New Year, New Building, New Website
Dear Students,It is my pleasure to welcome new and returning students to Osgoode for the 2011-12 academic year. The first day of law school is always exciting, but this one is particularly special because the members of the Osgoode community are together again under one roof. I love our new home and I am sure you will too. Watch for an invitation coming soon to our Grand Opening Celebration on October 16, 2011.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as the construction workers complete the finishing touches to the building.
Today we are also unveiling our new website with its attractive student-focused pages, more dynamic content (videos, blogs, tweets etc.) and enhanced search capabilities for such things as faculty publications and e-resources. Every department in the Law School had a hand in the design of the new website, which I encourage you to visit often. The Newsroom page, in particular, will carry good news stories about the community. You can also cast your vote in various Newsroom polls beginning with this week’s question: Do you like our new building?
On behalf of the faculty and staff, I extend our best wishes for a truly great year.
Lorne Sossin LLB '92
Dean
Professor Trevor Farrow to Lead Five-Year Research Project on Cost of Justice
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has awarded a $1 million grant over five years to the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice in the Community-University Research Alliances Program (CURA) 2010 competition. The Forum, which moved to York last year from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law and is partnered with Osgoode and the York Centre for Public Policy & Law (YCPPL), is one of the country’s leading organizations devoted to interdisciplinary research on civil justice.
Osgoode Professor Trevor Farrow, Director of our Clinical Education Program and Chair of the Board of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, is the Award Holder and Principal Investigator of this important and innovative project called “The Cost of Justice: Weighing the Costs of Fair and Effective Resolution to Legal Problems.”
He is joined on the lead research team by Co-Investigators Diana Lowe, Q.C. of Alberta Justice and Chair of the Forum’s research committee, Professor Lesley Jacobs of York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies who was also the inaugural Director of YCPPL, and Mary Stratton who was formerly the Forum’s research director. In addition, there are approximately 50 other co-investigators, collaborators and partners including academics, government departments, law commissions, law reform agencies, law societies, bar associations, judicial associations and other individuals and institutes from around the world.
The two main questions the researchers will examine are: What does it cost to deliver civil justice? And what does it cost to not deliver civil justice? Both questions will be looked at in terms of costs to individuals as well as to society.
Needless to say, this is an extremely ambitious research project that will lead to new knowledge about the costs of justice in Canada and which, in turn, will no doubt drive academic and policy-related thinking here at home and around the world. Please join me in congratulating Professor Farrow on this award and wishing him and his team great success in their research activities.
More Major SSHRC Grants
There’s more great news on the research front. Heartiest congratulations to the following successful grant recipients:Professor Stepan Wood (right) is the principal investigator for a SSHRC-Partnership Development Grant totaling $200,000 over three years. The project, "Competing, Coordinating, Co-opting ...? Interactions in Transnational Business Regulation," brings together 32 leading researchers from nine countries, representing 23 institutions.
Professor Sean Rehaag (centre) received the SSHRC Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences Grant. Professor Rehaag has received funding for his September 23, 2011 conference, "Poverty Law, Access to Justice, and Ethical Lawyering: Celebrating 40 Years of Clinical Education at Osgoode Hall Law School."
Professor Mary Jane Mossman was awarded a SSHRC Research Grant to complete a book project exploring the history of gender and the reform of “family property” in law in the 19th and 20th centuries in Canada.
Second-Place Victory for Osgoode in International Negotiation Competition 2011
Osgoode JD students Daniel Del Gobbo '11 (left) and Brandin O'Connor '12 won all three rounds to place second in the International Negotiation Competition held June 27 to July 1 in Copenhagen. (The winners were Marcus Lim Tao Shien and Andre Tan Qing Yang from National University of Singapore.) Daniel and Brandin worked closely with their coaches, Osgoode Professor Emeritus Fred Zemans and Mark Mahoney, an Associate with Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, which generously supported the pair throughout their journey from the American Bar Association (ABA) intraschool competition over a year ago to the internationals.
Congratulations to Daniel and Brandin on an amazing accomplishment. What a great moment for them, their coaches and sponsor, and of course for Osgoode.
American Society for Legal History Honours James Lewtas Visiting Professor Philip Girard
Professor Philip Girard, the James Lewtas Visiting Professor at Osgoode for 2011-12, was recently named an Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Legal History. The award will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the Society in Atlanta in November. He is the first Canadian to receive this honour.Professor Girard, who comes to us from Dalhousie and was also the Lewtas Visiting Professor in 1993-94, will deliver the Lewtas Lecture on November 21. He will be teaching Torts in the fall and Property and Canadian Legal History in the winter. Please join me in congratulating Professor Girard on this terrific achievement.