L) We were greeted by a giant tent, for we needed some visual affirmation of the hermetic intellectual circus about to take place over the next three years at U of T Law. We met our table leaders, the affable and ebullient Sydney, and the aplomb and undersized Adam. They steered us in the direction of all sorts of legal clinics and some less-than-intensive courses we might consider taking next year, respectively.

Most of us newcomers brought a sort of relaxed apprehension to the scene, some of course being less circumspect than others. But here was found a general desire to suppress all anxiety, to learn a few names and have a few chats, though their place in our minds would be hopelessly ephemeral. Indeed, I met another member of my table who had the same name as myself, yet thirty minutes later I had forgotten his name, which in a way means I forgot my own name—a bedevilling experience while sober.

If one thing could pique the interest of this crowd it was surely talk of free booze, especially the potential to win five-hundred dollars worth—albeit in what some of us jokingly came to see as a haphazardly officiated, if not wholly illusory competition. But ‘twas no matter. At this announcement a sea of red materialized beneath the sky of blue as two hundred fabric billboards seized upon their human figures as if by magnetism. If there is a better way than the promise of beer to command obedience, we were blissfully ignorant of it.

The Dean’s intro to Legal Methods was an

early highpoint, quoting as he did from the classic Simpson’s episode Homer Goes to College. I missed the opportunity at that moment, but managed a week later to say to him: “Hello Dean, you’re a stupidhead,” much to his delight. Of course his method of cold-calling names drawn from a silver bowl—no names drawn from cheap cotton scalp coverings for this bunch (our $33,000 hard at work)—was, in his words, not meant not be scary, for It’s Always Sunny at U of T Law! Still, this managed to put some good old fashioned lighthearted fear into more than one member of the class.

As the somewhat awkward state of affairs thawed from day to day, one gained an even greater appreciation for one’s classmates. For what a class it is, likely the first time each of us finds ourselves in a room wherein everybody and nobody is the smartest. Hearing someone’s desire to one day be something like Minister of Justice does not register as fanciful or far-flung, for there is a sense that it very well could happen, that this is the type of place such a journey might start. However, all illusions of sophistication were soon washed away at the Rogers Centre, where the anticipation of a batted ball can become drawn out and demands drunkenness—and here there was no disappointment.

The completion of Legal Methods then leads us to the Belgian beer bar. All to be seen here is a misguided mass of humanity. There is plenty of inhabitable space throughout the venue, but these savages have staked out the most congested space and sought the most overt assault on the eardrums, planted as they were between the bar and the stage. Conversa-

tion persists despite the impossibility of being heard. Whatever words do make it through stand little chance of gaining a foothold in heads clouded with drink. This has been referred to as “mingling” or, if you’re the mendacious sort, “making friends.”

The band slogs through another noise, the guitarist flailing at chords, the drummer pounding randomly on sheepskin, the crowd waving substandard glow sticks far too enthusiastically. The band lurches into a most unintelligible War Pigs. Nobody knows what’s going on. Nobody even reconsiders their career path in light of the song’s message, though the “singer” may well be blameworthy for this. If anybody claims coherence out of this melee— both this particular one and the fortnight leading up to it—they are at once a bald-faced liar and prospectively great attorney. As such, we surely all claim coherence.

I awoke the next day feeling it was time for an agonizing reappraisal of the whole scene. It was highly unlikely, and probably wrong, to go to the morning’s mandatory session in such a state. For those of you keeping score at home, I grounded out to the bartender and am 0-for1 in mandatory sessions this year. Yet again I was faced with that most wrenching decision: cut out drinking in the hopes of becoming a more functional human, or double down on my propensity. I chose a sort of middle ground, resolving to cut out drinking some time in the next thirty years, while celebrating this momentous decision with another beer-fuelled evening. Still I have every intention of riding this strange torpedo all the way out to the end, and I wish my classmates an excellent year and even better beer.

