The future of legal education: Deans' Roundtable includes University of Toronto, Tsinghua University and the University of Hong Kong

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The future of legal education is looking international: (left) HKU Law Dean Michael Hor, with U of T Associate Dean Kerry Rittich, moderator, Dean Ed Iacobucci, and Tsinghua Law School's Dean Shen Weixing.

 

By Peter Boisseau

Prof. Kent Roach on how the Canadian legal system fails Indigenous people like Colten Boushie

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Photo of Colten Boushie
Colten Boushie in a photo posted Nov. 6, 2011 (photo via Facebook)

By Geoffrey Vendeville

The verdict in the Colten Boushie case has provoked outrage across the country and prompted reflection about how the justice system treats Indigenous people. 

Princeton's Prof. Edward Felten gave the 2018 Grafstein Lecture – Preparing for the Future of Machine Learning

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

First, we define AI: Professor Edward W. Felten, of Princeton University, spoke on the past, present and future course of artificial intelligence, as the 2018 Grafstein Lecturer

 

By Alvin Yau, 3L  / Photo by Tina Deng

Prof. Markus Dubber organizes event series where urban experts tackle Toronto’s most pressing ethical issues

Monday, February 12, 2018

Downtown Toronto
U of T's Centre For Ethics brings experts together to talk about the ethical issues that arise when a city grows and innovates (photo by Photo by Al x via Unsplash)

By Romi Levine

When it comes to ethics, “everyone is an expert and no one is an expert,” says Markus Dubber, a professor in the Faculty of Law and director of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto.

Headnotes - Feb 12 2018

Announcements

Deans' Offices

Yak’s Snacks, Thursday, February 15, 2018

Please join Dean Ed Iacobucci at “Yak’s Snacks”.
Location: Rowell Rm
Time:  10 – 11 a.m.
Please BRING YOUR OWN MUG

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Dean’s monthly drop-in session, Tuesday, February 13, 2018, 1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.

Dean Iacobucci will be holding monthly drop in sessions for students to speak one-on-one with him about any questions/concerns/issues/compliments students have about the law school. No appointment is necessary. Just drop by the Martin J. Friedland Dean’s Suite, Rm. J406 in the Jackman Law Building within the allotted drop in time.

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Faculty Council, Wednesday, February 14, 2018

12.30 p.m. – 2.00 p.m. - Solarium

All students are welcome to attend meetings of the law school’s faculty council . Materials are available for viewing beforehand on the Faculty of Law website. Please log-on to e-legal, click on My Resources, then Faculty Council.  Please note: seating at the table is reserved for Faculty Council members only.

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Lawyers Doing Cool Things: Hugo Alves, J.D. 1999

Lawyers Doing Cool Things: Hugo Alves, J.D. 1999

Thursday February 15, 2018, 12:30 – 2:00

Room: J230

Sandwiches and water will be provided

Career profile: Hugo is the President and Director of Cannabis Wheaton. He is considered Canada’s leading advisor to the cannabis industry.

To register, click here. 

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Leadership Skills Program - Understanding Business Clients

Understanding Business Clients 

Monday February 12, 12:30 – 2:00

Presenter: Brian Livingston

Working with clients is an essential part of the practice of law.  Learning how to deal with those clients and the business operations they have will help you to be a better lawyer.  A significant part of working with clients is learning how to communicate and negotiate on their behalf. 

In this interactive seminar, you will have a chance to hear from a law alumnus who was the former general counsel of Imperial Oil.  You will learn about how clients think about lawyers and the legal advice they give.   You will also learn about how business clients approach business opportunities and create the strategy to pursue those opportunities. 

Find out more and register here. 


 

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Exam Prep session for 1L's, Round 2

First year students who wish to attend an exam preparation session are invited to join us in J140 from 12.30 - 2.00 pm on Wednesday, Feb 28th.   Now that you've experienced a set of exams you may have different questions and concerns than the ones expressed in November, and we will be happy to respond to them.  If you wish to submit a question in advance, please email it to Sara Faherty at sara.faherty@utoronto.ca. 

 

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Student Office

Welcome Day 2018 - Call for Volunteers

JD Volunteers (all years) needed for Welcome Day 2018

If you attended Welcome Day, then you may recall how instrumental it was for our newly admitted students to be able to identify, relate and connect with our senior students.  Your involvement is quite appreciated.

Meet and inspire the excited and eager potential incoming JD class. With your participation you will assist in expanding their awareness of the many areas of legal education, practice and service. You are invaluable to the students' understanding of the role of co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities offered at the law school and their consequent benefits.

  • Event Date: Friday February 23rd (during Reading Week)
  • Venue: Jackman Law Building
  • Time Commitment:
    We will schedule you according to the amount of time you can commit to the event, indicate your hours of availability on the form
    • between 9am-6pm for the formal event
    • and 6-8pm for the post-event Pub Night at the Fox & Fiddle

To sign-up, please complete and submit the online volunteer form.

For catering purposes, it would be most helpful if you sign-up by the end of day, Wednesday January 31st.

Be the inspiration!

Regards,
Jerome Poon-Ting
Senior Recruitment,Admissions & Diversity Outreach Officer
jerome.poon.ting@utoronto.ca

 

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Invitation to consultation re: 2017 Diversity Survey

Dear J.D. students

 

I am writing on behalf of the Gender, Accessibility and Diversity (GAD) Committee to invite you to attend a consultation to discuss some of the themes that were raised by the J.D. and grad students who responded to the Faculty of Law’s 2017 Diversity Survey. The meeting will take place on Friday February 16th at 10:30 – 11:30 in room LW219.

 

GAD is an advisory committee to the Dean.  Each year, a new GAD Committee is struck with membership from staff, students and faculty. Like other committees, GAD’s mandates come from the Dean, and focus on issues related to gender, accessibility and diversity at the law school. GAD makes regular reports to Faculty Council.

 

The 2017 Diversity Survey was a project of last year’s GAD Committee. The survey format and content were based on a similar survey that was disseminated to J.D. students in 2013-14. The 2017 version was disseminated to J.D. and grad students in May 2017. This year, GAD’s mandate from the Dean was to review the results of the 2017 survey, consult with student groups about the themes that emerged, and make recommendations about next steps.

 

The GAD Committee would be very grateful for the opportunity to hear from you about what more the law school can do to address the themes raised in the survey, which included concerns about race, class, gender, family status, mental health and accommodations, grad student experiences, etc. We will be meeting separately with several of the equity student groups at the law school, as well as the grad students.

 

The GAD Committee members acknowledge that discussions about diversity and oppression can feel difficult and burdensome, especially for students whose lived experiences have been impacted by discrimination.  We hope you will consider this invitation knowing that we understand this.

 

Many thanks

GAD Committee

 

Alexis Archbold LL.B

Assistant Dean, J.D. Program

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Academic Events

Critical Analysis of Law Workshop with Mireille Hildebrandt

Critical Analysis of Law Workshop Series

presents 

Mireille Hildebrandt
Vrije Universiteit (Brussels)

Privacy as the protection of the incomputable self
Issues of data protection law in a data-driven environment 

Tuesday February 13, 2018
12.30 – 2.00 pm
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park 

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Based on this crucial insight I will propose a new dimension to our understanding of privacy, as the protection of the incomputable self. I will argue that in the era of big data analytics, we need an understanding of privacy that is capable of protecting what is uncountable, incalculable or incomputable about individual persons without, however, rejecting the use of machine learning. I will explain that one way of protecting what cannot be counted, datafied or inferenced is to require ‘agonistic machine learning’, i.e. demanding that companies or governments that base decisions on machine learning must enable the development of alternative ways of datafying and modelling the same event, person or action. This should ward off monopolistic claims about the ‘true’ or the ‘real’ representation of human beings, their actions and the rest of the universe in terms of data and their inferences (cf. McQuillan’s machinic neo-platonism). Building on Mouffe’s concept of agonism in the context of democratic theory and Rip’s concept of agonism in the context of constructive technology assessment, I develop a notion of agonism that fits the upcoming legal obligations in the GDPR, notably to (1) conduct a data protection impact assessment and to (2) implement data protection by design. I will link this with the principle of purpose binding that is core to the GDPR. Though some authors claim that the legal principle of purpose binding as articulated in the GDPR is out of tune with the reality of big data analytics, I will align with Van der Lei and Cabitza who explain that, on the contrary, techniques such as machine learning assume purpose specification to make sense of big data (= the first law of informatics). Indeed, as Mitchell explains when providing a definition of machine learning, the latter requires a machine-readable task and a machine-readable performance metric that both assume the specification of a purpose. Finally, I will argue that the combination of purpose specification and agonistic machine learning will enhance both the methodological integrity of machine learning and our capability to protect what cannot be counted, computed or inferenced. 

Mireille Hildebrandt is a lawyer and a philosopher. She is Research Professor of ‘Interfacing Law and Technology’, appointed by the Research Council of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel at the VUB Faculty of Law and Criminology, and part-time Full Professor at the Science Faculty, department of Computing Science, at Radboud University, Nijmegen. Her work is focused on the nexus of postive law regarding cybercrime, data protection and human rights, legal theory, and philosophy of technology. Hildebrandt has published extensively on these subjects (4 books, 21 edited volumes, 104 chapters and articles in scientific publications). She is teaches ‘Law in Cyberspace’ to master students of computer science and currently teaches the intensive course on ‘Data Driven Law’ as Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Toronto Law School. 

