CategoryOpinion

Most students at Osgoode know that once upon a time new law students were required to learn Latin. I heard this little bit of trivia in an Ethical Lawyering class during my first week. The point that my professor was trying to make was that the Law Society used to throw up all kinds of barriers to keep “certain people” out of the practice. The idea was absurd enough that my classmates...

Exploring the Paradox This article is not for everyone. If you are looking for an in-depth analysis of a Supreme Court case, or a cover on how to secure that Bay Street interview, move right along! If you are going to stay, however, keep in mind that most of the generalizations made here are meant to be illustrative of the greater point and, really, it’s not that serious. It has recently occurred...

Breaking Through I. Lay of the Land  There are broader discussions about the need to take mental illness seriously in the legal profession, but in the din we may lose track of our peers for whom the topic is a lived reality. Rather than critiquing our system and proposing systemic solutions, I want to speak here about what resources there for those of us who are struggling and the concomitant...

The continued downfall of a charitable empire Having to live paycheck-to-paycheck is a harsh reality for many, and one of the scariest thoughts for a low-income worker is arriving to your job and seeing that it no longer exists. This happened on 17 January 2016 to the workers at Goodwill Toronto, when it closed sixteen stores and ten donation centres in the GTA, leaving 430 front line employees...

Do we have a Progressive New Prime Minister, or is it just a Honeymoon Period? From Syrian refugees to Indigenous relations to climate change, Canada’s new Liberal government’s policies have been a radical departure from the Harper government’s way of doing things – and these policies have got the international community talking. A new year, a new Prime Minister, a new start – but how long...

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...

The importance of a memorable judicial writing style Judge Gail Standish, a former intellectual property lawyer and current district judge in California, made headlines last week with her dismissal of a copyright claim against Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off.” Swift was being sued for $42 million in damages by musician Jesse Braham, who claimed that the repetition of “players gonna play,” “haters...

Why OSAII Became Possible Thank you Osgoode for making social justice relevant and possible in today’s climate of corporate success, political correctness, and the social stratification. Thank you to the Osgoode staff, faculty, and the students for making the fight for what is right possible, supportive, and enjoyable. When I decided to apply for law school, it was after decades of being exposed...

Law and Technology The legal market is in an unprecedented state of flux. Over the next two decades, the way in which lawyers work will change radically. Entirely new ways of delivering legal services will emerge, new providers will enter the market, and the workings of our courts will be transformed. Unless they adapt, many traditional legal businesses will fail. On the other hand, a whole set...

When Rape Mythology Invades Judicial Reasons Justice Robin Camp is the latest example of the pernicious effects of rape mythology in the courtroom. His trial decision in the recent sexual assault case R. v. Wagar is replete with irrational and antiquated notions bereft of moral authority. The complainant, who was by all accounts incapable of giving consent, testified that she had repeatedly said...

Warning: Recent Changes to Facebook Privacy Settings May Have Made Your Old Posts Public Social media can be a powerful tool, but it also can be like that ex you keep going back to but you know you shouldn’t. For example, on those days when you have an essay to write, exams to study for, a laundry list of things to do, and you have spent hours on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. In...

A ranking of some Liberal campaign promises Justin Trudeau will have been sworn in as the twenty-third prime minister on 4 November, so it’s probably a good time to stop staring into his sweltering gaze and take a look at some of the Liberal campaign promises made throughout that extra-long campaign. Were the promises sincere, or simply cheap talk in an attempt to win an election? Although I have...

How the Curve Bleaches Out Intellectual Diversity and Entrenches Class Structure “In the wild struggle for existence,” writes Oscar Wilde, “we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.” The Picture of Dorian Gray was not intended as a commentary on the pursuit of legal education; yet it furnishes, albeit...

High-profile lawyer Philippe Sands QC suggests current scientific evidence on climate change goes well beyond the standard burden of legal proof, while speaking to an audience of revered judges and lawyers at an international law and climate change conference in London this September. “One of the most important things an International Court could do in my view, it is probably the single most...

From Out-laws to In-laws Every year, thousands of hopeful applicants submit personal statements describing who they hope to be and what they hope to accomplish with a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School. As someone whose interest in the law stemmed from a desire to better understand the related fields of public policy and governance, Osgoode made sense. But as I moved through first and second year, I...

How Important is Health? On September 25, the United Nations affirmed the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”), a fifteen-year plan to end poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. Officially titled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and set to come into effect on 1 January 2016, the SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (“MDGs”) that expire...

Feasible or Impossible? During the past decade there have been significant developments in the field of international environmental law due to the factual understanding that environmental issues transcend national borders and legal systems. However, the scientific uncertainty about the long‐term effects of international environmental risks often allows nations to justify postponing compliance...

The Ethics of Regulating Robot Sex The summer of 2015 has been a monumental season for robots. Just this July, a robotics company called Softbank released a humanoid robot that it claims is able to sense users’ emotions. Even more impressive, scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York developed a robot that broke new ground in demonstrating self-awareness. The robot’s...

For at least as long as The Paper Chase has been an element of our popular imagination, it seems there have been two dominant features of the first year law school curriculum: the case book and the Socratic method. Does this signature pedagogical approach really teach first years to “think like a lawyer?” Or is it an ineffective and antiquated form of teaching? Might it even be, as critics...

Supreme Court Rules Ecuadorean Plaintiffs Allowed to Pursue Enforcement of Judgment Against Chevron In Yaiguaje v. Chevron Corporation, the plaintiffs, representing about 30,000 Ecuadorean villagers, seek damages from the defendant for injuries resulting from environmental pollution. They originally filed their claim in New York federal court in 1993, believing Ecuadorian courts to be ill...

From Arthurs to Wright, where will your favourite Osgoode dean rank? “Look to your left, look to your right…”: the classic go-to of any law dean’s welcome address to the incoming students. Historically the saying would end, “one of you won’t be here by the end of the year,” an attempt to underline the cutthroat, competitive nature of law school. That said, deans have adapted and varied the...

Children’s Rights in Ghana This article was published as part of the Osgoode chapter of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) media series, which aims to promote an awareness of international human rights issues. To get involved, visit CLAIHR at  It is no secret that the ideals law strives to achieve and what occurs in reality are often vastly different. International law, and...

A story of Ukrainian refugees seventy years later At the end of the summer, just before returning to classes at Osgoode Hall, I made my annual summer trip to my hometown of Winnipeg. While there, I visited my Ukrainian Baba, and came across the following two photos. On the left is a photo of my Dido in a refugee camp in 1944, alongside other Ukrainian refugees. On the right is my Baba in 1945 in...