Don't Let Jackman Hall Derail the Tuition Debate ALEX CARMONA (3L) If there is one issue which I can already assume every student has familiarity, it’s the tuition debate. No one spends thirty grand lightly, and parting with that kind of dough every year has put most students squarely on the same side year after year. You’d be hard pressed to find any real support among the U of T Law student body at present for the administration’s firm position that tuition needs to be raised by the maximum amount year after year after year. While the administration has yet to budge on the matter, we have kept up fairly unwavering pressure, be it through UV articles, Follies skits, SLS lobbying or valedictorian speeches.

The physical circumstances of the law school inarguably contribute to the ease with which we as students have been able present a united front on this issue. As a few greybearded 4Ls remember, we used to go to school in what was effectively a dungeon – the laughable facilities of old Falconer and Flavelle were an embarrassment to U of T Law’s image that the administration is undoubtedly eager to shed through the extremely convenient four year institutional memory wipe that is a hallmark of universities everywhere. Now we’re no-

mads, shuffling around Victoria College and hemorrhaging cash while we wait for the glorious new building many of us will never see.

The impending completion of Jackman Hall, however, presents the administration with a golden opportunity to derail the tuition debate and reframe it on their terms. Once we’ve moved out of Victoria College, we’ll no longer be a nomadic, debt-plagued crop of students complaining that for $33,000, we should get outlets at every seat and real tables to write our exams on. Instead, the administration has the chance to wow students with shiny new amenities like extra study space, a decent cafeteria (hopefully) and outlets fucking EVERYWHERE. What’s important to remember is that while the new building obviously presents a massive cost to the school, U of T Law’s sky-high tuition was not born of that cost. Further, tuition rates will not start to drop once construction costs for the new building are born out. The administration has raised tuition over 700% since 2003 - the odds of that trend seeing a reversal are slim indeed. This is why the student body as a whole must make a conscious decision to keep the pressure on, even when

we are presented with the gitz and glam of Jackman Hall. In the years to come, the administration will in all likelihood point to the building during tuition negotiations (or, more accurately, the laughable shams that pass for tuition negotiations). “This is what your tuition pays for!”, accompanied by wild gesticulation toward what will certainly be a gorgeous building, will in all likelihood be the administration’s new rallying cry. Absent strong leadership from the current 1Ls and 2Ls, U of T Law’s future generations risk being taken in by such verbal slight of hand.

This is not to say that I think the tuition debate is at risk of being shut down altogether should this occur. But the sorry state of affairs is that as of now, student efforts to get tuition increases under control have been one collective dismal failure, even with the aforementioned united front and lackluster facilities. If we ever expect to get anywhere (and by we, I of course mean you, 1L reader), the school’s future student leaders must work to keep up what little momentum there is, and must make a conscious effort to keep vital institutional memory alive during its precarious transition out of the Transition Space.

continued from p. 4 David Miller (LL.B. ’84), Mayor of Toronto Miller initially practiced law, then unsuccessfully ran for municipal office from 1991 onwards until he was elected as a Metro Toronto Councillor in 1994, and subsequently won a seat in the new Toronto City Council in 1997. In 2003 he won a closely contested municipal election against former mayor Barbara Hall and incumbent mayor John Tory (B.A. ’75). He was re-elected as Mayor in 2006, resigning from office in 2010. Miller fought expansion of the Toronto Island Airport, providing funding to increase park space on the waterfront, and increased funding for the TTC, affordable housing projects, and environmental programs.

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1Ls Talk 1L Initial Feelings, Impressions and Sweeping Generalizations From Students Who Haven’t Had The Sincerity Beaten Out Of Them Yet So far, 1L has raised a bunch of unexpected questions: Why can’t Professor Martha Shaffer always be there to hold my hand when I try new things? Why does Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time sound more charming in a British accent? Is it possible to achieve an emotional state other than eternal sadness in a Bay Street job? When someone casually tells me they started a self-sustainable company overseas that offers microloans to the poor, do I reveal my awe? Or play it cool? These are the tough questions we all must deal with upon our entry into law school. However, I am extremely excited that I am privileged enough to be seeking these answers with such friendly, talented and interesting people.