A light lunch will be provided


For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca

 

 

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Law and Economics Colloquium: Eric Talley

LAW & ECONOMICS COLLOQUIUM

presents 

Eric Talley
Columbia Law School 

INFORMED TRADING AND CYBERSECURITY BREACHES 

Tuesday, February 13, 2018
4:10 – 5:45
Flavelle Building, Room 219
78 Queen’s Park 

Cybersecurity has become a significant concern in corporate and commercial settings, and for good reason: a threatened or realized cybersecurity breach can materially affect firm value for capital investors. This paper explores whether market arbitrageurs appear systematically to exploit advance knowledge of such vulnerabilities. We make use of a novel data set tracking cybersecurity breach announcements among public companies to study trading patterns in the derivatives market preceding the announcement of a breach. Using a matched sample of unaffected control firms, we find significant trading abnormalities for hacked targets, measured in terms of both open interest and volume. Our results are robust to several alternative matching techniques, as well as to both cross-sectional and longitudinal identification strategies. All told, our findings appear strongly consistent with the proposition that arbitrageurs can and do obtain early notice of impending breach disclosures, and that they are able to profit from such information. Normatively, we argue that the efficiency implications of cybersecurity trading are distinct—and generally more concerning—than those posed by garden-variety information trading within securities markets. Notwithstanding these idiosyncratic concerns, however, securities fraud doctrine in its current form appears poorly adapted to address such concerns, and it would require nontrivial re-imagining to meet the challenge (even approximately).

Eric Talley is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership. He is an expert in the intersection of corporate law, governance, and finance, and he teaches/researches in areas that include corporate law and finance, mergers and acquisitions, quantitative methods, machine learning, contract and commercial law, game theory, and economic analysis of law.

For more colloquium information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca. 

 

 

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March 2nd Asper Centre Public Interest Litigation Conference

The Asper Centre is convening a one-day Conference on March 2, 2018 focused on legal strategies for successful public interest litigation as a means to bring together relevant stakeholders to share their challenges, successes and strategies in this field.  The Conference is aimed at both practitioners (lawyers and NGOs) who are engaged in public interest litigation and scholars and students who study and analyze the impact of these cases.

Over 25 papers in total will be presented in various concurrent sessions throughout the day, with a plenary address/panel at the conclusion of the Conference. Panels will include, amongst others: 1) case analyses to extract lessons from successful and unsuccessful public interest litigation cases across various substantive areas; 2) development of meaningful strategies for public interest litigation and coordination of strategic litigation between intervening organizations and stakeholders; 3) the role of interveners in public interest litigation; and 4) the funding of public interest litigation in Canada.

Click here to REGISTER

List of Participating Authors & Papers

1. Alexander, Basil: “Pragmatic Assorted Strategies: How Canadian Cause Lawyering Contributes to Social Change”
2. Anglin, Howard: “Public Interest Case Study: R v Comeau”
3. Bharati, Subodh and David Coté: “Scotland v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
4. Blum, Joshua: “Ali v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
5. Bredt, Chris & Ewa Krajewska: “Only 5 Minutes? The Supreme Court’s Approach to Interveners Requires Reform”
6. Bussey, Barry: “The Law of Intervention after the TWU case”
7. Chan, Kathryn & Howard Kislowicz: “Divine Intervention: A study of the operation and impact of NGO interveners in Canadian religious freedom litigation”
8. Giltrow, Maegan and Nathan Hume: “The Shadow Intervener: Economics and Public Interest Litigation”
9. Gold, Richard and Rachel Meland: “Litigating Patents in the Public Interest”
10. Grant, Angus: “Intervener Standing in Immigration and Refugee Cases”
11. Faraday, Fay, Tracy Heffernan & Helen Luu: “A Holistic Approach to Public Interest Litigation in Three Voices”
12. Fenske, Allison and Joëlle Pastora Sala: “The Wheels of Justice for Vulnerable Individuals: Reflections from the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba”
13. Fluker, Shaun and Christine Laing: “Does Yaiguaje v Chevron Corporation change the security for costs game for public interest litigants?”
14. Giorgio, Barbara: “Attorney General of Canada v Downtown Eastside Sex Workers: Judicially Precipitated Reform for Public Interest Advocacy”
15. Ha-Redeye, Omar: “My friends muddy the waters: how a statement of principles became a fiasco?”
16. Kutty, Faisal: “Intervener Gatekeeping: Who checks at the door?”
17. Latimer, Alison: “Examination of a Solitary Confinement Test Case”
18. Latner, Gabriel: “The Rights Stuff: Why Canada doesn’t have its own ACLU and how we can build one?”
19. Levesque, Anne: “The symbiotic relationship between social movements and public interest litigation: A case study of the I am a Witness Campaign and the human rights complaint of 165 000 First Nations kid”
20. Mangat, Raji: “Here from the beginning: the promise of trial-level intervention”
21. McGrath, Gavin: “TWU intervention by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada”
22. Paterson, Josh: “The Carter case – Sustaining the Fight Both Inside and Outside the Courtroom”
23. Polonskaya, Ksenia: “How do Interventions Contribute to the Development of Feminist Constitutional Theory through the Decisions of the Canadian Supreme Court when Women’s Rights are Concerned?”
24. Sheldon, Tess and Helgi Maki: “Trauma–Informed Strategies in Public Interest Litigation”
25. Sheppard, Dan: “Just Going Through the Motions: The Supreme Court, Interest Groups and the Performance of Intervention”
26. Silcoff, Maureen: “Party Status in Y.Z. v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)”
27. Spector, Karen: “Legal Strategies for Intervention in Cases Seeking to Advance the Rights of Persons with Mental Health Disabilities”
28. Vaughan, Eleanor: “Solicitor Client Privilege in Lizotte v Aviva Insurance Company of Canada and Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v University of Calgary”

Full Conference SCHEDULE will be available soon.

Click here to REGISTER

 

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Osgoode Society Legal History Workshop

Osgoode Society Legal History Workshop

Wednesday February 14, 6.30, Room 223, Flavelle House

Tom Telfer, Western University: ‘The New Bankruptcy “Detective Agency”? The Origins of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy in Great Depression Canada.’

For a copy of the paper please contact j.phillips@utoronto.ca 

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Centre for Innovation Law and Policy: Mark McKenna

CENTRE FOR INNOVATION LAW & POLICY WORKSHOP

presents

Mark McKenna
University of Notre Dame Law School

Claiming Design

Wednesday, February 28, 2018
12:30 - 2:00
Room 219, Flavelle Building
78 Queen's Park

Under American law, design can be protected under at least three different regimes: trademark, design patent, and copyright. These regimes are not exclusive, meaning that claimants can, and very frequently do, claim multiple forms of design protection simultaneously. But each of these regimes has different claiming rules, and these differences can be consequential for the scope of the rights in the design at issue, and in shaping legal and business incentives. In this paper, we evaluate several dimensions of the differences in claiming across areas of intellectual property that speak to design, focusing primarily on timing and the mode of depiction, in order to optimize the different design protection regimes. We also analyze various approaches to ameliorating the amplified costs of overlapping regimes for claiming design, including doctrines of election and channeling rules that direct designs to one regime or another. We also introduce the possibility of uniform claiming principles that carry across the different intellectual property regimes as a way to smooth out some inconsistencies across these regimes while also allowing protection under multiple regimes.

Mark P. McKenna teaches and writes in the area of intellectual property. Professor McKenna is widely recognized as a leading scholar in the trademark area, having published a number of articles in leading law journals on the topic of trademark law. He has also written about design patent, copyright, the right of publicity, and the intersection of intellectual property rights regimes. Some of his latest projects include an empirical study of Lanham Act false advertising decisions, a comparative analysis of innovation institutions and failures, and a study of the ways IP law understands product dimensions.  Professor McKenna joined the Notre Dame Law School faculty on a permanent basis in the Fall of 2008 after visiting for a semester in the Spring of 2008. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor McKenna was a member of the faculty at Saint Louis University School of Law and practiced law with an intellectual property firm in Chicago, where he primarily litigated trademark and copyright cases. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1997 with a degree in Economics and earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2000. 

For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.

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Health Law, Policy and Ethics Seminar: Y.Y. Brandon Chen

Faculty of Law Health Law, Ethics & Policy Seminar Series 

presents 

Debating Migrants’ Inclusion in Health Care Solidarity 

Y.Y. Brandon Chen
University of Ottawa Faculty of Law 

Commentator:
Dr. Joanna Anneke Rummens
Visiting Scholar of Practice, Centre for Refugee Studies
Senior Scholar, CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre, York University
Associate Professor, Equity, Gender and Population & Child and 
Youth Mental Health, Psychiatry, University of Toronto

Thursday, February 15, 2018
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park 

Social solidarity is often said to undergird universal health care systems. However, the nature and scope of such health care solidarity is highly contested. This presentation explores probable sources of health care solidarity in Western liberal democracies — including nationalism, cosmopolitanism and constitutional patriotism — and considers their implications for international migrants’ health care coverage.

Y.Y. Brandon Chen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. He holds Master of Social Work and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Toronto, and is currently completing Doctor of Juridical Science at the same university. His research leverages socio-legal studies, action research, and community engagement to critically examine health inequities facing noncitizens and racialized minorities. His published work has touched on such topics as health rights litigation, migrant and refugee health care, medical tourism and social determinants of health. Between 2009 and 2011, Y.Y. was publicly appointed to the Ontario Ministerial Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the Co-Chair of the Toronto-based Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment. He is currently a Board member of the Canadian Centre on Statelessness. 

A light lunch will be served. 


We will start promptly at 12.30 so in order to take your lunch, please come on time. 

For more information about this workshop, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca

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Student Activities

The Sports & Entertainment Law Society presents: An Introduction to Entertainment Law

Monday, February 12 

Room J125

12:30-2PM

*Lunch will be provided*

 

The Sports & Entertainment Law Society is pleased to announce its upcoming panel on entertainment law. Our panelists will introduce which practice areas entertainment law covers, the industry in Toronto, and how students might find a position practicing entertainment law. 

 

Our panelists include:

Ron Hay Partner, Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP – Now partner at one of Canada’s leading boutique entertainment law firms, Ron Hay started off his career at McMillan. He has acted as in-house counsel for Alliance Atlantis and Balmur Entertainment. He is also an accomplished professional musician, playing viola for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra while in law school.

Tara Parker Partner, Goodmans LLP - Consistently recognized as one of Canada's leading entertainment lawyers, Tara Parker represents a wide array of major players. Her practice spans across television, music, publishing, and digital media projects. 

Marc Gertner Senior Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Live Nation - Marc Gertner started off in corporate law and civil litigation before transitioning to Live Nation in 2013. His practice now spans over several areas.

