Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti has told students at Osgoode Hall Law School that it will take the next generation of law students and Canadians to continue the work of reconciliation with the country’s Indigenous peoples.

True reconciliation will require a transformation in Canadian law and the way Canadians think, he said in a special address to Osgoode students on March 27.

“I think all of that is the future and all of that is you,” he said. “Derooting colonialism or stripping away the layers of colonialism will take time and will be a constant effort, but it can happen,” he added.

“That’s my challenge to you,” he said. “You will have to work with each other so claims of justice can be fulfilled.”

Lametti urged the law students to look for opportunities to lead and paid tribute to Osgoode alumni who have had an impact on his life and Canadian society, including deceased Supreme Court of Canada Justice Peter Cory ‘50, for whom he clerked, Federal Court Justice Avvy Go ’99 (LLM), Shalene Curtis-Micallef ‘95, who was appointed as deputy minister of justice in February 2023, and Michael Tulloch ‘89, who was appointed Chief Justice of Ontario in December 2022.

“No doubt their principles and perspectives can be traced back to their days at Osgoode,” he said. “I’ll put aside my McGill bias,” added the former McGill University law professor, “and acknowledge that this law school has been forming great legal minds for 134 years.”

Lametti, a native of Port Colborne, Ont., who was elected to represent his Montreal riding in 2015, said he never expected to be nominated as a federal election candidate, much less win his seat.

“So I would say to you, watch out for those doors as they open,” he urged the students. “Keep an eye open for how you can lead because you can have a big impact once you get there.”

The attorney general restated the federal government’s commitment to implementing its United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, with its most recent step coming March 20 with the release of a draft action plan.

“I think the declaration has the potential to be one of the single most transformational points in what I think could be the refounding of the country,” said Lametti. “But in order to get there, it’s going to take a great deal more work than has already been done and a stripping away of the layers of colonialism that have been imposed on Indigenous peoples.”

He also vowed to continue supporting the work of Kimberly Murray ‘93, the federal government’s special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with Indian residential schools.

He said he is also pushing ahead with work to create an independent Canadian Criminal Cases Review Commission, which he hopes will help correct the over-representation of Indigenous people and other marginalized Canadians in the justice system. Similar independent review commissions exist in the U.K., Scotland, New Zealand and some U.S. states.

In taking questions from the audience, Lametti agreed that the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the federal government will require the adoption of Indigenous legal systems as part of a multi-juridical framework.

“We have to recognize there are more than two legal systems in this country,” he said. “I’m hoping we get to a point where we truly become legal pluralists and different people will be governed by different legal systems at the same time – and sometimes multiple legal systems at the same time.”

He also expressed the federal government’s commitment to investing more in Indigenous-led restorative justice initiatives and in improving the nationwide reach and quality of Gladue sentencing reports, which Canadian courts can request before sentencing an offender who is Indigenous.

At the end of the session, Lametti posed for photos with students, including members of the Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association and Lori Mishibinijima, Osgoode’s program manager and special advisor, Indigenous & reconciliation initiatives.

Fourteen Osgoode students have been honored with 2023 Dean’s Gold Key Awards for their exceptional contributions to the law school.

The awards, which were presented at a special event on March 22, are given every year to graduating students who have demonstrated remarkable leadership, commitment and enthusiasm through their participation in extra-curricular activities, peer mentorship, law school or university governance, clinical education, the Osgoode Hall Law Journal or other endeavors.

“I’m continually inspired by the achievements and the character of our students at Osgoode,” said Dean Mary Condon. “These are amazing individuals and they give me so much hope for the future of our profession.”

The following is a list of recipients with a brief summary of their achievements taken from their nomination forms:

Natalie Bravo showed exceptional leadership as a Deans’s Fellow, research assistant, co-president of Outlaws, editor at the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and in her clinical programs (the Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program (ADIP) and Feminist Advocacy).

William Brown restarted the Osgoode Athletic Association, revived two Osgoode intramural hockey teams and its inter-law school team, organized the Osgoode Charity Classic and was a legal intern at Animal Justice.

Annika Butler is a dedicated leader with the Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association, worked for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General in the Crown Law Office, Criminal Division, during her IL and 2L summers, and was a member of the Intensive Program in Indigenous Land, Resources and Governments.

Courtney Cameron has held various leadership positions with the Osgoode Legal & Literary Society, including president, and has dedicated immense time and effort to ensuring a positive experience for her classmates.