- Melissa Smith For me, law school so far has been an eye opener. Law students share a certain way of approaching problems logically, and I thought that would have some implications on personality resulting in a sort of homogeny among the students. Those of you who have been around U of T for a while now might scoff when reading that, already knowing just how obviously wrong I was. It is amazing to me how diverse this group of people is while at the same time being like-minded. I have had so many different viewpoints expressed to me that I never considered. On second thought, maybe someone was always trying to express these viewpoints to me; they just weren’t nearly as persuasive as the students here are!

- Adam Ragusa If I had to describe what starting law school is like, I’d say it’s much like going to an amusement park. You enter with a bunch of strangers, all with varying levels of expectations.

There are a lot of different things to do; some

seem daunting, some exhilarating, and others just make you want to throw up. Overall, it’s a whirlwind. When you finally make it home, you’re overcome by exhaustion. But you also feel a sense of fulfillment and that feeling is what makes you want to keep going back…

Okay, so maybe law school hasn’t been exactly like that. There’s a lot more reading involved. A LOT. But as cliché as it may sound, I have experienced that sense of fulfillment.

I’ve met so many different people and learned so much new information. It’s been challenging, but also very satisfying. All I can say is that I’m excited (and slightly terrified) to see what these next three years have in store for me.

- Theresa Donkor Think back to the time you first fell in love with the idea of law school. Maybe it was when you read To Kill a Mockingbird in Grade 7 English and were exposed to the arguments of the (formerly) great Atticus Finch. Perhaps it was the first time you heard the stirring words of Martin Luther King and realized that through hard work, a lawyer can help fight the evil that exists in the world. Or maybe, like my mother’s college roommate, it was when you learned that a career in law would allow you to wear an Anne Klein pantsuit on a daily basis (forgive her, it was the 90s). Everybody has an opinion on law school; it’s an unfortunate side effect of the legal profession’s sex appeal.

point, most people and their crazy uncle have considered law school, yet few seem to actually make the jump from the fantasy, to the actual classroom. When did the romance of law school die? Is it the prospect of sitting through the LSAT (or as I call it “5 hours of your life you’ll never get back”) that causes potential students to run? Or is it the reputation of the student body? There’s something about law school, especially ours, that seems to evoke images of students deliberately misleading their colleagues and ripping pages from essential books in the library.

I’ve only been here for about a month, but as far as I know I haven’t been pointed in the wrong direction, and my classmates have all jumped at the chance to offer academic advice if asked. We’re all here for the same reason; because at some point we saw, read, or heard something that made us believe that by becoming lawyers we could somehow do some good. We are the people who ignored the nasty law school stereotypes and ran full speed into an environment that has managed to scare away so many. Maybe the claws will come out around exams, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed they don’t, because if someone points me in the wrong direction, odds are I’ll trust them.

- Tegan Valentine

Over the summer, when I told people I would be attending law school at U of T in the fall, the overwhelming response was “Why??” coupled with some variation on the popular Trust No One maxim. Remember your ‘Aha’ moment? Odds are that a huge chunk of the general population has had it too. At some

continued from p. 7 CONTACT when you shake hands! A smile is also nice.

STEP 5: “Thx Bae!” or “The Art of Being Nice After You’ve Been Nice” I am proud of this section because it is really two points in one. It is kind of like 2 in 1 conditioner shampoo. Except this will leave your level of class “silky and smooth” (this article has been bought and paid for by Pantene Pro-V.) A) Take a business card from EVERY SINGLE person you meet. Easy? Good. Don’t forget.

B) Once having obtained said business card, send a thank you email as soon as you have the time. Do not delay. Do not dilly dally.

It is most likely true that these emails will never be read. They are however another checkmart on the giant sheet of things all firms are looking for. Better to spend 5 minutes sending an email than to lose out on your dream job because you didn’t write one. Do not send a template email to everyone at the same firm you lazy slob. It’s 2 days of interviews and work. Just do it.

STEP 6: Breath (or drink…)

That’s it! You’re done! Take a load off.

You’ve earned it. Celebrate, cry, sleep, call your grandmother. Remember though, there are people in all different types of positions.

Some have them now. Some will get them later. Whatever happens on that fateful Wednesday in November, keep your darn mouth shut.