Jared Leon Sole Practitioner - A musician and recent graduate, Jared Leon is highly involved in the creative community. He has acted as director of music and arts symposiums and sits on the Board of Directors for Whippersnapper Gallery.

 

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Women in Non-Profit Law Career Panel

Wednesday, February 14th 

Room J125

12:30 - 1:45PM

Want to have an impactful career assisting non-profit and charitable organizations?

Want to practice in a legal field where you can choose to work both on Bay Street and in-house?

Want to work in an area of law that presents you with novel problems and challenges?

The Charity Law Interest Group (CLIG) and Women & the Law are hosting a career panel with a focus on attorneys in the non-profit sector. Everyone is welcome to attend!

The panel will feature Dawn Devoe (General Counsel for World Vision Canada), Natasha Smith (Associate, Social Impact Group at Miller Thomson LLP), and Kate Robertson (Legal Counsel, Centre for Addiction & Mental Health). 

Dawn Devoe is World Vision Canada’s General Counsel and Privacy Officer.  Since joining World Vision Canada in January, 2010, Dawn has served as the organization’s key legal advisor for its domestic and international operations.  In 2011, Dawn was selected as a finalist in the Tomorrow’s Leader category of the Canadian General Counsel Awards and in 2015, named one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine. 

Natasha Smith is a member of Miller Thomson’s Social Impact Group, with a practice dedicated to providing practical legal advice to charities and non-profits, exclusively.  In an effort to ensure that these organizations achieve their missions and mandates successfully, Natasha assists these entities with a variety of matters including corporate governance and tax compliance.  

Kate Robertson is Corporate Legal Counsel at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).  At CAMH, Kate is part of a dynamic legal team providing legal advice to the leadership, physicians and staff of CAMH to identify and mitigate risk, while advancing corporate goals and initiatives. 

The panel discussion will be moderated for approximately one hour, and then attendees will be free to ask questions. 

*Lunch will be served*

We hope to see you there!

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Health Law Club - BLG Firm Tour

Please join the Health Law Club at Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) to learn more about their Health Law Group.  

BLG is a national full-service firm with expertise in a wide variety of areas. BLG’s Health Law Group is comprised of experienced and skilled lawyers recognized as leading advocates on behalf of hospitals, health service providers and health sector associations nationally.

Lunch will be provided.

Date: Monday, February 12, 2018
Time: 12:30 - 2:00 pm
Location: BLG, 22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 3400

Spaces are limited. Please RSVP at https://goo.gl/forms/sU4dZlZjXFM5P5vA3 !

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Feb 13: The Labour Law Film Club: American Dream (1990)

The Labour Law Film Club Presents: American Dream (1990)

In the mid-80s, Minnesota’s Hormel Foods decided, despite soaring profits, to cut wages and benefits for its meatpacking workers. The decision prompted a long and bitter strike—one which not only pitted worker against management but also the local union against the national.

In her Academy Award-winning documentary, director Barbara Kopple chronicles the resultant hardships and frustrations. “This is the kind of movie,” in the words of one critic, “[that] you watch with horrified fascination, as families lose their incomes and homes, management plays macho hardball, and rights and wrongs grow hopelessly tangled... The people in this film are so real they make most movie characters look like inhabitants of the funny page.”

Tue, Feb 13, 2018
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Davies Ward Philips & Vineberg LLP Classroom
J130, Jackman Law Building

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Centres, Legal Clinics, and Special Programs

Asper Centre Summer Fellowship

Applications for Asper Centre Summer Fellowships are due on February 20, 2018.  You may view the Asper Centre's Summer Fellowship page on our website for information about past fellows and their work.  

Also, please find the 2018 Asper Centre Fellowship Guide here.

Current law students can log into the University of Toronto Law Career Network for further information on the application process.

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Seeking Asper Centre BLOG Contributions

 

ATTENTION LAW STUDENTS !

DO YOU WANT TO:

  •  Have your say about Charter rights issues ?
  •  Comment on the constitutionality of our Laws, Court decisions and Government’s (in)actions ?
  •  Highlight your Constitutional law research & writing ?
  •  Reflect and write about your work at the Asper Centre or another relevant experience ?

The DAVID ASPER CENTRE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS is recruiting students to write short (500 - 1000 words) posts for our new ASPER CENTRE BLOG.

For more information, email: tal.schreier@utoronto.ca

 

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Pro Bono Students Canada Program Coordinator Position Available

 PBSC has extended its application deadline for the Program Coordinator positions, and we strongly encourage you to apply! There are two positions – summer and school year – and they were both amazing experiences for us, and they can be for you too! 

 

1.      Meet leading lawyers: We met with leading lawyers at National law firms with a variety of practice areas, including in-house, legal aid clinics, and courthouses. These lawyers are now part of our own professional network.

 

2.      Future job options:  PBSC is a well-regarded organization, and the many skills you gain while developing projects and collaborating with lawyers and organizations are highly valued by firms – they know and love PBSC!

 

3.       Access to Justice and Community involvement:  We really felt we helped to make a change in the lives of vulnerable Canadians. Lots of different communities organizations need our services, and it was a great feeling to help them meet their access to justice needs.

 

This is a great opportunity and we hope many of you apply! Even if you have a summer job at a firm, you can still apply for the school-year position. PBSC is looking for dynamic and motivated individuals with a passion for pro bono and social justice – deadline is Thursday, February 15th at 5:00 pm on UTLC. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Contact: luca.marescotti@mail.utoronto.ca

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Career Development Office and Employment Opportunities

Summer research assistance - Prof. Waddams

Professor Stephen Waddams and Justice Robert Sharpe are looking for assistance in updating their books on Injunctions and Specific Performance, and Damages, and Professor Waddams in preparing for publication a book on Sanctity of Contracts.  Please apply by February 28, by letter, including details of academic record, to Professor Waddams (paper copy, please, to the law school) and simultaneously to The Hon. Justice R. J. Sharpe, e-mail: robert.sharpe@oca-cao.ca.  

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Job Postings This Week on UTLC
Upcoming Events on UTLC

Journals, Research, and Scholarship

Journal of Law and Equality - Call for Associate Editors

New year, new you? Try us on for size!

The Journal of Law & Equality (JLE) is looking for Associate Editors for the remainder of this academic year.

The JLE is a peer reviewed, student-run journal at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Our mandate is to promote critical and informed debate on issues of equality, with a special emphasis on the Canadian context. Prior journal experience is not required, and all are welcome to join us!

Associate editors will work with members of the senior board to assist in bringing works we hope to publish up to snuff. This will involve editing and research work, all of which you will be instructed on by Senior Editors beforehand. It’s an exciting and immersive way to work on your research and writing skills, while dealing with interesting and current issues in equality law!

To apply, please submit your a brief statement of interest to editors.jle@gmail.com with "Associate Editor Application" as the subject line. Feel free as well to contact us with any questions about the position or application process.

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Bookstore

Bookstore

The Bookstore will be CLOSED for Reading Week, February 19th - 23rd, 2018. 

Hours for the week of February 12th, 2018 

                                                                         Monday:         9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
                                                                         Tuesday:               CLOSED
                                                                         Wednesday:   9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
                                                                         Thursday:       9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
                                                                          Friday:                  CLOSED 

For updated information, please remember to visit the Faculty of Law Bookstore website at:  

http://www.law.utoronto.ca/student-life/bookstore

headnoteswinter2018-6.pdf
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External Announcements: Events

Feb 13: Ethics of AI Film Series: Star Trek TNG (w/ Mark Kingwell)

 

 

Tue, Feb 13, 2018
06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 14: Author Meets Critics: Connected by Commitment: Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It (by Mara Marin)

Connected by Commitment: Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It (Oxford 2017)

Mara Marin
Postdoctoral Affiliate, Centre for Ethics
University of Toronto

Commentators:
Shannon Dea (Philosophy, University of Waterloo)
Kerry Rittich (Law, University of Toronto)
Meredith Schwartz (Philosophy, Ryerson University)
Torrey Shanks (Political Science, University of Toronto)

Saying that political and social oppression is a deeply unjust and widespread condition of life is not a terribly controversial statement. Likewise, theorists of justice frequently consider our obligation to not turn a blind eye to oppression. But what is our culpability in the endurance of oppression?

In this book, Mara Marin complicates the primary ways in which we make sense of human and political relationships and our obligations within them. Rather than thinking of relationships in terms of our intentions, Marin thinks of them as open-ended and subject to ongoing commitments. Commitments create open-ended expectations and vulnerabilities on the part of others, and therefore also obligations. By this rationale, our actions sustain oppressive or productive structures in virtue of their cumulative effects, not the intentions of the actors.When we violate our obligations we oppress others.

12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building 

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Feb 27: New Perspectives on Mass Incarceration in the United States (w/ John Pfaff & Jonathan Simon)
The American incarceration rate has quintupled over the last generation, to the point where the United States now incarcerates over two million individuals. A wave of new empirical, sociological and legal scholarship has begun shed new light on the growth of mass incarceration. John Pfaff (Fordham) and Jonathan Simon (Berkeley) will discuss their groundbreaking research on the causes of mass incarceration, the response by the courts and proposals for reform going forward.
 
Panelists:
 
 
 
 

12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building 

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Mar 1: We Are All Criminals (w/ Emily Baxter)

We Are All Criminals looks at people with criminal histories but no record--people who have had the luxury to forget.

Doctors and lawyers, social workers and students, retailers and retirees tell stories of crimes they got away with, and consider how different their lives would have been had they been caught.

The stories are of youth, boredom, intoxication, and porta potties. They are about race, class, and privilege. They are humorous, humiliating, and humbling in turn.

Through photography and storytelling, this project seeks to challenge society’s perception of what it means to be a criminal and how much weight a record should be given, when truly – we are all criminals.