Aya Fahmi has been a student caseworker at the Investor Protection Clinic, a workshop facilitator for Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS), a class representative in Student Caucus for three years, co-founder and co-president of Osgoode’s Middle Eastern Law Students’ Association (MELSA), a Dean’s Fellow for Public & Constitutional Law, and a volunteer with the Dean’s Scribe Program.

Rotem Fellus has been a volunteer and deputy co-ordinator with Pro Bono Students Canada, co-president of the Osgoode Tax Law Association, a leader with the Jewish Law Students’ Association, a caseworker with Community Legal Aid & Services Program (CLASP) and a volunteer with the Osgoode Peer Support Centre and the Competition Law Society.

Viktor Hohlacov has been a representative with Student Caucus, a student member of several committees, including Osgoode’s Digital Innovation Committee, co-founder of the Osgoode Securities Law Association, an active leader with the Osgoode Business Law Society and a staff writer with Obiter Dicta.

Annie Hu has been co-president of the Asian Law Students’ Association, vice-chair of Student Caucus, a volunteer with Pro Bono Students Canada, and a senior division leader, board member, caseworker and interpreter with CLASP.

Mona Karimi has held various leadership positions with the Osgoode Muslim Law Students’ Association, including co-president, has been a caseworker with the Osgoode Venture Capital Clinic, a student clerk with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada, a volunteer for the Artists’ Legal Advice Services and a board director with Waveland Canada.

Frank Nasca has been one of Osgoode’s top mooters, a research assistant, a Dean’s Fellow, an enthusiastic participant in the Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program (ADIP) and the author of an award-winning paper on the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Jaylene Olson has been a representative with and chair of Student Caucus, a caseworker with the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic and a significant contributor to the Academic Planning and Policy Committee of Faculty Council.

Melissa Paglialunga has been the student recruitment coordinator for the Office of Recruitment & Admissions, JD program, for three consecutive years, executive producer of Mock Trial 2022, co-president of the 2022 JD/MBA conference committee, a secretary of Legal and Lit, a caseworker at two clinics (Mediation and Business), an active participant in mooting, and a contributor to the LAWS program.

Bunisha Samuels has served in leadership and fundraising roles with the Osgoode chapter of the Black Law Students’ Association, including president, a key contributor to the Raise the Black Bar initiative, a student caseworker with Parkdale Community Legal Services, associate editor at the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, a research assistant and active mooting participant.

Christina Tassopoulos has been a representative for Student Caucus, secretary for Legal & Lit, co-president of the Osgoode Peer Support Centre and co-chair of Orientation Week.

The books delve deeply into some of the hottest legal issues of our time, ranging from disasters and disabilities to the global access-to-justice crisis, algorithmic management of employees and the law and emotions. One is a monumental history of Canadian law, another a book of poetry. And that’s just a small sampling of the rich research that Osgoode professors have undertaken since the start of the pandemic.

“These recent faculty books, which cover a range of topics, are an impressive collection of thought provoking and inspiring scholarship,” said Associate Dean (Research and Institutional Relations) Trevor Farrow.

In a special book launch event March 21 at the law school, faculty, staff and students celebrated the release or upcoming publication of an impressive 14 books written or edited by Osgoode professors since January 2020 – some under leading global imprints like Oxford University Press, Bloomsbury and Edward Elgar Publishing.

“Getting together with colleagues to discuss recent publications was a real pleasure,” Farrow added. “People are excited about the research that’s happening at Osgoode, and it was fascinating to discuss and celebrate these accomplishments.”

Here is a brief summary of the books, in order of most recently published:

May 2023 – Jennifer Nedelsky, Part-Time for All: A Care Manifesto (Oxford University Press): Part-Time for All offers solutions to four pressing problems: inequality for caregivers; family stress from the demands of work and care; chronic time scarcity; and policymakers who are ignorant of care and caregivers with little access to policymaking – the care/policy divide. Only a radical restructuring of both work and care can redress all of these problems.

March 2023 – Barnali Choudhury, The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: A Commentary (Edward Elgar Publishing): This comprehensive commentary provides an in-depth analysis of each of the 31 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the 10 Principles for Responsible Contracts. It engages in both a legal and contextual examination of the principles alongside their application to real world practices at both the domestic and international levels.