Be humble, be happy and like you have been throughout the entire interview process, just be you! Or be Pat Chapman…he’s good at these things.

In Memoriam: Stefan Djordevic LEONID KOTOV (3L) & GIGI VAN LEEUWEN (3L) After a big night out, I wake up to find my friend Stefan, a big 6”4 mountain of a man, asleep with only half his body fitting on my couch. He opens his eyes and stretches out, awkwardly trying to avoid tipping over both the couch and himself. He asks me what time it is. As soon as he hears it is 9:30 in the morning, he jumps up and shuffles to put on his shoes. Turns out, he has a final presentation to deliver to a non-profit he has been advising all year—in half an hour. Suddenly, with an exhalative “Noooooooo!”, he realizes he is wearing a T-shirt and jeans from the night before.

His suit and dress shoes are in Thornhill, and time is quickly running out. Somehow, he manages to get to Downsview station, pick up his suit, get to Rotman, and deliver a killer presentation. The non-profit company is ecstatic with the findings and thanks him profusely. This story is one of the many, almost daily examples, of the paradox that was our dear friend Stefan Djordjevic.

For those who didn’t know him personally, Stefan was an incredibly bright mind, the captain of Canada’s men’s water polo team (who won silver at the Pan Am Games), and an unapologetic Darwinian. Stefan always lived for the moment. He never dwelled on the past or worried about the future. He was unrelenting in his pursuit of adventure, and if you ever dared to resist, a barrage of “Why Nots?” would fly your way.

Unfortunately, when a star shines too bright, it burns out before its time. Stefan passed away on August 8, 2015. There is nothing to be said of a talent like this being extinguished at the young age of 27, except that it is not fair. It’s not fair that he will never get to graduate with us. It’s not fair that he won’t go on to climb to the very top of whatever career he would have chosen. It’s not fair that he won’t have his own little Michael Phelps/Einstein hybrids. It’s not fair that we will no lon-

ger have our big bully brother to give us difficult, but always-honest advice.

On August 8, we lost a son, a brother, a friend, a captain, a scholar, a party animal, and an inspiration. Although tragic, Stefan wouldn’t want us to sulk over what has happened. Instead, he would want us to live our lives with the same ambition and passion that fuelled his daily existence. He would want us to always maintain an insatiable appetite for knowledge that lies at the heart of human ingenuity.

The beautiful disaster that was Stefan’s life will leave a lasting mark on everyone he touched. The one common theme of every eulogy given at his memorial service was that he inspired us all. He inspired us to work harder, always question, and constantly reach further to achieve our infinite potential.

To the man who refused to stop a game of squash even with a dislocated shoulder: you will be missed, you will be celebrated, and we promise you will never be forgotten.

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Word on the Street The Best and Worst Parts of O-Week Best: My favourites were probably the variety of free food and the socials.

Best: I liked the planned activities for the most part, and enjoyed that they mixed in some extra-curricular stuff (e.g. Public Interest Lunch was amazing).

Worst: They planned a social the night before an important, mandatory, and early inclusivity session!

Gaby Schacter

Sheena Singh

Best: I'd say meeting new people and making friends. It's a crazy opportunity to meet a ton of people really fast.

Best: I liked the tables because I think its a good way to introduce students to each other without overwhelming everyone.

Worst: The least favourite is probably the structured "getting to know others" part. Tons of people bail if it's optional, and that stuff isn't that fun.

Worst: I didn't like that there was no free alcohol except for one table.

Ani Sachdev

Tony Zhou

Best: My favorite part was that bumper car bar thing.

Alexander Coomes

Worst: Social events were good, but bar nights were maybe a bit repetitive. I would have preferred more student-friendly locations closer to campus (where we are actually more likely to go out).

I also think there could have been a lot more sober programming during the week so it wouldn't run late (since the faculty had a problem with that), but it would also allow us to socialize more.

Worst: Easily my biggest complaint is that most pub nights were in places where the music was way too loud to talk to anyone. Actually, sorry, that's my second biggest complaint. My biggest is about the morning mandatory sessions on Fridays...after pub nights...which were boring as all hell.