Emily Baxter
Founder & Executive Director, We Are All Criminals

Commentators:
Shaunna Kelly
Law Offices of Shaunna Kelly

Paula Maurutto
Department of Sociology, University of Toronto

co-sponsor:

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Feb 28: Moral Experts vs. Ethical Theories (w/ John-Stewart Gordon)

Moral Experts vs. Ethical Theories

The lively topic of whether moral expertise and moral experts exist has been vividly discussed in recent contributions in ethics and, particularly, in bioethics. I hold the view that moral expertise exists and that some moral philosophers can be considered as moral experts in the full sense, who have moral expertise, while most cannot. In this talk, however, I focus on the question of whether moral experts–by adhering to their particular expertise–are better qualified to solve complex moral questions than (moral) philosophers who (only) use a particular moral theory. This is an important issue because my analysis will respond to the vital question of whether one is, in general, able to solve complex moral issues by adhering to only one moral theory given the background of the complexity of moral life.

John-Stewart Gordon
Professor & Head of the Research Cluster for Applied Ethics
Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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CHILD PROTECTION LAW NEEDS YOU!

CHILD PROTECTION LAW NEEDS YOU!

Find out how you can make a difference fighting for families.

Law students, new lawyers and other interested persons are invited to attend a session about going into child protection law. For anyone looking for a career in public interest law and litigation, child protection law is an often over-looked area where lawyers can advance the interests of vulnerable clients and make meaningful differences in the lives of children and families.

Our speakers have worked as parents’ counsel and counsel for children, as well as counsel for children’s aid societies.  They will be discussing the kinds of cases they have dealt with, what you can expect as counsel, how to look for opportunities in the field, and the practical aspects of establishing a practice.  We anticipate that this will be an inspiring and informative session, with the perspective of practitioners and the Bench. There will also be opportunity to meet and ask question informally after the session is over.  If you have any interest at all in this field of law, this will be a very valuable session to attend!

Speakers:

Justice Manjusha Pawagi sits on the Ontario Court of Justice at 311 Jarvis, where she hears domestic, child protection and criminal matters. Prior to her appointment to the Bench, she worked as counsel for the Toronto Children’s Aid Society and the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Renata Austin is a lawyer in private practice who regularly acts for clients in child welfare and criminal proceedings.  Prior to setting up her practice, she worked for the City of Toronto.  Called in 2013, she had set up her own practice by 2015.  Her practice has thrived and she has developed a reputation for her commitment to providing services to families in marginalised communities.

Tammy Law is a family lawyer with extensive experience in child protection.  She has argued at all levels of court, most recently before the Supreme Court of Canada. She has worked as parent’s counsel, counsel for children, and society counsel.  She is the interim president of the Ontario Association of Child Protection Lawyers (Toronto Chapter).

Details:

The event will be held on February 13 at 400 University Avenue, 18th Floor Boardroom.  The closest station is St. Patrick subway station.  Parking is expensive, but the lot underneath City Hall is more reasonably priced.

The session will run from 4pm – 5:30pm, followed by informal drinks at the Duke of Cornwall Pub, located downstairs at 400 University Avenue.  There is no cost to attend the session.

For questions, or to RSVP, please contact Stephanie Giannandrea at stephanie@mccarthyco.ca

 

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Feb 14: Canadian Smart Cities: Defining the Public Good (Ethics in the City Series)

From the federal government’s smart city challenge to Sidewalk Labs‘ partnering with Waterfront Toronto on the planning of Quayside, smart cities are part of a new urban agenda in Canadian cities. Their technology and data have clear value to the private sector but what do smart cities offer in terms of public good outcomes? This talk will explore how early experiments with smart cities send signals that deliberate and creative attention must be paid if we seek to derive public good from this technology.

Pamela Robinson
Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives, Faculty of Community Services

 

Wed, Feb 14, 2018 
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto 
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 13: Ethics of AI in Context: Richard Zemel, Ensuring Fair and Responsible Automated Decisions

Information systems are becoming increasingly reliant on statistical inference and learning to render all sorts of decisions, including the issuing of bank loans, the targeting of advertising, and the provision of health care. This growing use of automated decision-making has sparked heated debate among philosophers, policy-makers, and lawyers, with critics voicing concerns with bias and discrimination. Bias against some specific groups may be ameliorated by attempting to make the automated decision-maker blind to some attributes, but this is difficult, as many attributes may be correlated with the particular one.  The basic aim then is to make fair decisions, i.e., ones that are not unduly biased for or against specific subgroups in the population. I will discuss various computational formulations and approaches to this problem.

Richard Zemel
Computer Science & Vector Institute
University of Toronto

Tue, Feb 13, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 28: The End of Public Works? The Politics of Infrastructure and the Quiet Decline of Local Democracy (Ethics in the City Series)

Focusing on Sidewalk Toronto, the joint project of Waterfront Toronto and Google’s Sidewalk Labs, Mariana Valverde critically examines the evolution, via neoliberal privatization, from public works to public-private partnerships as modes of urban governance.

Mariana Valverde
Criminology & Sociolegal Studies

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 26: Democracy and Social Media Are Incompatible: Now What? (w/ Regina Rini)

Democracy and Social Media Are Incompatible: Now What?

It takes time for the norms of democratic debate to adjust to new technologies – in some cases, too much time. In parts of Europe in the 1920s and 30s, change brought on by the new technology of radio outran democratic adaptation. I will argue that we are now at a similar inflection point with social media. Healthy democratic debate requires that we view fellow citizens as typically sincere and thoughtful when they express disagreement. I identify several features of social media discourse that have rapidly undermined this presumption and weakened the authority of democratic norms. What can be done about these shifts? I will argue that state and consumer solutions are unlikely to work. Our best hope is for social media platforms to create infrastructure enabling citizens to detect insincerity and carelessness in discourse.

Regina Rini
York University
Philosophy

Mon, Feb 26, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin

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Mar. 12: Winners, Wasters, and the Shadow of Envy: Theories of Justice and the Scene of Medieval Literature (w/ Jessica Rosenfeld)

Winners, Wasters, and the Shadow of Envy: Theories of Justice and the Scene of Medieval Literature

Is envy at the root of all claims for justice (so says Freud), or is envy a regrettable but surmountable human tendency that will be minimized in a just society (as Rawls has it)?  Should we, as newer political and feminist theory has suggested, take envy seriously as a “political emotion” and allow it to direct the building of a better democracy?  My talk will trace the recent history of envy’s role in theorizing social justice and then turn to medieval literature as a terrain of close attention to envy, not only as a “deadly sin,” but as an emotion that provokes the social imagination, and the articulation of the move from the individual to the political.  The figures of the winner (upstanding citizen) and waster (profligate spender, “welfare queen”) have a long history, and can help us to understand the passages between the personal and the social, the economic and the affective, and perhaps to disentangle the threads of envy, resentment, and justice.

Jessica Rosenfeld
Washington University in St. Louis
English

co-sponsored by

Mon, Mar 12, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin

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Combating Hate Speech and Antisemitism: Legal Perspectives

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) together with UJA Federation of Greater Toronto is holding a legal conference - Combating Hate Speech and Antisemitism: Legal Perspectives.  Speakers include Justice Edward Morgan of the Ontario Supreme Court; Paul Schabas, Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario; and, Rhonda Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor of York University. 

Attendance at the conference earns 1.25 Professionalism hours + 7 Substantive hours.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, February 13th at the Law Society of Ontario (130 Queen Street West).  Cost is $100 per person.  Space is limited!  Registration can be completed online (https://www.ujaevents.com/login.asp?destinationsite=events&destinationid...) or by phone (416-635-2883 ex. 5229).

combating_hate_speech_agenda.pdf
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Feb. 20: The Ethics of Smart Cities: Interacting with Non-Human Agents (w/ Mireille Hildebrandt)

In her book on Smart Technologies and the End(s) of Law, Mireille Hildebrandt sketches the contours of a new landscape, animated by all kinds of machine agency. She calls the fusion of online and offline worlds “the Onlife World,” highlighting that the boundaries between on- and offline are becoming increasingly artificial: we have to make them to retain some of our personal space. Being human in a hyperconnected world was the subtitle of the “Onlife Manifesto,” that was written by a group of European philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists, lawyers and experts in artificial intelligence. In her lecture, Hildebrandt will employ the work of Julie Mehretu to discuss the impact of a transformed cityscape that confronts citizens with the effects of hyperconnectivity, big data and predictive analytics at the level of municipal policies. The question will be what kind of humans we may become when ‘living with algorithms’ is the new normal, and how we can learn to shape our algorithmic environment in the Onlife World without succumbing to idealistic or cynical portrayals of the upcoming smart cityscape. This talk will revisit a presentation Hildebrandt gave at art centre Stroom in The Hague.

Mireille Hildebrandt
Law and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Computing & Information Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen

Tue, Feb 20, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Registration is Open: 7th Annual Cambridge International Law Conference

The Cambridge International Law Journal is pleased to open the registration for the 7th Annual Cambridge International Law Conference. The Conference will be held at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, on the 3rd and 4th of April 2018. This year's theme is 'Non-State Actors and International Law' and will feature a broad range of panels that discuss pressing topics under this theme. We are delighted to announce that Professor Olivier De Schutter of the Université catholique de Louvain, member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and former UN Special Rapporteur, and Professor Jorge E. Viñuales of the University of Cambridge will deliver the keynote addresses for the Conference.
 
Registration and other relevant details about the Conference may be found via the following link:
 
http://cilj.co.uk/conference/
 
Thank you very much.
 
Kind regards,
Conference Committee
7th Annual Cambridge International Law Conference

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External Announcements: Opportunities

Legal Leaders for Diversity Trust Fund
CDG Research Fellowship: Call for Applications

CDG Research Fellowship: Call for Applications
The Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) is inviting faculty and graduate students at Canadian universities to apply for the 2018 edition of the Charles D. Gonthier Research Fellowship. Created in 2009, this fellowship is up to a maximum of $7,000 and open to faculty and graduate students at Canadian universities. It is awarded annually to an academic who presents the best research on CIAJ's annual conference topic.

2018 Topic: Justice and Mental Health

Candidates must submit their application no later than March 31, 2018.

All details are available on CIAJ’s website at:
https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/research/charles-d-gonthier-research-fellowship/

Recipients: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/research/research-papers/

Brochure
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2018 Student Engagement in the Arts Awards - Deadline: Feb. 15

The University of Toronto Student Engagement in the Arts Awards (SEAA) provides a special opportunity to recognize the incredible contributions made by U of T students to our creative and performing arts communities on all three campuses.