February 2023 – Allan Hutchinson, Hart, Fuller and Everything After: The Politics of Legal Theory (Bloomsbury): The book criticizes and abandons the analytical project that law professors Lon L. Hart and H.L.A. Fuller set in motion in 1957 and that still informs most legal theory today. Instead, it insists that not only law but also all theorizing about law is political in all its derivations, dimensions and directions.

November 2022 – Philip Girard, A History of Law in Canada Volume II: Law for the New Dominion, 1867-1914 (University of Toronto Press): In this latest volume of their seminal history, the authors chronicle how Canada, as a new state on the global stage, tried to use law to weld into one nation several disparate settler colonies established on Indigenous lands. But unity was elusive.

November 2022 – Kent McNeil, Voicing Identity: Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Issues (University of Toronto Press): Written by leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, Voicing Identity examines the issue of cultural appropriation in the contexts of researching, writing, and teaching about Indigenous peoples. This book grapples with the questions of who is qualified to engage in these activities and how this can be done appropriately and respectfully.

July 2022 – Valerio De Stefano, Your Boss Is an Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence, Platform Work and Labour (Bloomsbury): What effect do robots, AI and online platforms have on our work? Using case studies and examples from across the E.U., the U.K. and the U.S., this book provides a compass to navigate this technological transformation, as well as the regulatory options available, and proposes a new map for the era of digital advancements.

February 2022: Saptarishi Bandopadhyay, All Is Well: Catastrophe and the Making of the Normal State (Oxford University Press): The book contends that there is no such thing as a “disaster” outside of rituals of legal, administrative and scientific contestation through which such occurrences are morally distinguished from the rhythms of everyday life. Disasters result from the same practices of knowledge-making and violence by which institutions and people develop state-like power to define and defend the social order.

August 2021 – Odelia Bay, Law and Disability in Canada: Cases and Materials (LexisNexis Canada): This text offers a comprehensive overview of law and disability issues in Canada. The authors discuss persons with disabilities and their interactions with the law as a holistic phenomenon that requires knowledge of and engagement with different areas of law such as workplace accommodation, income security, criminal justice, inquests and specialized courts.

April 2021 – Emily Kidd White, Research Handbook on Law and Emotion (Elgar Online): As this collection demonstrates, research on law and emotions has become a thriving field in recent years, providing vigorous and varied investigations into how emotions influence and are influenced by legal contexts. This scholarship is richly interdisciplinary, melding contributions from psychology, history, sociology, literature, critical theory, neuroscience and other fields.

December 2020 – Gus Van Harten, The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection (Oxford University Press): Governments are rightly discussing reform of investment treaties and the incredibly powerful system of “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) on which they rest. At their core, ISDS treaties are flawed because they firmly institute wealth-based inequality under international law. This book reveals a shady world of investment protection where the costly disciplines of globalization get enforced.

December 2020 – Benjamin Geva, International Negotiable Instruments (Oxford University Press): This text on conflict-of-law rules applicable to negotiable instruments challenges their isolation and encourages their assimilation with mainstream law theory governing contract and property.

October 2020 – Kate Sutherland, The Bones are There (Book Hug Press): A collection of poems that explores the extinction stories of multiple animal species (Steller’s Sea Cow, the Thylacine, the Golden Toad) and the implication of humans therein. It’s poetry by way of collage, drawing on such disparate sources as ships’ logs, scientific manuals, trial testimony and fairy tales.

September 2020 – Trevor Farrow, The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law (UBC Press): This collection of new empirical research addresses the extent and cost of unmet legal needs, exploring issues such as funding, social exclusion, the value of new pathways, fee structures, justice services beyond courts and lawyers, and the need for a culture change within the justice system.

January 2020 – John McCamus, An Introduction to the Canadian Law of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment (Carswell): A concise and accessible account of the law of restitution or unjust enrichment, constituting a third branch of the law of obligations in Canadian common law jurisdictions.

Lawyers and law students beware: Next-generation technologies like the metaverse, Web 3.0, ChatGPT, blockchain and cryptocurrency could pose enormous challenges to legal systems that those in the profession are only beginning to grapple with.

That was one of the warnings to come out of a recent panel discussion featuring Osgoode professors with expertise in the areas of labour law, intellectual property (IP), human rights, tax law, privacy law and tort law.

The event, titled The Legal Implications of the Metaverse, took place March 9 at the law school and was hosted by the Osgoode-based Jack & Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. A full video recording is available here.

