Apple’s abandonment of hardware standard signals aggressive new IP strategy A demonstrator displays the bottom of the iPhone 7, which features a new microphone grille, where previous iPhones’ headphone jacks were once located. One of the most newsworthy updates to Apple Inc.’s recently released iPhone 7 is the wholesale elimination of the 3.5mm analog headphone jack, a...
Only one side of this issue has any right to be upset 2016 has been an awkward year for race relations. After decades upon decades of watching their rights to due process getting filled with bullets and forced to pay for the spent ammunition, the black communities of North America seem to have collectively said “no more”, and began to protest on a large scale. Although I don’t...
How the Crown Mishandled Ivan Henry’s Trial During the summer months, there was much talk about the wrongful conviction of Ivan Henry, a BC native who spent nearly twenty-seven years behind bars for a series of sexual assaults that he never committed. After being acquitted in 2010 of his ten convictions, Henry initiated an action against the province of BC for which he sought forty-three million...
What do politicians do? This year has certainly been a very interesting one in the realm of politics. From the vigorous debates and drama in the US election, to Brexit, and to the elections in Philippines and Australia, the political departments of news and media outlets have seen a busy time. With the changing political landscape, we also see a change in the people...
It was Todd who said it, flailing about like an eager pre-schooler anxious to answer his teacher’s question. “Me, me; pick me,” his flung-up finger eagerly solicited, as the heads of everyone whirred in his direction, multiple sets of eyes dilating on his ruddy expression. “Statistics show,” he said academically, “that when emergencies occur amid a group of people, response to the ailing is...
Details remain elusive at TPS consultation meeting with Jane and Finch community At a public consultation at the Driftwood Community Center on 7 September 2016, members of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) – including Chair of the Toronto Police Service Board Andy Pringle and Chief Mark Saunders – engaged the Jane and Finch community in a public consultation to elicit feedback on...
A call for sympathy The Philippines is under international scrutiny due to President Duterte’s violent and illegal anti-drug policies. Since becoming President on 30 May 2016, Duterte has encouraged the extrajudicial killing of drug offenders from both police departments and vigilante groups, stating in his inaugural speech at Davao City to “[d]o it yourselves if you have guns, you have my...
To say law school is a stressful environment would be both an understatement and a statement so ridiculously, blatantly obvious that you’d probably dislocate your jaw trying to say “duhhhhh” emphatically enough. I overheard someone say “everyone in law school has an anxiety disorder: it’s called law school”. We end up balancing about 500 pages of readings a week with social and family...
There isn’t a class titled “How to Keep a Straight Face When Someone Lies to You” There are a lot of things you likely won’t learn in law school. This is not a dig at any of our professors, their pedagogy, or even the Canadian legal education system as a whole. The issue is that education can’t replace real world experience. You don’t learn key networking skills poring though a textbook and...
How Pharma Companies Influence Medical Decision Making Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture a particular kind of drug can maintain their monopoly over this product through patent protections, preventing other companies from manufacturing, marketing, and profiting from the drug. However, drug patent protections do expire; most drugs are initially protected for around twenty years in the US...
by Barbara Captijn, former self-represented litigant, blogger and consumer advocate I was pleased to be invited to Osgoode Law School’s “Bring a Self-Represented Litigant (SRL) to Law School Day” on March 14th. Thanks to Dr. Julie Macfarlane of the University of Windsor Law School and Dean Sossin of Osgoode Hall for this opportunity to interact with students and law professors, and share...
By: Andrea S. Anderson, PhD Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School There is nothing quite like being a defence lawyer—walking into a criminal courtroom with a nice suit on, pulling your litigation case, proceeding to the front to sit at counsel table ready to advocate for your client—only to be stopped by another member of the bar who advises you that the general public are to sit in the body of the...
Black Lives Matter and the Optics of Justice A little over a week ago, Black Lives Matter Toronto staged a demonstration at City Hall to protest a decision by the Special Investigations Unit not to criminally charge the officer who shot and killed Andrew Loku last summer. Many see the death of Andrew Loku, a forty-five -yearold survivor of war and father of five with a history of mental illness...