 

The SEAAs were introduced in 2010 to celebrate the outstanding co-curricular leadership roles and volunteer activities undertaken by students in all ranges of creative endeavours. If you know a student who has developed a community arts program; curated an art show, film festival or open mic night; someone who’s edited a magazine or book of poetry; produced a musical, play, dance program, speaker series – you get the idea! - we hope you will consider nominating them for a U of T Student Engagement in the Arts Award. 

 

Nominations are open until February 15, 2018

Learn more and access the online application form at http://www.arts.utoronto.ca/engagementawards.htm.

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Call for Applications - Reach Project, Munk School of Global Affairs

Are you curious about the delivery of interventions to those who are most in need? Does the idea of conducting world-class research in a global, interdisciplinary setting get you excited? If you answered ‘yes’ to both, you might want to apply for a spot in our 2018/19 Reach Project cohort.

Led by principal investigator Joseph Wong and other advisors, our student researchers have uncovered new insights into how we can address important global challenges, such as HIV transmission from mothers to their children in Thailand, or providing hard-to-reach populations in India with access to government services through biometric data.

Learn more about our projects

Who can apply?

All current undergraduate and graduate students from across U of T* can apply. Previous Reach Project researchers have come from a variety of different academic backgrounds, including law, global affairs, health, economics, genome biology, and much more. What we’re looking for is a diverse mix of curiosity-driven researchers.

*You need to be enrolled during the 2018/19 academic year to be eligible.

Admissions process

Your application includes four parts:

1. Your resume

Please outline your accomplishments, skills and abilities to date.

2. Your Cover letter

We’d like to know more about you and why you’d like to be part of the Reach Project. Tell us what experience, interests and skills you might be adding to the team.

3. A short writing sample

This could be a blog post, a short essay or a memo (3-page maximum) that demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely. 

4. An unofficial transcript

Please provide a copy of your unofficial transcript.

 Please submit your application to reachproject.munkschool@utoronto.cawith the subject “REACH APPLICATION” until February 28, 2018, at 5pm EST.

 

For more information about timelines and past projects, go to reachprojectuoft.com/apply. 

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External Announcements: Calls for Papers

U of T Undergraduate Ethics Society and Law Journal

Mindful is the University of Toronto's interdisciplinary Journal for Ethics, affiliated with the Ethics, Society and Law program at Trinity College. Past issues can be viewed here: 
http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/current/programs-courses/esl/esl.html#Mindful Journals

Mindful Journal of Ethics is now accepting submissions for our 2017/2018 issue! We are currently accepting work with a significant ethical dimension, particularly as it intersects with legal and social issues. Relevant programs include, but are not limited to: Ethics, Society, & Law; Political Science; History; Criminology; International Relations; Women and Gender Studies; Philosophy; Public Policy; Equity Studies; Peace, Conflict, & Justice Studies; Aboriginal Studies; Environmental Studies; Bioethics; Global Health; and History and Philosophy of Science. Submit your essays, freelance op-eds, book reviews, and original photography or illustrations to mindful.ethics@gmail.com before February 24th at 11:59pm. Submissions must contain a clear ethical dimension. Please include your name, university, and contact information both in the body of the email and within your submission document. 

 

REQUIREMENTS:
- significant ethical dimension
- mark of at least 80%
- original work 
- cited in Chicago style footnotes 
CATEGORIES:
- essay (<4000 words)
- freelance op-ed (500-1000 words)
- book review (500-2000 words)
- original photography or illustration (short explanation of relevance to ethics is welcome) please note: orientalist/voyeuristic submissions will be rejected.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
- email mindful.ethics@gmail.com
- writing should be in .doc format, images in .png or .pdf
- text of your email should include your name, which course the document was submitted for, and grade (if applicable).

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CALREI - Announcing Law Student Essay Award to Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto

The 2018 CALREI - IAMGOLD Essay Award

The Canadian Association of Lawyers with Russian Eurasian Interests (“CALREI”) and IAMGOLD Corporation (“IAMGOLD”) are pleased to announce the first CALREI – IAMGOLD Essay Award competition for an outstanding law student paper on Russian, Eurasian and/or Eastern European matters that involve Canada. The total prize amount of $5,000 is being funded by IAMGOLD.

The first prize winner will receive $3,500. The paper that will receive the first prize will be submitted for exclusive first option publication to Canadian International Lawyer Journal. A short abstract of the winning paper will also be submitted for publication to Canadian Bar Association National Magazine.
The second prize winner will receive $1,000.
The third prize winner will receive $500.

The winner of the prize is also invited to join the judging panel for the competition in the following year.

For Eligibility and to apply, go to: 
https://www.calrei.org/awards/

 

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External Announcements: Other

Bay Street Hoops - volunteers

Bay Street Hoops is a basketball tournament raising money for children to have access to organized sports. This is our 24th year, and to date we have raised over $2.6 million.

 

We would like to extend the opportunity for your students to volunteer in this three-day event. In addition to supporting this fabulous cause, they will also be afforded the opportunity to network with our sponsors and players from Toronto’s leading law and accounting firms, financial services, Tech companies and other corporations. If over the age of 19, they are welcome to attend our wrap-up party at The Fifth, which will be attended by our sponsors. 

 

Sponsors and participating organizations include:

CIBC

Scotiabank

TD

Arrow Capital Management

BMO

Gluskin Sheff

Horizons ETF

KPMG

Mill St. Brewery

RBC

Toronto Capital

Dutton Brock LLP

Blaney McMurtry LLP

Bennett Jones LLP

CI Financial

And more…

 

The tournament this year runs from March 22nd - 24th and will be held at the University of Toronto Varsity Gym on the St George Campus. 

 

Volunteer roles include timekeeper/scorekeeper, runner, Gatorade, Kids’ Clinic, and three-point shootout and we ask that volunteers participate for a minimum of 3 hours.

 

We invite you to check out our website for further details http://www.baystreethoops.com. 

 

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to either Angel Fraser at afraser@ci.com or Karen Steinmann at ksteinmann@ci.com.

 

 

Thank you, 

 

Angel Fraser & Karen Steinmann 

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Late announcements

Feb. 28: Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, To Police and Be Policed: Multiple Perspectives on Racialized Law Enforcement in a Diverse and Changing City

Despite official claims of tolerance and inclusion, Toronto’s Black population has a historically tenuous relationship with the city’s law enforcement agencies. This study addresses how distrust of the police and notions of Black criminality are mutually sustained and reproduced through police encounters with Black citizens. Prior research has documented the myriad ways in which the police serve to subjugate and control Black populations. Previous research has also highlighted the importance of fair treatment in shaping citizens’ perceptions of police (and state) legitimacy. Very little, however, has simultaneously incorporated the perspectives of those on both sides of “the thin blue line.” Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, this study draws on interview and survey data with police officers and civilians to untangle the intricate relationship between race, policing, citizenship and state authority. The findings illustrate that both police officers and Black citizens act in ways that run counter to their own interests during their often hostile and confrontational encounters. Such encounters contribute to the erosion of police legitimacy and to the criminalization of race/racialization of crime. The findings provide support for a methodological approach to the study of racial inequality that is attentive to the multiple perspectives of the actors involved.

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah
University of Toronto, Sociology

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
02:15 PM - 03:45 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Mar. 14: Countering the Digital Consensus: The Political Economy of the Smart City (Ethics in the City Series) (w/ Bianca Wylie)

What are the risks related to the trend of increasingly technocratic governance? How might it enable the commercialization of the public service? How can government respond to this mounting digital and data-driven consensus?

Bianca Wylie
Head, Open Data Institute Toronto
Associate Expert, Open North

Wed, Mar 14, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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2018 Moot Results: Memorable Achievements and Wins

Friday, April 13, 2018

As always, U of T Law is proud of the accomplishments of its talented student mooters, and its negotiation and arbitration competition teams. Read on for the results of the 2018 moots and negotiation and arbitration competitions.

Headnotes - Feb 5 2018

Announcements

Deans' Offices

Lawyers Doing Cool Things: Hugo Alves, J.D. 2008

Lawyers Doing Cool Things: Hugo Alves, J.D. 1999

Thursday February 15, 2018, 12:30 – 2:00

Room: J230

Sandwiches and water will be provided

Career profile: Hugo is the President and Director of Cannabis Wheaton. He is considered Canada’s leading advisor to the cannabis industry.

To register, click here. 

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Leadership Skills Program - Understanding Business Clients

Understanding Business Clients 

Monday February 12, 12:30 – 2:00

Presenter: Brian Livingston

Working with clients is an essential part of the practice of law.  Learning how to deal with those clients and the business operations they have will help you to be a better lawyer.  A significant part of working with clients is learning how to communicate and negotiate on their behalf. 

In this interactive seminar, you will have a chance to hear from a law alumnus who was the former general counsel of Imperial Oil.  You will learn about how clients think about lawyers and the legal advice they give.   You will also learn about how business clients approach business opportunities and create the strategy to pursue those opportunities. 

Find out more and register here. 


 

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Student Office

Welcome Day 2018 - Call for Volunteers

JD Volunteers (all years) needed for Welcome Day 2018

If you attended Welcome Day, then you may recall how instrumental it was for our newly admitted students to be able to identify, relate and connect with our senior students.  Your involvement is quite appreciated.

Meet and inspire the excited and eager potential incoming JD class. With your participation you will assist in expanding their awareness of the many areas of legal education, practice and service. You are invaluable to the students' understanding of the role of co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities offered at the law school and their consequent benefits.

  • Event Date: Friday February 23rd (during Reading Week)
  • Venue: Jackman Law Building
  • Time Commitment:
    We will schedule you according to the amount of time you can commit to the event, indicate your hours of availability on the form
    • between 9am-6pm for the formal event
    • and 6-8pm for the post-event Pub Night at the Fox & Fiddle

To sign-up, please complete and submit the online volunteer form.

For catering purposes, it would be most helpful if you sign-up by the end of day, Wednesday January 31st.

Be the inspiration!