“Web 3.0 (or Web3) is on the verge of happening and, as lawyers, we haven’t even mastered Web 2.0,” said labour law Professor Valerio De Stefano, who holds the inaugural Canada Research Chair in Innovation, Law and Society.

“No one could have imagined that social networks could be at the centre of revolutions around the world,” he added. “We as lawyers weren’t prepared for that.”

De Stefano was joined on the panel by Professors Barnali Choudhury, director of the Nathanson Centre and an expert on business, global economic issues and human rights, Carys Craig, an IP law expert, Jinyan Li and Ivan Ozai, both tax law experts, Dan Priel, a tort law expert, and Jonathan Penney, an expert in privacy law, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

While the concept of the metaverse remains in flux, it is generally conceived as a virtual world made up of 3D technology, avatars and digital marketplaces. Some of the most popular examples include games or multimedia entertainment platforms such as Second Life, Fortnite or Roblox.

Craig noted that non-fungible tokens or NFTs have become important objects of ownership in the digital world, sometimes fetching astronomical prices, like a one-of-a-kind NFT of the Birkenstock sandals worn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, which sold at one point for over $200,000. Amid a meta-marks gold rush, she said, applications for trademarks in the metaverse have even extended to Velveeta cheese in virtual restaurants and virtual Band-Aids.

Increasingly, she added, trademarks in the virtual world are seen as pieces of property in themselves and some investors see a new universe of commercial opportunity. Citing a 2003 article by Duke University law professor James Boyle, Craig said we could be seeing a “second enclosure movement,” akin to the push in 18^th and 19^th century Britain to take land that had formerly been held in common by members of a village and changing it to privately owned land.

“Now there’s not just a cyberspace to be conquered and claimed but a whole metaverse,” she said. “The future of this for-sale doctrine is really uncertain.”

On the human rights front, Choudhury said the metaverse could contribute to progress in advancing the right to education, the right to health and the right to freedom of expression. But it also poses potentially serious risks to other freedoms like the right to privacy, especially with its tendency towards “data collection on steroids.”

In the offline world, governments have an obligation to protect rights, she said. Not so in the corporate-controlled metaverse. Its expansion could eventually put pressure on companies to take on new responsibilities to protect human rights, she added.

“Unless we want the metaverse to continue to resemble the wild west,” said Choudhury, “we need states and corporations to step up to do their part to protect human rights.”

The task of taxation in the metaverse could be just as troublesome, said Ozai. For starters, the questions of who and what is being taxed, where (as in what jurisdiction) and how much to tax are more difficult to answer. “Tax systems today are designed for a bricks and mortar economy,” he said.

The complications are only compounded by the fact that there is not one metaverse, but different metaverses run by different companies. Ozai said one option would be to treat each metaverse as a “black box” and only tax economic activity when it’s reflected in the outside world. But that approach would risk perpetual deferral of taxation.

Li observed that while the existence of a virtual world, a tax world and a legal world are certainties, how to marry the three is anything but certain. “The multiverse could become a huge tax haven,” she added, “if governments can’t figure out who’s doing what.”

Still, she noted, similar fears accompanied the rise of e-commerce in the 1990s and, ultimately, they were unfounded.

In the age of megadata, concerns about privacy may be more warranted, said Penney. “To be a privacy lawyer today in the world of metaverses,” he joked, “is to feel the glass is empty, broken and I’m going to cut my hand.”

He pointed out that only 20 minutes spent playing a virtual reality game can generate two million data elements on the individual player. The rise of big data and the metaverse is part of a broader trend towards surveillance capitalism, he added. Huge tech firms, meanwhile, are attempting to evade regulation by arguing that their products are only games.

“But if we want to be serious about privacy,” said Penney, “we need to advocate for better privacy protections.”

Despite the potential problems, Dan Priel expressed optimism that traditional tort law could be the solution for many of the disputes that arise in the metaverse.

“Technology may change,” he said, “but there’s one thing that doesn’t change and that’s human nature.”

Participants in the metaverse are still liable to encounter potential torts like identify theft, fraud, passing off, defamation and even malpractice.

“You will have all this in the metaverse just as you do in the offline world,” he said. “But as long as it has real-world implications, then tort law will be able to adapt.”

Osgoode students will compete this June in the global round of the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition (ICCMCC) in The Hague, Netherlands, following a strong performance in the regional round on March 11 and 12 at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, NY.