Best: My favourite event was by far our trip to E-Zone. It provided an opportunity to interact with a large number of peers in a variety of different contexts. Full points on that one.

Worst: My least favourite aspect was probably the "tent events." Without a microphone, it made the rules unclear and I think that the absenteeism during those events was a reflection of this.

Sam McColl

Best: I really liked the E-Zone and card games events that we had during the day. I liked the fact that they motivated us to go out with everyone and try new events that involved stuff other than drinking.

Aamir Chherawala

Best: I liked the events where they treated us like kids and let us play with laser guns.

Best: My favourite part of the week was definitely E-Zone.

Worst: I wasn't a big fan of the casino event due to the way it was organized which didn't allow us to freely move around the activities at our own pace.

Worst: The food was really poorly distributed. Why not just put a quarter of the food in each of the four corners?

James Schneider

Worst: My least favourite would probably have to be how we were stuck in the same orientation group for the whole two weeks. I would've liked it if we spent more time moving around and meeting people in different groups during lunch time!

Ashley Bogglid

Dear 1Ls – You Do You, Boo RONA GHANBARI (2L) As you enter your second month of 1L (holy crap a month as already gone by WHAAATT???) you may be inundated with many different feelings and thoughts such as: “Hm that wasn’t as bad as I thought”, “Oh my god this is so hard I already feel like I’m drowning,” “I don’t understand that contracts case so I guess imma fail,” or maybe even “Tonight I’m definitely going to watch Mean Girls on repeat and do no schoolwork at all.” Alternatively, you may be thinking absolutely none of those things because I am not a mind reader and also who the hell am I to tell you what you should be thinking?

law students, lawyers, professors, and even your friends who aren’t in law school are all super keen to give you advice—advice about studying, advice about course selection, even advice about your career. These people are undoubtedly well-meaning and very kind to go out of their way to try to help you have the best 1L experience EVER. Some of these people may be super experienced and the advice they have to offer may be extremely valuable.

Heck, I’ve been handing out my best advice like free candy. But just like free candy from a stranger, you should be cautious when taking advice.

As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, upper year

In 1L I asked everyone I knew what they

thought of XYZ thing. What extracurriculars should I join? What grades do I need to get?

How exactly do I get those grades? What social events should I go to? What firms should I apply for? Should I do a clinic? Should I do a journal? (answer: NO) Should I travel? Should I sit at home crying endlessly to reruns of Recess while eating an extra-large pizza to myself ? Sometimes their help and advice was super helpful, and other times it just left me feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. Ultimately, I made a series of random decisions that didn’t replicate all the exact decisions of any person I spoke to, and I have to say that, to my sincere and utter shock, my life didn’t crash and burn around me.

No one person’s advice or experience will be entirely right or representative for you.

There are such a wide variety of opportunities for you to pursue, such a huge range of career options, and an exceedingly high number of social events you can choose to say yes or no to—and you shouldn’t feel guilty either way, no matter what anyone’s advice is. So while I condone asking people abut their experiences, their careers, and their thoughts, just remember that your legal education and your career are yours to build! You do you 1Ls. Do exactly what you want to do here at U of T law, and chances are that you’ll end up somewhere amazing no matter what you choose.

OPINIONS/DIVERSIONS

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 15

Marcus McCann Speaks to the Class of ’75 About Tuition and Debt MARCUS MCCANN (CLASS OF 2014) A version of this talk was delivered to the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Class of 1975 Reunion on September 9, 2015. These remarks were first published on the Symes Street & Millard LLP blog on September 13, 2015.

Financial aid has failed to keep pace. The faculty used to report on the percentage of students who got full bursaries. Now, none do.

While I was in school, they were still reporting the number of students who qualified for bur-

students at U of T law has been stagnant in recent years. And the faculty doesn’t overlay real socioeconomic data onto this stat. So we have no idea whether this stat actually means that people from diverse economic back-

I’ll keep this brief, because the message from the future is a bit of a downer.

Tonight is rightly about celebrating your talents and gifts. But as you think about all of your wonderful, hard fought accomplishments, I hope you will take what I say and think about what choices brought you to this point, and what gave you the freedom to make them.