Justice Cromwell’s departure will test the Liberal government’s call for transparency Justice Thomas Albert Cromwell: “Being a judge is both a great privilege and an onerous responsibility” The news that Justice Cromwell had announced he will retire from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on 1 September of this year—twelve years before the mandatory retirement age of 75—seemed to come out of...
Bringing Awareness to the ‘Gap’ A brief look at how stereotypes, myths & seduction affect the application of law in sexual assault cases By Jessica Zita Law has power in constructing knowledge and ideology, yet it functions in dynamic tension with social structure and systems that affect its operation. –Ruthy Lazar If the outpouring of dialogue inspired by Ghomeshi indicates anything, it is...
Before starting law school, I diligently researched what it was like to enter law school as a mature student. I found pitifully few accounts from those that had succeeded in the role, and many that just dropped off without a concrete indicator of where their journey ended. As I near the end of my three years at Osgoode, I can offer evidence (just what every law student needs) that success as a...
I have a problem. Okay, I have lots of problems, but this article is going to focus on just one of them. I’m an information junkie. Sometimes, that leads me to learn about beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that are downright disturbing. Call it a morbid fascination with the deranged, or a waste of time for someone who almost certainly has better things to do. In any case, I’ve habitually gazed...
Alarming Attrition Rates for Women in Criminal Law I once commented to one of my Criminal Procedure professors that the Crown’s office seems like a better place for women who want to practice criminal law. My professor, who is a female Ontario Court of Justice judge and former defence attorney, responded that if all the women who want to practice criminal law end up working for the Crown, the...
Yes means yes and ask again anyway As awkward a subject as it may be, I want to discuss the Jian Ghomeshi trial. Since I’m about as subtle as a cinder block thrown through a plate glass window, I guess I’ll start with something that’s been particularly contentious: Marie Henein’s impassioned defence of Mr. Ghomeshi, and her often brutal approach to examining the complainants. I know a number of...
250 years of ineffective forest management doesn’t mean that we can’t get it right in the future A study published in last week’s issue of Science, a prestigious scientific journal,seemed to uncover another negative consequence of the human footprint: 250 years of forest management in Europe didn’t remove carbon from the planet, but added to it. The three European authors of this study simulated...
Awkward Confessions from a Mostly-Reformed Dope Fiend Justin Trudeau’s plan to legalize marijuana possession has created quite the stir in the last year or so, and frankly, it’s about time we unscheduled the stuff. I don’t actually have much of a dog in this particular fight. I’m not going to be a blatant liar and say I don’t ever partake, but to say legalization would have any impact on my day...
What the X-Files Reboot Tells us About the Persistence of the Gendered Wage Gap Bradley Cooper made headlines last autumn when he vowed to do more to address the gendered wage gap by working with his female co-stars to negotiate for equal pay for lead roles in films. His remarks came in response to Jennifer Lawrence’s public statements earlier in the month, which expressed both her frustration at...
A Make or Break Moment for Sanity in Politics 2016 looks like it’s going to be a pretty weird year for politics; if current trends continue, it’s only going to get weirder. Canada’s mostly avoided the worst of the lunacy that seems to be taking hold of the United States, but between Kevin O’Leary thinking about running for the federal Conservative leadership and Doug Ford salivating at the...
Over $2.3 million in bursary money distributed in the Fall process One of the first real deadlines Osgoode students face at the beginning of the school year is not an academic one; rather, it is the deadline to submit one’s bursary application. As students are acutely aware, law school is expensive and many look to Osgoode’s financial aid to offset some of the cost. On average, bursary applicants...
Adjunct Professors: carrying the majority of the teaching load, at a fraction of the cost Hallway conversations at Osgoode follow a typical pattern in the early weeks of the semester: “Good to see you,” “how are things?” “What courses are you in?” The answer to the last question can be up-in-the-air as students try to arrange the perfect schedule. This leads to inquiries about the professors...