Regards,
Jerome Poon-Ting
Senior Recruitment,Admissions & Diversity Outreach Officer
jerome.poon.ting@utoronto.ca

 

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Wellness Week

Join students, staff and faculty for a range of great events and activities during the law school's inaugural Wellness Week. Fun activities every day from February 5th to 9th.

See attached for more details.

Wellness Week is brought to you by the Student Health & Wellness Committee.

(Extra bonus: Participate in Wellness Week activities and win 2 free tickets to Law Follies!)

uoft_faculty_of_law_wellness_week_2018.docx
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Volunteer at See Yourself Here!

Dear Students,

 

The Office of the Assistant Dean is recruiting volunteers for our annual See Yourself Here Open House at the law school on March 9th, 2018. 

 

See Yourself Here invites 250 high school students to the law school for one day of educational programing. The event started as an initiative by the Black Law Students’ Association and has since expanded to include participants from a broad range of communities that are underrepresented in legal education and the profession. Throughout the day, participants hear from law students and lawyers from different backgrounds and who work in diverse fields of law. U of T Law students play a central role in the event by sitting on panels, networking with participants, running workshops, and more.

 

If you are interested in participating in See Yourself Here, please email sara.hubbard@utoronto.ca. Please let us know if you identify as a student from a background that is underrepresented in the legal profession, however this is not necessary in order to participate. All students are encouraged and welcome to volunteer. Volunteer positions include: student panelist (1-2 hour commitment), panel moderator (1-2 hour commitment), team lead (all day commitment), mock trial facilitator (3 hours commitment). 

 

View video from a previous event here: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/student-life/student-clubs-and-events/see-yourself-here

 

Cheers,
Sara-Marni

 

--

Sara-Marni Hubbard, Doctoral Student

Student Programs Coordinator

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Today: The KAIROS Blanket Exercise: A Step on the Path to Reconciliation

Date and Time

Mon, 5 February 2018

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM EST

Location

Flavelle House

78 Queen's Park Crescent West

Rowell Room

Toronto, ON M5S 2C5

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise: A Step on the Path to Reconciliation

  • Engage on an intellectual and emotional level with five hundred years of Indigenous-Settler history in a 1.5 hour workshop

  • Take on the roles of Indigenous people through pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance

  • Gain a better understanding of how law was manipulated to steal land from and otherwise harm First Nation, Inuit and Métis people and how these historical wrongs are directly connected to the social, economic and legal issues many Indigenous people face today

  • Learn how Indigenous people have resisted assimilation and how they continue to do so

For more information on the Blanket Exercise at U of T Law, you can watch a short video here: https://youtu.be/81-EeMg47Jo

For more information about the Blanket Exercise from KAIROS, creators of this resource, please visit their website here: https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/blanket-exercise-at-u-of-t-law-february-2018...

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Academic Events

LGBTQ+ Workshop - Prof. Alon Harel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In this workshop, Prof Alon Harel will discuss the state and recent developments of LGBTQ+ Rights in Israel.

Prof. Harel is the Phillip and Estelle Mizock Chair in Administrative and Criminal Law at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the editor of LGBT Rights in Israel: Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and the Law .

When: February 8, 4.10-5.10pm

Where: Falconer Hall, FA 4

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Workshop: Regulating in the Dark: Mapping the Encryption Debate

Regulating in the Dark: Mapping the Encryption Debate

 

Law enforcement and national security agencies in many different states argue that strong encryption in making the internet “go dark” and that they need ways to bypass this encryption in order to investigate crime and prevent terrorism attacks. Proposals to bypass the effects of encryption often include mandating the creation of “back doors” such as through different ways of managing access to types of “master keys” but can also include compelled disclosure of passwords or keys from suspects (raising concerns regarding the right against self-incrimination). Often such proposals are short on details, such as Public Safety Canada’s recent discussion as part of its 2016 National Security consultation. The tech industry, security experts, and civil liberties groups have largely responded that encryption bypasses pose too great a danger to cybersecurity and fundamental rights. 

Click here for details.

The event is free but registration is required. Click here to register. 

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Critical Analysis of Law Workshop: Vanessa Ogle

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LAW WORKSHOP
presents

Vanessa Ogle
University of California, Berkeley,
 History Department

Legalizing the Offshore World

Tuesday, February 6, 2018
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium, Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park 

Vanessa Ogle received an MA from the Free University of Berlin and completed a PhD at Harvard University from 2005-2011. From 2011-2017, she taught modern European history at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant and associate professor. In fall 2017, she joined the history department at UC Berkeley as associate professor in late modern European history. From 2013-2014 she spent a fellowship year at the Institute for Advanced Study (School of Social Science), Princeton, NJ, and in 2016-2017, she was a fellow at the Davis Center at Princeton University. Her first book, The Global Transformation of Time 1870-1950 was published with Harvard University Press in October 2015.
 

For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca

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James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop: Kim Brooks

THE JAMES HAUSMAN TAX LAW & POLICY WORKSHOP 

presents

Kim Brooks
Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University

Legal Interpretation of Tax Law:  Canada

Wednesday, February 7, 2018
12:30 - 2:00
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park

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Legal Theory Workshop: Dimitrios Kyritsis

LEGAL THEORY WORKSHOP

presents

Dimitrios Kyritsis
University of Reading Law School

Interpreting Legislative Intent

Friday, February 9, 2018
12:30 - 2:00
Room 219, Flavelle House
78 Queen's Park

Dimitrios Kyritsis is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Reading since 2014. Prior to that he was Lecturer at the University of Sheffield and Hauser Global Law Fellow at New York University. He holds a DPhil from Oxford. His primary research interests are legal philosophy and constitutional theory.

 

To be added to the paper distribution list, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.  For further information, please contact Professor Larissa Katz (larissa.katz@utoronto.ca) and Professor Sophia Moreau (sr.moreau@utoronto.ca).

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March 2nd Asper Centre Public Interest Litigation Conference

The Asper Centre is convening a one-day Conference on March 2, 2018 focused on legal strategies for successful public interest litigation as a means to bring together relevant stakeholders to share their challenges, successes and strategies in this field.  The Conference is aimed at both practitioners (lawyers and NGOs) who are engaged in public interest litigation and scholars and students who study and analyze the impact of these cases.

Over 25 papers in total will be presented in various concurrent sessions throughout the day, with a plenary address/panel at the conclusion of the Conference. Panels will include, amongst others: 1) case analyses to extract lessons from successful and unsuccessful public interest litigation cases across various substantive areas; 2) development of meaningful strategies for public interest litigation and coordination of strategic litigation between intervening organizations and stakeholders; 3) the role of interveners in public interest litigation; and 4) the funding of public interest litigation in Canada.

Click here to REGISTER

List of Participating Authors & Papers

1. Alexander, Basil: “Pragmatic Assorted Strategies: How Canadian Cause Lawyering Contributes to Social Change”
2. Anglin, Howard: “Public Interest Case Study: R v Comeau”
3. Bharati, Subodh and David Coté: “Scotland v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
4. Blum, Joshua: “Ali v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
5. Bredt, Chris & Ewa Krajewska: “Only 5 Minutes? The Supreme Court’s Approach to Interveners Requires Reform”
6. Bussey, Barry: “The Law of Intervention after the TWU case”
7. Chan, Kathryn & Howard Kislowicz: “Divine Intervention: A study of the operation and impact of NGO interveners in Canadian religious freedom litigation”
8. Giltrow, Maegan and Nathan Hume: “The Shadow Intervener: Economics and Public Interest Litigation”
9. Gold, Richard and Rachel Meland: “Litigating Patents in the Public Interest”
10. Grant, Angus: “Intervener Standing in Immigration and Refugee Cases”
11. Faraday, Fay, Tracy Heffernan & Helen Luu: “A Holistic Approach to Public Interest Litigation in Three Voices”
12. Fenske, Allison and Joëlle Pastora Sala: “The Wheels of Justice for Vulnerable Individuals: Reflections from the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba”
13. Fluker, Shaun and Christine Laing: “Does Yaiguaje v Chevron Corporation change the security for costs game for public interest litigants?”
14. Giorgio, Barbara: “Attorney General of Canada v Downtown Eastside Sex Workers: Judicially Precipitated Reform for Public Interest Advocacy”
15. Ha-Redeye, Omar: “My friends muddy the waters: how a statement of principles became a fiasco?”
16. Kutty, Faisal: “Intervener Gatekeeping: Who checks at the door?”
17. Latimer, Alison: “Examination of a Solitary Confinement Test Case”
18. Latner, Gabriel: “The Rights Stuff: Why Canada doesn’t have its own ACLU and how we can build one?”
19. Levesque, Anne: “The symbiotic relationship between social movements and public interest litigation: A case study of the I am a Witness Campaign and the human rights complaint of 165 000 First Nations kid”
20. Mangat, Raji: “Here from the beginning: the promise of trial-level intervention”
21. McGrath, Gavin: “TWU intervention by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada”
22. Paterson, Josh: “The Carter case – Sustaining the Fight Both Inside and Outside the Courtroom”
23. Polonskaya, Ksenia: “How do Interventions Contribute to the Development of Feminist Constitutional Theory through the Decisions of the Canadian Supreme Court when Women’s Rights are Concerned?”
24. Sheldon, Tess and Helgi Maki: “Trauma–Informed Strategies in Public Interest Litigation”
25. Sheppard, Dan: “Just Going Through the Motions: The Supreme Court, Interest Groups and the Performance of Intervention”
26. Silcoff, Maureen: “Party Status in Y.Z. v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)”
27. Spector, Karen: “Legal Strategies for Intervention in Cases Seeking to Advance the Rights of Persons with Mental Health Disabilities”
28. Vaughan, Eleanor: “Solicitor Client Privilege in Lizotte v Aviva Insurance Company of Canada and Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v University of Calgary”

Full Conference SCHEDULE will be available soon.