The Osgoode team made up of Daniel Legris (2L, oralist), Carleigh Hobson (2L, oralist), Bunisha Samuels (3L, oralist), Stefania Perrella (3L, researcher) and Rebecka Arraial (3L, researcher) advanced to the semi-finals of the Regional Round for the Americas and Caribbean and won third place for the best memorial (defence).

“This year’s regional round included some of the hottest benches I’ve seen in a moot competition, and our students handled themselves with professionalism, self-possession and confidence,” said Professor Heidi Matthews, one of the team’s co-coaches. “Perhaps most impressive to me is the speed with which they are able to take on and synthesize new information, as well as the oralists’ composure under pressure.”

The Osgoode team is also coached by international lawyer Paul Clark of Garden Court Chambers in London, England, and Osgoode LLM alumnus Vlad Hachinski, who was a member of the team last year.

The annual international criminal law competition is organized by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies on The Hague campus of Leiden University with support from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Bar Association. It is the world’s largest competition focused on international criminal law and its judges include ICC jurists and officers.

Osgoode’s ICCMCC result is one of several strong performances achieved by students at the law school during the 2022-23 academic year.

As a young Mi’kmaw man and a member of Membertou First Nation in Nova Scotia, Levi Marshall ’23 has seen the suffering first-hand.

“We see it a lot in our families and friends – women and girls going through hard times in their personal relationships and families,” said the third-year Osgoode student.

“I wanted to do something that would somehow help and bring awareness to an issue that’s super-important and personal for me,” he added.

That’s the motivation behind the Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association’s (OISA) Moose Hide Campaign, which will culminate on March 8, International Women’s Day, with a photo booth in Gowlings Hall to capture images of support for the national Moose Hide Campaign Day on May 11. In the days leading up the main campaign event, OISA members will be distributing moose hide pins, the symbol of the campaign.

The idea for the national campaign was born in 2011 by campaign co-founder Paul Lacerte, a member of the Nadleh Whut’en Band in northern British Columbia, and his daughter Raven Lacerte as they hunted for moose to help feed their family for the winter and for cultural purposes. It has since grown into a national, Indigenous-led, grassroots movement to undo the toxic effect of residential schools and to engage men and boys in ending violence against women and children.

Campaign literature notes that the need to take action against gender-based and domestic violence is more critical than ever because the rate of such violence has increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fittingly, the OISA event comes immediately after the association’s RedDress Week, which honours missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Marshall, who serves as OISA’s co-director of communications, and his Moose Hide Campaign co-organizer, OISA co-chair Justin Thompson ‘23, said OISA decided to hold the event before the national day because classes at Osgoode will not be in session in May.

Thompson, a member of Nipissing First Nation, said the campaign is about education, awareness and action. And while it seeks to address violence against all women and children, he pointed out that Indigenous women are disproportionately affected. According to statistics listed on the Moose Head Campaign website, spousal violence against Indigenous women is three times higher than violence against non-Indigenous women and Indigenous women are killed at six times the rate of non-Indigenous women.

The co-organizers said those numbers reflect the horrible legacy of European colonization, the Indian Act and residential schools.

“Not knowing what a healthy relationship looks like, that can be troubling,” said Marshall, “and many people haven’t been able to get the support they need.”

Thompson said there’s a lack of funding for community-based social and mental-health services and many Indigenous survivors of abuse are reluctant to use government-based services.

“The way Indigenous people have been treated by governments hasn’t instilled trust,” he noted, “and that underlines the need for community-based options for these services.”

Thompson and Marshall said that wearing a moose hide pin signifies that individual’s commitment to honour, respect, and protect all women and children and to speak out against gender-based and domestic violence. To date, more than three million moose hide pins have been distributed free of charge to communities, schools and workplaces across Canada.

Among other activities, the Moose Hide Campaign challenges supporters to fast and gather together in solidarity to put the national spotlight on the issue of ending domestic and gender-based violence. During the 12th annual Moose Hide Campaign Day on May 11^th, said Marshall and Thompson, there will be a live stream and online interactive workshops designed to help thousands across the country to fast to end violence and take action in their own communities.

The two co-organizers expressed their gratitude to other OISA executive members and volunteers for assisting with this year’s Moose Hide Campaign, which was suspended for the past two years due to the pandemic.

After completing their legal education at Osgoode, both Thompson and Marshall will be articling for the law firm of Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, one of Canada’s leading Aboriginal law firms.