It’s impossible to talk about financial aid without talking about tuition. It’s gone up a staggering 800 percent since 1997. It’s now more than $30,000 a year, the highest in the country.

It’s no wonder that my graduating class – I’m very proud of this – protested our own graduation.

I want to thank you for the care and concern you’re showing for students in situations that are like mine. It will mean a lot to them if the faculty, with your help, can fix the growing gap between tuition and financial aid. I understand Dean Iacobucci gave you a very soft sell on fundraising for financial aid. I’m not here to ask you for money.

But when the faculty does roll out their financial aid fundraising plan, which I imagine is coming, I encourage you to give. And when you do, I encourage you to ask lots of questions – to be your lawyerly selves, to be inquisitive, even interrogative. Is the current state of affairs a problem? What mistakes were made along the way? How do we avoid making them again?

I grew up in a modest income family in working class Hamilton. I financed law school through government student loans, faculty bursaries, and commercial loans. The faculty paid some of the interest on the commercial loans while I was in school.

That’s how most law students at U of T cobble together tuition and living expenses. Students now qualify for $150,000 lines of credit, plus about $35,000 in government loans.

away from work at small firms.

saries equal to half of their tuition. The last year they reported it, the number was two percent. Now, it’s fallen off their reports.

This can only affect the make-up of who goes to law school. The number of racialized

grounds are coming. But anecdotally, my sense is that they are not.

High tuition and inadequate financial aid contributes to a tidal pull away from peoplefocussed work, away from public interest, away from Crown and government work,

I’d love to talk with you about this more. I’ll stick around tonight, and you can always find me online. Thanks again. You are and continue to be a remarkable class.

Tort or no Tort?

MAUD ROZEE (1L) & CLARA ROZEE (3L) On Monday, September 14th, the air conditioning in Emmanuel 001 was non-operational.

Upon my arrival at class, I began to sweat profusely, causing me great physical discomfort and strange looks from my classmates. TORT or NO TORT? This morning at Caffiends in Old Vic, they only had goats’ milk. As a result, my coffee was undrinkable. TORT or NO TORT? In my Property small group on Wednesday, I clearly hadn’t done the readings. Instead of jumping in with a comment when I was called upon, everyone sat silently, looking at their textbooks, and allowed me to flounder. TORT or NO TORT? I was forced to listen to a classmate attempt to apply a lengthy and detailed baseball analogy to a legal situation which bore no relation whatsoever to baseball. TORT or NO TORT? My peer mentor asked if I had applied to DLS. I had not. She proceeded to tell me that that was fine and she knew lots of people who didn’t do a clinic and still managed to get some real legal experience one way or another. TORT or NO TORT? At a pub night, the bartender served me an excessive quantity of beers (between 3 and 4), which caused me to dance with reckless abandon, in a manner unbecoming a young professional. I suffered a loss to my reputation as a skilled dancer and was mildly embarrassed before my peers. TORT or NO TORT?

MAUD ROZEE (1L) AND CLARA ROZEE (3L) ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX WONG (3L)

16 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

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Move from the classroom to the courtroom.

If you’ve set your sights on a career in litigation, you want to apply all that you’ve learned so far where it really counts – in court. At Lenczner Slaght, you’ll spend more time preparing and presenting cases, guided by highly respected lawyers who can help you develop and polish your advocacy skills. As Canada’s leading litigation practice, we don’t just offer you more firsthand courtroom experience – we insist on it.

DIVERSIONS

ultravires.ca

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 17

Toto, I've a Feeling We’re Not in Vic anymore HARRISON CRUIKSHANK (3L) The first day of school is always exciting, and the first of 3L especially so. Those promises made in 1L by virtuous upper years are finally going to be honoured. Those promises that 3L is an entirely different experience compared to the rest of law school, a great experience full of revelry and good-time feelings. Well, let me tell you first hand, 3L is REALLY different. The moment you begin, it’s almost like you’re at another school entirely.

For starters, you barely recognize any of your classmates. Everyone looks way different than I remember. It seems like everyone’s taken up smoking and started riding those weird little push scooter things you wanted really badly when you were 8 years old.

