THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
October 1, 2010 | 23
BUSINESS
CAREERS
3
LAW SCHOOL LIFE
Mary Anne Bobinski
(photo #4), dean of
the University of
British Columbia
(UBC)’s faculty of
law in Vancouver,
speaks to students.
UBC students are
pictured in class
(photos #1 & 3)
and on campus
(photo #2).
4
UWO Law Convocation
Omar
Ha-Redeye
2010
2008
BlackLaw
Students
Association
ofCanada
conference
ethnic and religious—that was
not there when I began teaching
15 years ago,” says Moran, who
notes that about one in three of
the school’s law students also
have graduate degrees. Many
pursue others while studying
law—and have 13 combined-degree programs to choose
from, including a J.D. with an
M.B.A., or a J.D. with a Ph.D. in
either philosophy, economics or
political science — or a J.D. with
a master’s degree in several
disciplines, including criminology and English literature.
Osgoode Hall’s Sossin says
that inasmuch as it’s highly
competitive for prospective students to gain entry into Canadian law schools, there is tremendous competition among
the schools themselves to attract
the best and the brightest and
who have choices as to which
law school to attend.
“One way to do that is by
differentiating yourself from
other schools.”
He explains that Osgoode—
Ontario’s oldest common law
school, established by the Law
Society of Upper Canada in
1889—does that by emphasizing
experiential learning in a range of
settings, from the classroom to
clinics to hands-on learning, “to
bring ideas into action.”
For instance, Osgoode Hall
students can take intensive pro-
grams in poverty law at Parkdale
Community Legal Services in
Toronto’s west end and partici-
pate in the student-run Com-
munity and Legal Aid Services
Program on campus. Or, they
can tackle cases of suspected
wrongful conviction through the
New York-based Innocence Pro-
ject, or pursue public interest
work through different pro-
grams, including Pro Bono Stu-
dents Canada, the only national
program of its kind in the world.
By the time Omar Ha-Redeye ntered the University of Western Ontario’s (UWO) law school three years ago, he had already pursued careers in nuclear medicine technol- ogy, health and emergency manage- ment, and public relations. The chance to explore “a brand new world” drew him to law. But he 32-year-old, Hamilton-born 2010 UWO J.D. graduate admits that studying it was challenging, beyond the rigours of grasping new information and ideas. “There is enormous emphasis on grades and competitiveness emerged from that,” he says. And it was competitive. Ha-Redeye recalls attending an information session on UWO’s Community Legal Services during his first year. It ended at around 5 p.m. and students interested in becoming involved in the law school’s legal aid clinic could sign up, based on a first- come, first-served basis (since replaced with an interview system), early the following morning. “The lineup started five minutes before the information session even ended and people stayed through the night in the rain,” says Ha-Redeye. “I arrived at 3:30 a.m., and I was too late.” So, he created his own opportun- ities to augment his studies. Ha-Redeye established the Western Law Review Association, a group dedicated to publishing a student-run law review at UWO,
and was active in various groups on
campus, including as president of
CHRISTOPHER GULY
the Black Law Students’ Association, Health Law Club and Mature Students Club. But his activities are best known in cyberspace. Even before being called to the Ontario Bar, Ha-Redeye has made an impression on the profession with his blogs and postings on legal issues. He runs his own website ( www.omarha-redeye.com), as well as a blog and podcast on Canadian law schools ( lawiscool.com) and regu- larly contributes to the legal web- log, Slaw.ca. Now, he’s on the path to prac- tising law. Currently, a student-at-law at Fireman Steinmetz, a litigation bou- tique in Toronto, Ha-Redeye is also ne of two articling student ambas- sadors from Toronto that serve on the executive of the Ontario Bar Association’s student division. In that role, he brings forward stu- dents’ interests and concerns for both the profession and the academy. Some are practical, such as press- ing the Ontario Bar Association to reinstate free membership for Ontario law students, which will give them access to events in which they could network with practising lawyers and inevitably encourage them to join the organization following their own call to the Bar. Other issues are more far-reaching. While at UWO, Ha-Redeye was truck by how many students were affected by depression and loneliness. “Quite often when people are studying, they’re doing it themselves. It’s not a very collaborative environment and you don’t have as much
interaction with others.”