Osgoode Hall Law School and Toronto-based Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP have jointly announced the $1.2-million Davies Fellows Award to help break down barriers to legal education.

The new bursary is created with donations from Osgoode alumni at Davies with matching funds from the law school.

At a special event March 1 at Osgoode, Davies senior partner Patricia Olasker ’77 said the initiative reflects Davies’ commitment to creating a more inclusive legal profession by removing barriers that stand in the way of students with exceptional promise.

“We count among our lawyers at Davies individuals who have overcome obstacles to achieve excellence in the profession, and we recognize that we have an opportunity to expand access to a legal education to students from equity-deserving groups,” she said.

“Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is a core value of our firm, and the creation of the Davies Fellows Award is an impactful way for us to turn our values into action.”

Davies partner Chantelle Cseh ’10 shared her own personal story of overcoming challenges to complete her legal education, including financial hardship, losing her family home to fire and the serious illness of a parent. She said that Osgoode’s holistic admissions policy opened the door to opportunity when all others had closed.

“Some of those setbacks really impacted my ability to focus on my studies,” she recalled. “After everybody else rejected me, I remember getting the call that changed my life. Were it not for Osgoode’s support, I wouldn’t be standing here today.”

Osgoode Dean Mary Condon said the creation of the Davies Fellows Award is a transformative contribution to the law school’s No Barriers campaign, which aims to make Osgoode one of the most diverse and inclusive law schools in Canada.

“I am so grateful for the amazing support our Davies alumni have given to this initiative,” she said, “which will see generous alumni donations matched by Osgoode to help reduce systemic barriers to law school for students from all equity-deserving groups, who will in turn change the face of the legal profession.

“As the first Canadian law school to adopt a holistic admissions policy 15 years ago,” she added, “Osgoode has been a leader in making legal education more open, inclusive and diverse.”

Every year, the bursary will help support one first-year student in the law school’s juris doctor (JD) program, who has demonstrated financial need and exceptional promise.

The successful candidate’s personal and professional achievements will include overcoming obstacles related to financial means, racial, cultural, gender inequalities, mental health, and/or physical or learning challenges. The recipient will be known as a Davies Fellow.

The award is renewable for the student’s second and third years in the JD program, provided the student remains in good academic standing and continues to demonstrate financial need and exceptional promise.

Davies managing partner Sarbjit Basra ’94 said the firm hopes the Davies Fellows Award will make a real impact toward creating a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.

“We would not be the firm we are without the contribution of partners such as Chantelle and others,” he said. “Diversity makes us stronger and better.”

“Osgoode will give you the understanding and the tools to be leaders and changemakers in the legal profession, so that you can help shape what 21^st century lawyering looks like.”

That was the message from Associate Dean (Academic) Craig Scott in his opening remarks to a group of more than 200 newly admitted students and their families at the law school’s annual Welcome Day event on Feb. 23, 2023.

In response to a student’s question about which law school to attend, Scott stated that all Canadian law schools offer a solid legal education, and the best law school is the one that “is best for you.” But he went on to say, “You won’t be surprised that I think that Osgoode is indeed the best. Why do I think that? Let me give you just some reasons.”

First, he noted, Osgoode offers both a broad and a deep legal education that gives students significant control over their curriculum choices. This, in turn, he argued, allows Osgoode graduates to build the kind of career they want in the legal profession – from representing clients who are survivors of domestic violence to solving complicated multi-party contractual disputes. “Our graduates are legal policy makers, peace negotiators, counsel academics or judges at provincial, national or international levels,” he said.

Second, he added, a recent survey of upper year students identified what they value most about their Osgoode experience: the wide variety of opportunities for hands-on learning in legal settings and the quality of its law professors. Osgoode offers the most extensive and innovative clinal programs in Canada, he noted.

Third, said Scott, Osgoode is a school that values community and a diversity of perspectives that comes from different sources of knowledge – from lived experience to a variety of intellectual philosophies.

Guests then moved to breakout sessions to get more information on Osgoode’s curriculum, student financial aid and career development. The evening ended with a mock first-year classroom session by Professors Trevor Farrow and Allan Hutchinson.

Osgoode typically admits about 280 students into the first year of its JD program. The law school has a holistic admissions policy that considers post-secondary achievement, LSAT scores, life experiences and achievements, written and oral communication skills and an individual’s record of overcoming challenges.  In its admissions policy, Osgoode puts a priority on opening doors to communities that are traditionally under-represented in the legal profession.