Law students are back and have hit the books but this year about 200 1Ls have already completed their first credit, thanks to the new Legal Methods Intensive course that took place the last two weeks of August.
“Legal Methods was an excellent introduction to academic expectations, and to legal thinking and concepts, and gave me some insight into the time management skills law school will require,” says Judith Manger.
Lara Koerner Yeo
Her class mate, Lara Koerner Yeo, agrees: “The upper year students and faculty involved in the two-week program were very committed to making us feel welcome and sharing with us the basic skills to be successful in law school. I learned a lot of new material over the two weeks and now feel confident and relaxed starting law school.”
Like all our student body, the 1Ls represent an amazing cross-section of life experiences, from all parts of Canada, and with myriad stories to share.
Judith Manger, founder, Axis Music
Manger is an accomplished cellist, educator and founder of Axis Music, a tuition-free program offered to children and youth in Toronto Community Housing where they can learn to play the piano, cello and violin. It currently has 18 students, but the wait list is growing. “Enrolment is maintained through dedicated practice and attendance,” says Manger, who has undergraduate and graduate degrees (from McGill and Northwestern universities) in music performance.
“Axis Music deepened my understanding of the challenges, prejudice, and discrimination confronting many low income and immigrant families. Many residents face obstacles greater than the scope of services that Axis Music can provide. It takes many resources beyond music education to promote equality.”
She hopes to become an immigration lawyer, but is open to learning about other areas of law as well.
“I volunteered at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to develop my knowledge of equality in a legal capacity. Assisting with research affirmed my desire to attend law school so I would be able to learn the legal skills that, I believe, most effectively contribute to reducing inequality and promoting equal access to opportunity.”
After 10 years away, Lara Koerner Yeo is back in her hometown, master’s degree in human rights and humanitarian action from SciencesPo’s Paris School of International Affairs in one hand, associate producer credit for the documentary Nine-Story Mountain in the other.
“I have a deep interest in Tibetan Buddhism and a love of adventure travel, two things that led me to participate in ethnographic research expeditions to Mount Kailash in the far west of Tibet in the summer of 2012, and to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the summer of 2014. My involvement in Nine-Story Mountain stems from my participation in the Kailash expedition and features footage that was shot over the course of our plateau crossing and research around Kailash.”
Conducting field work between Hovsgol and Hatanbulag in the Dornogovi province of Mongolia: Lara Koerner Yeo.
Yeo’s university research focused on violence against Indigenous women and girls in North America, and the role of non-profit organizations in taking up these causes in the sphere of international human rights law. She also worked with the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch, contributing to a report on abusive policing and state failures to respond to violence against Indigenous women in northern BC.
For U of T Rotman Commerce graduate Bao Ton (David) Diep, law school is off to a good start. “The community has been welcoming and it feels tight-knit. The law school is also quick to answers email inquiries and resolve issues, which is amazing. The students are friendly and eager.” He comes to the Faculty of Law after careers in the Canadian Reserves for two years and five years as a structural carpenter. The Malaysian-born, Toronto-raised Diep says he aims to pursue corporate law.
Victoria-born Sinéad Charbonneau says she appreciated the introductory course to legal thinking—“I’ve learned a lot already!”—and she wants to use her law degree to build on her gender and Indigenous studies undergraduate degree, and to advocate for Métis rights. She hopes to work on custom adoption processes and on supporting and strengthening Indigenous legal traditions.
“My family is Métis and Irish settler from Haudenosaunee territories. Over the last eight years, I’ve been a part of community-based organizing and direct action to address violence against Indigenous women and sex workers rights, and to support people who’ve experienced discrimination through the human rights complaint process.”
Charbonneau says the experiential student opportunities available at the Faculty of Law were a big draw for her, because they are something she has enjoyed since her undergraduate days.
“During my last year of school, and since graduating, I was a researcher on two projects aimed at supporting sex workers including www.understandingsexwork.ca and the UVic School of Social Work. Most recently I’ve been a part of a small group of people initiating a Métis child wellness network called Maskikiwenow.”
Adds Charbonneau: “I’ve always found hands-on work experience very fulfilling, and U of T offers many opportunities to work in different communities, or to initiate a research project. I’m also very excited to be living in Toronto!”