Also, I thought I knew some people in the year below me, but I guess not. I only recognize like three people in any of my classes—maybe four. I’m also not seeing DSBert around the school as often as I did in 1L… did he graduate? Still, I’m not sure if the classes themselves are much easier like people always said they would be. The legalese is so dense it almost seems like my professors are speaking another language entirely. Crazy gibberish.

Next, the change in your perspective as a 3L is immediate. Maybe it’s just the sweet

knowledge that law school is almost finished, but food tastes so much better in 3L. Pastries, cheeses, charcuterie… not to mention the wine! It’s divine. The draw back is that with this increased appreciation for taste comes other heightened senses. I never noticed how rank some people smell. I keep walking past people dressed as if it’s their day to Moot who smell like it’s the day before their Moot factum is due. Foul. I also seem to have trouble keeping warm now. During the week everyone was talking about a heat wave, I was wearing a jacket! Two years of law school really do a number on your body.

I am really happy that the new law building is completed—and ahead of schedule (that is to say, not as late as they said it would be)! I thought for sure I’d never see the inside of it.

The funny thing is, it looks like a really old building. I guess that’s an aesthetic choice, and I gotta say it does look nice. What fumes me though is that there are virtually no outlets anywhere, and the only ones I can find have the wrong kind of holes. What’s up with that?! To top it all off, the administration made a royal snafu, a snafu that makes forgot-to-get-a-permit-for-a-tree-eventhough-they-are-all-lawyers-gate pale in comparison. They misspelled “University of Toronto Faculty of Law”! And it’s not just a small typo; the building reads “Université

Jean Moulin”! How do you make that mistake?

It looks like the building… of… a… different… school. Hm. Oh no. Dear readers, a law student on a year-long bender (aka 2L) can do some crazy things—like fill out an exchange application, apply for a visa, rent an apartment, get on a plane, and forget he did all those things. That, or I should really see a doctor about my explosive amnesia. What was I saying? Oh yes. I guess I’m on exchange. In retrospect, I probably should have figured that out less than a month into my stay in Lyon, France. Well, better make the most of it. Maybe I’ll even improve my French! Finally I’ll be able to communicate in more than just English and my native tongue, Simpsons quotations. Well readers, whatever I do, I vow to bring to you stories from ‘round the horn the likes of which ye have never seen.

This is Harrison Cruikshank, Ultra Vires Foreign Correspondent, signing off.

Eleven Features we Hope are Part of the New Jackman Hall Law Building MAUD ROZEE (1L) AND CLARA ROZEE (3L) 1. Unlimited free printing 2. Mahogany desks and chairs with finest Italian leather seat cushions.

3. A drinking fountain that dispenses San Pellegrino water.

4. A statue of Bora Laskin on horseback, maybe with a sword or something.

5. On-site masseurs.

6. Holograms of every S.C.C. justice ever, and you can just talk to them, Harry Potter painting-style 7. A troupe of first-rate thespians to perform scenes from seminal cases.

8. Every time you look in one of the mirrors, Anthony Niblett stares back at you.

9. Trained cats in little smocks that walk on their hind legs and carry my textbooks for me.

10. The whole floor is made of solar panels and Dean Iacobucci beams onto them, providing enough clean energy to charge every laptop in the Reading Room.

11. A portal to another dimension in which I have already retired from an illustrious, inspiring and lucrative legal career. I throw a football to my grandsons on the soft sand beaches of Bermuda. After a feast of fresh crab I retire to my room with my wife of sixty-five years. That night, I pass away peacefully in my sleep. Moments later, she dies also. We are reunited in the afterlife. God greets me at the gates of Paradise, and it all looks a lot like the Jackman Law Building.

18 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

DIVERSIONS

Advice for 4Ls

The definitive compendium of sage wisdom, from someone who has no idea what she's doing. We’ve got at least one more lap around, whether we like it or not.

BECKY ROSS (4L) 1. Tell anyone who will listen that back in your day, having Fridays “deemed” for missed classes was so not a thing. This may or may not be true; you can’t remember that far back.

