The Demonstration of a Democratic, Just Society and an Exceptional Film 12 Angry Men (1957) opens in a New York courtroom at the conclusion of a murder trial. The judge instructs the jury that returning a guilty verdict will lead to the automatic death sentence of the defendant. With the exception of a few minutes at the beginning and end, the entire film takes place within a sixteen by twenty...
Crime, History, War: Violence Leaves Its Mark American Sniper (2014) 2.5/4 Incurious and hyper-macho, stilted and scandalously blinkered, American Sniper is a solidly-staged and unexceptional picture, crammed with action, heart-pounding moments, and familiar dramatic situations. It’s a gripping, straightforward character study that could have been so much more. In the wake of 9/11, Navy SEAL...
Editorial Note: Karolina and Kendall were on such a roll after their Mock Trial review, he decided to join her as a co-writer for this issue’s editorial. So read on, Ozzies, for double the fun and none of the stress. Returning to school after a sumptuous break (or even worse, a dreadfully stressful one, replete with hours spent preparing summaries or participating in job interviews) is...
On January 28th, 2015, I was glad to partner with the CFCJ to host a panel event titled “The Power of Bilingualism in the Legal Profession.” Osgoode Hall Law School opened its doors to an esteemed group of panelists: Justice Paul S. Rouleau of the Court of Appeal for Ontario François Baril, Partner at Gowlings LLP and President of AJEFO Josée Bouchard, Equity Advisor at the Law Society of Upper...
Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges Networking Event with Osgoode If you are a current student of the Law, Gender, and Equality perspective option, or have perhaps had a conversation with myself in the past week, then you may have participated in a passionate discussion about the sexism that plagues our Canadian judiciary. Or perhaps you are a female student who was...
Osgoode Hall Law School played host to Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Her Honour participated on a panel entitled “The Monarchy in Action: Canada’s Vice-Regals at Work” as part of the Crown & Constitution Speakers’ Series organized by the Osgoode Constitutional Law Society. Political Science Emeritus Professor, Peter...
An evening of fine dining at Nota Bene Somewhat serendipitously, our venue of choice for Winterlicious 2015 was just down the street from Old Osgoode Hall. David Lee’s award winning restaurant Nota Bene sits just west of University Avenue, at the gateway to Queen West. We were greeted by several smiling faces at the front, and the free coat check, while not exactly a surprise, was a nice touch...
Selfish or Selfless? I was never very interested in volunteering. Chalk it up to my pessimism or nihilism, or simply to the fact that I thought that people should help themselves and persevere through sheer willpower. I didn’t volunteer to answer questions in class, nor took the popular avenue of padding my resume. I completed my volunteer hours in high school through an involvement with the Air...
What impact will current economic circumstances have on Canadian professional sports? In just over six months, the price of oil has dropped from over one hundred dollars per barrel to under fifty dollars per barrel. A significant portion of the Canadian economy is dependent on oil. Over the same period of time, the Canadian dollar has dropped from a high of over ninety-four US cents to a low of...
A look into the team’s ascension to greatness and its heydays Staying competitive while passing the torch I always felt that the 99-62 Toronto Blue Jays were cheated out of a World Series appearance in 1985, as the team was leading with three games to one over the Kansas City Royals before losing the series in seven games in heartbreaking fashion. It was especially devastating since 1985...
Alternative business structures hold a lot of promise for both a new generation of legal professionals and the society they will serve. Recently, the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) called for input on whether (and to what degree) it should allow alternative business structures (ABS) for the delivery of legal services in Ontario. The profession has taken a particular interest in a paper on the...
A breakdown of what tuition pays for at Osgoode JD Students at Osgoode Hall have the dubious distinction of paying the second highest law school tuition in Canada: $23,599. But ever wonder what your tuition is actually paying for, and what causes Osgoode tuition to be so high? The pOZcast (the student-run podcast) has been conducting an analysis trying to determine the breakdown of how tuition...
