So Close to My 500th Post

But this is not it. This is post #498. I am writing it in the cafeteria at the Student Union Building. I just finished my lunch and an hour ago, I was part of a panel presentation to the first & second years about the various programs our school has where students can get out of the classroom & do some actually work--for realz.

My part of the presentation was on mediation, an area of the law that I am sure is going to explode. Afterwards, a local judge who was also sitting on the panel engaged me in a conversation about mediation and its importance to Vancouver lawyers. It is really exciting to have stumbled into an area of law that is so interesting and has so much potential. Mediation allows people to communicate together in resolving grievances and, because parties control the process, many times they come to the most reasonable solution without a court--saving city budgets $$$.

Another thing that was cool was remembering being a first year student listening to this panel two years ago. At that point, I had no idea what sort of legal aspects interested me or what areas of law I wanted to pursue. It was a big, grey blank and it's satisfying to see how far I've come & how far I've yet to go.

Love Me Dead

Here is our law school.













Watching the demolition of what I now refer to as "the old law school" this morning was extremely therapeutic. Seeing those bulldozers rip through massive slabs of grey concrete reminded me that the days of walking through those depressing hallways were over forever. What felt a million miles away, the end of my days at law school, felt so close this morning as I contemplated the destruction of the law building.


I remember this particular moment at the beginning of first year when I wished I could project myself into the body of an out-going third year law student so that I could be excited about graduating. I instinctively knew that, by the time I got to third year myself, I would be so mentally & physically exhausted with school that my excitement over getting my degree would be minimal. Perusing my blog entries over the past few months, I was right. My energy has been drained. I am ready for a new challenge. I am ready to begin a new chapter in my life.


And yet, law school has provided me with a thousand gifts: greater curiosity and empathy, greater knowledge of how the world really works, greater confidence in myself & my professional abilities. I am so, so glad I came to law school. I knew it would change me but I didn't imagine it would make me better. Fiat Justicia Ruat Caelum*, indeed.


*Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin legal phrase, translating to "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realized regardless of consequences & was carved into the front entrance of the old law school.

A Visit from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court & Other Happenings

I was going to blog this week about the Supreme Court decision in Khadr (where the Court found that a Canadian citizen's constitutional rights had been breached & yet decided not to order his repatriation) but I have had so much on the go & now, I am exhausted.

I went to court four times last week, wrote seven short papers (with one larger one due next week) & attended four meetings. Yesterday, the Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court made a visit to our law school. She used to teach Evidence Law here in the 1970s & 80s and we students were all very excited for her visit. I thought she was very pleasant & personable but very guarded. She didn't have a lot to say to us, actually, which was surprising in context to the other Court justices that have visited campus since my first year: Binnie, Basterache, L'Heureux-Dube, and Abella.

At this point, I am just hanging on, waiting to graduate. The Olympics start later this week and the amount of people, security, corporate logos & celebration planning has made my head spin. I need a break.

H/T to Saarah for the picture.

Happy Post Time

My last few posts have been a downer, so here are some of my favorite pictures.










Becca in Oxford, 2005













Matt & Charlotte (his mom), Oaxaca 2006.









Romantical! 2006.














Tirzah & girls, early 2000's.











Before the Squisher!










After the Squisher.











Some sisters, 2009.

A Coming Corporatocracy

Hey America! Have you ever asked yourself what McDonalds & Visa want for your country? Do you feel their views aren't heard enough? Well, do I have a ruling for you! On Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 5-4 decision, made a ruling on Citizens United v. FEC. This decision, is super-duper extraordinary in that corporations will now be awarded more constitutional rights! Specifically, the First Amendment right to spend a whole lot (as much as they want!) to promote or defeat a political candidate. Now, candidates friendly to Big Corporate Interests will be rewarded with cool things like Senate seats, governorships & the Presidency. How fantastic is that!