Click here to REGISTER

 

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Grafstein Lecture: Ed Felten, "Guardians, Job Stealers, Bureaucrats, or Robot Overlords"

The 2018 Grafstein Lecture in Communications

Prof. Edward W. Felten
Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs
Princeton University

 Guardians, Job Stealers, Bureaucrats, or Robot Overlords?
Preparing for the Arrival of Intelligent Machines

Prof. Edward Felten

Thursday February 8, 2018
5.00 p.m - 6:30 pm
Rosalie Silberman Abella Moot Court Room
Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park

Prof. Felten's research interests include computer security and privacy, and public policy issues relating to information technology. Specific topics include software security, Internet security, electronic voting, cybersecurity policy, technology for government transparency, network neutrality and Internet policy. He blogs about technology and policy at Freedom to Tinker.

He is the Director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP), a cross-disciplinary effort studying digital technologies in public life. CITP has seventeen affiliated faculty members and maintains a diverse research program and a busy events schedule.

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Student Activities

Law Follies!

Join us at the Opera House on Thursday February 8 for everything from high-brow legal humour to poop jokes. After party (with DJ!) to follow immediately after the show, at the Opera House!

Doors open at 7 pm.

Please note: The Opera House is open only to those aged 19+, with the exception of minors accompanied by a parent. Please bring government issued ID.

Ticket Sales:

Ticket numbers are limited so get yours soon! Purchase tickets online here:

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/lawfollies2018

A limited number of tickets will also be reserved for cash sale in the Jackman Hall Atrium:
- January 29 - February 1 at 12:30-2:00 pm
- February 5 - 8. at 12:30-2:00 pm

Ticket Prices:
- U of T Law Students: $10
- Guests: $15

* A small service fee will apply to tickets purchased online.

Ticket prices are discounted $5 off of last year's price, thanks to generous sponsorship from BLG!

If you require accessible seating, please email elizabeth.creelman@mail.utoronto.ca with the subject line "Law Follies Accessible Seating".

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The Sports & Entertainment Law Society presents: An Introduction to Entertainment Law

Monday, February 12 

Room J125

12:30-2PM

*Lunch will be provided*

 

The Sports & Entertainment Law Society is pleased to announce its upcoming panel on entertainment law. Our panelists will introduce which practice areas entertainment law covers, the industry in Toronto, and how students might find a position practicing entertainment law. 

 

Our panelists include:

Ron Hay Partner, Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP – Now partner at one of Canada’s leading boutique entertainment law firms, Ron Hay started off his career at McMillan. He has acted as in-house counsel for Alliance Atlantis and Balmur Entertainment. He is also an accomplished professional musician, playing viola for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra while in law school.

Tara Parker Partner, Goodmans LLP - Consistently recognized as one of Canada's leading entertainment lawyers, Tara Parker represents a wide array of major players. Her practice spans across television, music, publishing, and digital media projects. 

Marc Gertner Senior Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Live Nation - Marc Gertner started off in corporate law and civil litigation before transitioning to Live Nation in 2013. His practice now spans over several areas.

Jared Leon Sole Practitioner - A musician and recent graduate, Jared Leon is highly involved in the creative community. He has acted as director of music and arts symposiums and sits on the Board of Directors for Whippersnapper Gallery.

 

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Right to Food in Canada? Food Insecurity and the Law

The Food Law & Policy Society presents: The Right to Food in Canada?

Despite Canada's wealth, almost 13% of Canadian households are food insecure. These figures are devastatingly higher in the North, where in Nunavut, for example, 46.8% of households experience food insecurity. Food insecurity impacts all aspects of peoples’ lives. But food insecurity is not inevitable. Good law and policy can ensure that everyone in Canada can meet their food needs in dignity.

For our first event, the Food and Policy Society invites you to a brown bag lunchtime session on The Right to Food in Canada. With panelists Paul Taylor (FoodShare), Valerie Tarasuk (Dalla Lana School of Public Health), and Nadia Lambek (U of T, Faculty of Law), we will discuss how law and policy, grounded in the right to food, could ensure an end to hunger in Canada.

Join us for our first of three brown-bag lunch sessions this semester!

right_to_food_poster.pdf
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Call for Baby Gale Timekeepers

We are seeking five volunteers to act as timekeepers at the Cassels Brock Cup moot on Saturday March 24 at the Ontario Court of Appeal in downtown Toronto. As a timekeeper, your responsibilities would include bringing the judges into the courtroom, asking observers to rise, and then timing each mooter as they make their submissions. Please make sure that you are available for the entire day on Saturday, March 24th.

This is a great opportunity to watch some great mooting, support your classmates, and attend a fancy lunch reception at Cassels Brock following the moot. 

If you are interested in volunteering, please email us at utlawmoot@gmail.com by noon on Tuesday February 6. If we hear from more than 5 interested volunteers, we will select five people randomly. 

Best,
The MCC

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Centres, Legal Clinics, and Special Programs

IHRP & HRW - Panel Discussion: The Darker Side of Digital: Human Rights Implications of Technology in Canada and Abroad

Registration Required:  http://bit.ly/2imQESp - through Eventbrite

Please see the Save the Date Poster (pdf)

Moderator: Stephen Northfield: Digital Director, Human Rights Watch, Twitter: @snorthfield45
 
Panelists:

  • Lisa Austin: Professor, Chair in Law and Technology, Faculty of Law, U of T, Twitter: @Lisa_M_Austin

  • Lex Gill: Research Fellow, The Citizen Lab;  and Advocate, National Security Program, CCLA, Twitter: @lex_is 

  • Felix Horne: Senior Researcher, Horn of Africa, Human Rights Watch, Twitter: @FelixHorne1

Rapid advances in technology offer human rights activists’ tremendous opportunities. We can now collect new, and richer data than ever before; gather information in dangerous or hard-to-access places and have greater capacity to project our findings and influence key decision makers and media.

But there’s a darker side to the technology revolution.
 
Commercial spyware and malware tools are being used to track and disrupt the activities of human rights defenders. Privacy is under assault by governments who gather massive amounts of metadata on their citizens – and those in other countries. Technology is being used by some to spread toxic ideologies, disrupt democracy and distort the truth.
 
Please join us for a panel of experts to discuss human rights implications in Canada and abroad. 

For more information, contact ihrp.law@utoronto.ca. 

 

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Asper Centre Summer Fellowship

Applications for Asper Centre Summer Fellowships are due on February 20, 2018.  You may view the Asper Centre's Summer Fellowship page on our website for information about past fellows and their work.  

Also, please find the 2018 Asper Centre Fellowship Guide here.

Current law students can log into the University of Toronto Law Career Network for further information on the application process.

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Seeking Asper Centre BLOG Contributions

 

ATTENTION LAW STUDENTS !

DO YOU WANT TO:

  •  Have your say about Charter rights issues ?
  •  Comment on the constitutionality of our Laws, Court decisions and Government’s (in)actions ?
  •  Highlight your Constitutional law research & writing ?
  •  Reflect and write about your work at the Asper Centre or another relevant experience ?

The DAVID ASPER CENTRE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS is recruiting students to write short (500 - 1000 words) posts for our new ASPER CENTRE BLOG.

For more information, email: tal.schreier@utoronto.ca

 

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Career Development Office and Employment Opportunities

Summer research assistance - Prof. Waddams

Professor Stephen Waddams and Justice Robert Sharpe are looking for assistance in updating their books on Injunctions and Specific Performance, and Damages, and Professor Waddams in preparing for publication a book on Sanctity of Contracts.  Please apply by February 28, by letter, including details of academic record, to Professor Waddams (paper copy, please, to the law school) and simultaneously to The Hon. Justice R. J. Sharpe, e-mail: robert.sharpe@oca-cao.ca.  

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Job Postings This Week on UTLC
Upcoming Events on UTLC

Financial Aid, Scholarships, and Awards

The Legal Leaders for Diversity Trust Fund: 2018 Scholarship Program
Reminder - Interest Payment Deadline - February 9

Dear students,

 

This is a reminder that the deadline for submitting your Scotiabank or TD Line of Credit bank statement (or other bank statements) in order to receive your interest payment is February 9, 2018. Please submit your January 2018 Line of Credit bank statement to the Financial Aid Office by the stated deadline, so that we can process your interest payments.

 

Our office is located in the Student Services Hub in the Jackman Law Building, Room 301.

 

Best regards,

 

Financial Aid Office
University of Toronto
Faculty of Law

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Journals, Research, and Scholarship

Journal of Law and Equality - Call for Associate Editors

New year, new you? Try us on for size!

The Journal of Law & Equality (JLE) is looking for Associate Editors for the remainder of this academic year.

The JLE is a peer reviewed, student-run journal at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Our mandate is to promote critical and informed debate on issues of equality, with a special emphasis on the Canadian context. Prior journal experience is not required, and all are welcome to join us!

Associate editors will work with members of the senior board to assist in bringing works we hope to publish up to snuff. This will involve editing and research work, all of which you will be instructed on by Senior Editors beforehand. It’s an exciting and immersive way to work on your research and writing skills, while dealing with interesting and current issues in equality law!

To apply, please submit your a brief statement of interest to editors.jle@gmail.com with "Associate Editor Application" as the subject line. Feel free as well to contact us with any questions about the position or application process.

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Bookstore

Bookstore

Hours for the week of February 5th, 2018 

                                  Monday:         9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
                                  Tuesday:               CLOSED
                                  Wednesday:   9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
                                  Thursday:       9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
                                  Friday:                   CLOSED                                   

For updated information, please remember to visit the Faculty of Law Bookstore website at:  

http://www.law.utoronto.ca/student-life/bookstore

headnoteswinter2018-5.pdf
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External Announcements: Events

Feb 5: The Police Man’s Burden: Emotional Labor, Masculinity and the Ethics of Force (w/ Jennifer Carlson, Arizona)

The Police Man’s Burden: Emotional Labor, Masculinity and the Ethics of Force

Use of force is central to police work, yet the contours of the use of force for American police have changed dramatically in recent years. First, police have become increasingly prepared to use force due to changes in training and equipment amid threats of mass shootings, domestic terrorism, and so forth. Second, police are increasingly policing contexts that are gun-rich and gun law-lax, with over 13 million people licensed to carry guns in the US. Third, police have increasingly faced public outcry related to the use of force, especially with regard to racial disparities in excessive force. In what contexts do police embrace, versus accept or even avoid, the use of force? Is police use of force equally ‘non-negotiable’ (see Bittner, 1973) across social settings? If not, why not—and to what ends? To explore these questions, this talk draws on interviews with nearly 80 police chiefs across Arizona, California, and Michigan. While policing scholarship has documented how “hard charger” masculinist approaches to policing mediates the central role of firearms in constituting “real” policework (see Herbert, 2001), I draw on the concept of ‘moral wages’ (see Kolb, 2014) to show how guns operate not just as means of violence but also as gendered tools of emotional management. Examining how police evaluate more versus less moralistic uses of force and at times even opt out of force, I show that police make ethical sense of the use of force by framing it as masculine carework. Further situating these findings within the divergent contexts of Arizona, California and Michigan (especially their respective gun cultures) reveals that the boundaries between police and broader society are more porous than often acknowledged: police sensibilities about legitimate force are patterned by more localized norms regarding the use of force as well as by the socio-legal regimes in which police are embedded.