2. Develop a new resting facial expression that lends itself to any occasion. This involves squinting your eyes and slightly tilting your head to the side while nodding slowly. People will wonder: Are you hungover? Listening intently? Contemplating the larger questions in life like whether blondes really have more fun? Soon even you will not be able to tell.

3. Start using different pseudonyms at Starbucks. Life is short.

4. Know that no matter which courses you do or do not take, you will at some point regret it. Don’t worry, you can always complain.

5. When a prospective JDMBA asks to go for coffee, insist on meeting them in Rotman's Fleck Atrium. Stand under the ticker-tape and begin gesticulating wildly when they arrive, while screaming, "ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS!!!"

6. You don't know anyone and are now too old to make new friends. The upside of this is that it is no longer important to be aware of your

general surroundings or to look more than a couple of feet ahead of you at any time. The downside is that this may result in you attending the wrong class, running into various park benches and failing to notice the few people who will actually acknowledge you in public.

7. Many people will choose to tell you, unsolicited, all about how they are definitely going on exchange, and how you should really be making the best of this time. Refer to item 2 on this list but add a vague smirk.

8. Tone it down. Your current level of excitement about Facebook’s impending “dislike” feature is exactly what people are worried about.

9. Overshare about mundane personal problems. People like this.

10. Remember: we’ll always have Netflix.

Hemingway's OCI Cover Letter TYLER HENDERSON (3L) To Whom It May Concern, My name is Ernest. It is a simple and strong name. Perhaps you have heard it from critics recently. Other than Charlie, who has a clear eye and understands what Scott and I are trying to do, it is best to stay away from them. They make a living using their Ivy degrees and ten dollar words to predict your failure just to gloat over it. Cats make better company.

At least they are solitary, as all serious writers must be. At any rate, I’m applying for a second year summer student position.

Law is hell. You will work like a dog for no good reason. Law school is a rotten business too. It coarsens the very gentle and the optimistic. What you need, after all else has been taken from him, is a man of courage. If you do not remember these things it is because they are gone. They left each of our generation the same way. We closed our windows to the rain and the cold wind but the bad weather came one day and left its sodden leaves on the rue des Saints-Peres. Cyclists in bright blue jerseys with wiry legs peddled over them in the sad autumn light.

My qualifications include rising to confront eternity each morning. I then try to get as much of it down as I can with a few number-two pencils. It is a good day if I go through several. Have you ever wrote a true sentence? There is a beauty in it that offsets the rest of the business. We may practice but the ordeal is never smooth or well-oiled. Of course anyone can talk of this among company during the day. At night it is another thing. Give me a typewriter and a bottle of absinthe. I will make true sentences for you.

You may wish to discuss my qualifications further. Do not. It is the writer’s job to write, not talk about it.

Sincerely, Ernest Hemingway

ultravires.ca

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 | 19

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Boots on the Ground Set your precedent at Bennett Jones and hit the ground running.

bennettjones.com/students

20 | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

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Re: Fall 2015 Calendar Reminders MAUD ROZEE (1L) AND CLARA ROZEE (3L) Dear students,

•

Here are some reminders about your schedule for this fall. Please mark your calendars with the following dates:

•

Friday, September 25th was a deemed Wednesday. Accordingly, next Wednesday, September 30th will be a deemed Friday.

•

In the months of October and November, the 16th will be deemed the 23rd.

•

Every Tuesday in October will end at 3 pm.

•

The weekend of October 10-11 is cancelled, pending administrative review.

•

Wednesday, October 14th is a wild card. Deem it whichever day you please.

•

On Thursday, October 15th at midnight, we will gather at the grassy space behind the Faculty of Music to draw the following day out of a hat. If you have suggestions for dates to be included in the hat, please email them to the Records Office before yesterday.

•

If you have class before 5 pm on Tuesday, October 20, the following day will be a Wednesday as normal. Otherwise, return to the start of the week.

•

The week of November 9-13 will be repeated as many times as is necessary.

•

Just a reminder that the new law building is scheduled for completion by September 2016. As we all know, 2016 has been rescheduled to 2020.

•

For the month of December, we will be using a Snakes and Ladders board in lieu of a calendar. Stay tuned for more updates.