I know what you're wondering: how to I buy in? Well, its easy--just get in a position of influence with a corporation & commit yourself to representing interests like child labour, the abolishment of a minimum wage, and the eradication of environmental protections.

Campaign finance regulations in place for over 100 years used to restrict the ability of corporations to use funds from their general treasury for "electioneering" purposes. Of course, the reality is that our political institutions are already completely beholden to large corporate interests. Where do you think the bank bailout came from? Corporations used to be more restricted but even then, they found endless ways to circumvent current restrictions with lobbyists and media.

And it's all because some clerk in the 1880's wrote a faulty headnote (a short summary at the beginning of the case that summarizes the main facts and ruling). This headnote said that the justices had determined corporations were people based on the Fourteenth Amendment--you know, the one enacted to free the slaves? It turns out, the justices had decided the other way, but no matter, the headnote was used as law (note: headnotes are not law). In Citizens United, the majority was written as if corporations are disadvantaged people. It was written to ensure corporations have vast freedom of speech. Except, since corporations don't have mouths or vocal cords, their form of speech is money.

The Citizens United majority cavalierly tossed aside decades of judicial opinions upholding the constitutionality of campaign finance restrictions & reinforced the notion that corporations possess "personhood" and thus are entitled to Constitutional rights. I strongly believe that corporations are creatures of the state. Therefore, they should not enjoy the same rights as individuals.

Feeling hope-y & freedom-y yet?

Reflections of a Third Year Student

This week, I am hosting a mixer for 1st Year & 3rd Year law students. The idea behind the mixer is that new and more established law students can come together so that the newer students can learn about the coping mechanisms employed by 3rd Years. It was an idea hatched when I was in 1st Year & felt very adrift in the hyper-competitive atmosphere at school.

Yet, when I think about how I have adjusted to law school, I still feel very dissatisfied. Yes, I have learned how to outline my courses & study in a way that helps me retain the great swaths of information loaded upon me term after term. Yes, I have become involved in community & school projects to a much greater degree than I ever foresaw when entering law school (for instance, as I type this I am waiting for a reporter from a national law magazine to call me for an interview on the future of the law school). All these developments in my life are positive.

But there are many parts of my law school life in which I remain unhappy: 1) I am not an academic: my abilities tend to be more along the line of processing & relating information, communicating and "reading a room." When I am given page after page of legal theory to read, my brain starts to swim. And, unfortunately for me, this legal theory is largely what my term papers are focused (though, in fairness to me, I have been able to do well in my term papers by keeping my subject matter geared towards social justice issues).

2) I haven't mastered the ability to progressively work less as I advance through school. I work just as hard as I did in first year, although the work I direct my effort towards might have changed over the years. Many of my cohorts just don't have to work as hard anymore. It's a bummer that this is not the case for me.

3) I feel disconnected from the faculty. As someone who works closely with faculty and has felt close at different times to different faculty members, it's sad that I still feel so apart from them. Law professors are academics & their priority is to their research & publication. This is problematic for an institution committed to educating future young lawyers. I think the best teachers for most of us would be practitioners, not academics, because practitioners deal with the law in everyday practice while most of our professors have been academics for all or most of their careers. They have an abstract idea of what the law is &, as a future litigator, this is largely unhelpful to me.

So, while I am happy to share with 1st Years how I have coped with law school, the truth is there are still lots of areas in which I haven't found a way to cope. In a lot of ways, being a law student still sucks for me--even though I am only months away from graduation.

The View From My Window

No Inspiration

I have no desire to work this term. My classes feel alien & unrelatable. There are now professors I avoid in the hallways and the food is bad. Apathy, apathy, apathy.

Today, I am supposed to write an article for the Ubyssey (the larger school newspaper) on how to come together as a student govermen. I need to research body property rights for a paper & read for my Employment Law class tonight. But instead, I lament my lot. Need to snap out of this rut! Maybe I should sign up for the Sun Run or get a dog.