Making sustainability a part of your wardrobe Sustainable, earth-friendly, eco-conscious, green – whatever we call it, the new hip thing to do in our everyday lives is to try to be considerate in our daily decisions about the environmental and social impact of our affluent Western lifestyles. In earlier days, it wasn’t always clear how to apply sustainability to everyday living, but today...
The Impact of the Vision Report on Experiential Education at Osgoode and Community-Based Legal Clinics in Toronto Osgoode students weren’t just worried about exams and papers at the end of the Fall 2014 term. Almost one hundred students completed a Student Caucus survey about the impact of the Vision Report on Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS), clinical education at Osgoode, and the...
There comes a time in every law student’s life when he or she must come face to face with some of the more uncomfortable truths about their chosen path: long hours, ethical dilemmas, tricky workplace politics, and the vice-laden path to making partner await each of us. These realizations are difficult to come to terms with, and will be even more difficult to navigate once we are thrust into the...
Let’s celebrate the diversity of Canadian families on this Family Day In 2013, British Columbia’s Premier Christy Clark established the province’s Family Day holiday with a throne speech that celebrated the diversity of Canadian families, “large and small; same sex; culturally diverse; foster families and adopted children; new Canadians coming to a new world; a single mother caring for her young...
Despite student perception, an analysis shows that students are not paying more for law school textbooks than students a decade ago. As school returns for the Winter semester, there are the familiar sights of students trying to procure textbooks. It is not uncommon to see posts on Facebook of students both looking to sell or buy used books. Students also have the option of purchasing new...
A look into the team’s ascension to greatness and its heydays Part 1: Establishing an identity and a winning culture As a die-hard supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays who has followed the baseball club for nearly three decades, I believe they have come a long way since playing their first ever regular season game at Exhibition Stadium on April 7, 1977 when the field was covered with snow...
Solitary Confinement on the Rise in Canadian Prisons You know you might be in trouble as a correctional system when one of the most notorious prisons in the US has begun to implement more progressive policies than yours. Rikers Island, the massive corrections complex that reeks of urine and desperation (known to any Law and Order aficionado), has been mandated by the New York corrections board to...
Managing the aspirational gap between what is and what you expect Many of us go through our lives setting what we like to label “goals” and “objectives” for ourselves. And for the most part this seems to be a healthy and productive thing to do. Though sometimes these aspirations morph into expectations, very high ones at that, and it is when this happens that we set ourselves up for potential...
Having no prior experience with Winterlicious, it is fitting to that “I know nothing.” Not only that, but I am hardly a foodie, nor do I have a big stomach for anything. People who really know me note my lack of appetite, actually, and at home I’m known to be a serial picky-eater. But these bad habits (of which I’m sure you, the readership, likely have to one extent or another) need to change...
Food Adventure #9: SMITH (553 Church St.) Kate: After hearing Karolina rave about the huevos rancheros at Smith for the past few months, we decided it was time to check it out. Located in the Village inside what looks like an old townhouse, it would be hard to miss if you weren’t looking for it (I almost did). Karolina: It’s true, I hyped up Smith significantly. This wasn’t just because the food...
Laughter, Tears—and Bottles of Vodka Leviathan (2014) 4/4 Unflinchingly tense, staggeringly well-made, thought-provoking, and brimming with emotion, Leviathan is a Chekhov-style family tragedy; a subtle, extremely barbed satire exposing criminality in contemporary Russia; a film possessed of both classic sweep and sharp modern relevance. Filled with a desolate beauty, it’s a stupendous piece of...
The slippery slope that left Canada’s newly implemented notice-and-notice system open for abuse Less than a week after it came into effect, Canada’s new copyright notice-and-notice system, which requires Internet service providers to forward warning notices issued to customers by rights holders, was already marked with controversy. Described as a “loophole in the new law,” the government’s...
The recent terror attacks in France have, apparently, opened the floodgates for opinions from both sides of the political spectrum on the values and risks of freedom of speech. Across countries and continents, Twitter trolls and Facebook stalkers alike have begun to self-identify as either a French cartoonist, or not-a-French-cartoonist. I find the whole exercise extremely unnerving given the...