Jennifer Carlson
University of Arizona
School of Sociology & School of Government and Public Policy

04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
200 Larkin 

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Feb 13: Ethics of AI Film Series: Star Trek TNG (w/ Mark Kingwell)

 

 

Tue, Feb 13, 2018
06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 14: Author Meets Critics: Connected by Commitment: Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It (by Mara Marin)

Connected by Commitment: Oppression and Our Responsibility to Undermine It (Oxford 2017)

Mara Marin
Postdoctoral Affiliate, Centre for Ethics
University of Toronto

Commentators:
Shannon Dea (Philosophy, University of Waterloo)
Kerry Rittich (Law, University of Toronto)
Meredith Schwartz (Philosophy, Ryerson University)
Torrey Shanks (Political Science, University of Toronto)

Saying that political and social oppression is a deeply unjust and widespread condition of life is not a terribly controversial statement. Likewise, theorists of justice frequently consider our obligation to not turn a blind eye to oppression. But what is our culpability in the endurance of oppression?

In this book, Mara Marin complicates the primary ways in which we make sense of human and political relationships and our obligations within them. Rather than thinking of relationships in terms of our intentions, Marin thinks of them as open-ended and subject to ongoing commitments. Commitments create open-ended expectations and vulnerabilities on the part of others, and therefore also obligations. By this rationale, our actions sustain oppressive or productive structures in virtue of their cumulative effects, not the intentions of the actors.When we violate our obligations we oppress others.

12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building 

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Feb 6: Ethics of AI in Context: The Ethics of Agonistic Machine Learning (w/ Mireille Hildebrandt)

What do we mean when we say that machines learn? What is the difference that makes a difference between human learning and machine learning? In my talk I will discuss the nature of machine learning (ML), including a series of design decisions that inform ML research designs and the trade-offs they incorporate. I will argue that these trade-offs have real world implications that require the participation of those who will suffer or enjoy the consequences of real world ML applications. Building on Mouffe’s democratic theory and Rip’s constructive technology assessment, I will argue for agonistic or adversarial ML as the only viable way to ensure that ML contributes to human and societal flourishing.

Mireille Hildebrandt
Law and Technology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Computing & Information Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen

 

Tue, Feb 6, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Feb 27: New Perspectives on Mass Incarceration in the United States (w/ John Pfaff & Jonathan Simon)
The American incarceration rate has quintupled over the last generation, to the point where the United States now incarcerates over two million individuals. A wave of new empirical, sociological and legal scholarship has begun shed new light on the growth of mass incarceration. John Pfaff (Fordham) and Jonathan Simon (Berkeley) will discuss their groundbreaking research on the causes of mass incarceration, the response by the courts and proposals for reform going forward.
 
Panelists:
 
 
 
 

12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building 

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Mar 1: We Are All Criminals (w/ Emily Baxter)

We Are All Criminals looks at people with criminal histories but no record--people who have had the luxury to forget.

Doctors and lawyers, social workers and students, retailers and retirees tell stories of crimes they got away with, and consider how different their lives would have been had they been caught.

The stories are of youth, boredom, intoxication, and porta potties. They are about race, class, and privilege. They are humorous, humiliating, and humbling in turn.

Through photography and storytelling, this project seeks to challenge society’s perception of what it means to be a criminal and how much weight a record should be given, when truly – we are all criminals.

Emily Baxter
Founder & Executive Director, We Are All Criminals

Commentators:
Shaunna Kelly
Law Offices of Shaunna Kelly

Paula Maurutto
Department of Sociology, University of Toronto

co-sponsor:

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Feb 28: Moral Experts vs. Ethical Theories (w/ John-Stewart Gordon)

Moral Experts vs. Ethical Theories

The lively topic of whether moral expertise and moral experts exist has been vividly discussed in recent contributions in ethics and, particularly, in bioethics. I hold the view that moral expertise exists and that some moral philosophers can be considered as moral experts in the full sense, who have moral expertise, while most cannot. In this talk, however, I focus on the question of whether moral experts–by adhering to their particular expertise–are better qualified to solve complex moral questions than (moral) philosophers who (only) use a particular moral theory. This is an important issue because my analysis will respond to the vital question of whether one is, in general, able to solve complex moral issues by adhering to only one moral theory given the background of the complexity of moral life.

John-Stewart Gordon
Professor & Head of the Research Cluster for Applied Ethics
Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Upcoming Event: The AI Revolution in Academia

2nd Annual Franklin Forum: The AI Revolution in Academia

Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Time: 1PM-6PM

Location: Massey College Upper Library, 4 Devonshire Place, Toronto, ON M5S 2E1

Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-franklin-forum-the-ai-revolution-in-academia-tickets-42215951046

Artificial Intelligence promises to start a revolution in many aspects of society and academia. How will your research adapt and include such changes?

Join us on Feb 7th at Massey College to discuss how AI can transform academic research. Our panelists will explain the capabilities and limitations of AI approaches to analyze data and generate insight for STEM and social science research. We will explore what types of investigative problems can be tackled with AI techniques.

“Computers are useless, they can only give you answers.” ~ Pablo Picasso

As well, there is a growing concern about the outcomes and consequences of using AI. In our forum we will explore how to ask the right questions and discern meaningful results from the “black box” of AI. In addition we will address the growing issues of safe development and ethical deployment.

Confirmed speakers:

  • Brian Cantwell Smith, Professor of philosophy, University of Toronto
  • Arvind Gupta, Former president of UBC and current visiting professor in computer science, University of Toronto
  • Abhishek Gupta, AI ethics researcher, McGill University
  • Charu Jaiswal, Machine learning science at integrate.ai
  • Ludovic Rheault, Assistant professor in political science, University of Toronto
  • Jonathan Rose, Professor of electrical and computer engineering, University of Toronto

Free event, registration required. Light refreshments provided.

Event Poster
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CHILD PROTECTION LAW NEEDS YOU!

CHILD PROTECTION LAW NEEDS YOU!

Find out how you can make a difference fighting for families.

Law students, new lawyers and other interested persons are invited to attend a session about going into child protection law. For anyone looking for a career in public interest law and litigation, child protection law is an often over-looked area where lawyers can advance the interests of vulnerable clients and make meaningful differences in the lives of children and families.

Our speakers have worked as parents’ counsel and counsel for children, as well as counsel for children’s aid societies.  They will be discussing the kinds of cases they have dealt with, what you can expect as counsel, how to look for opportunities in the field, and the practical aspects of establishing a practice.  We anticipate that this will be an inspiring and informative session, with the perspective of practitioners and the Bench. There will also be opportunity to meet and ask question informally after the session is over.  If you have any interest at all in this field of law, this will be a very valuable session to attend!

Speakers:

Justice Manjusha Pawagi sits on the Ontario Court of Justice at 311 Jarvis, where she hears domestic, child protection and criminal matters. Prior to her appointment to the Bench, she worked as counsel for the Toronto Children’s Aid Society and the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Renata Austin is a lawyer in private practice who regularly acts for clients in child welfare and criminal proceedings.  Prior to setting up her practice, she worked for the City of Toronto.  Called in 2013, she had set up her own practice by 2015.  Her practice has thrived and she has developed a reputation for her commitment to providing services to families in marginalised communities.

Tammy Law is a family lawyer with extensive experience in child protection.  She has argued at all levels of court, most recently before the Supreme Court of Canada. She has worked as parent’s counsel, counsel for children, and society counsel.  She is the interim president of the Ontario Association of Child Protection Lawyers (Toronto Chapter).

Details:

The event will be held on February 13 at 400 University Avenue, 18th Floor Boardroom.  The closest station is St. Patrick subway station.  Parking is expensive, but the lot underneath City Hall is more reasonably priced.

The session will run from 4pm – 5:30pm, followed by informal drinks at the Duke of Cornwall Pub, located downstairs at 400 University Avenue.  There is no cost to attend the session.

For questions, or to RSVP, please contact Stephanie Giannandrea at stephanie@mccarthyco.ca

 

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Feb 14: Canadian Smart Cities: Defining the Public Good (Ethics in the City Series)

From the federal government’s smart city challenge to Sidewalk Labs‘ partnering with Waterfront Toronto on the planning of Quayside, smart cities are part of a new urban agenda in Canadian cities. Their technology and data have clear value to the private sector but what do smart cities offer in terms of public good outcomes? This talk will explore how early experiments with smart cities send signals that deliberate and creative attention must be paid if we seek to derive public good from this technology.

Pamela Robinson
Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives, Faculty of Community Services

 

Wed, Feb 14, 2018 
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto 
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Security Cooperation in East Asia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States

As the ongoing crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program starkly illustrates, coordinating effective international responses to serious regional challenges can be extremely difficult. Part of the difficulty rests with the fact that in every major geopolitical flashpoint in the region, important countries either stand on opposite sides of the issue or have at best partially overlapping interests.

The United States, of course, has been a key player in every major security issue in East Asia since 1945. It has relied heavily both on its network of bilateral alliances and on its forward presence, primarily in Japan. Its two most important allies in the region are Japan and South Korea, which are not formal allies, but which share a broad range of values and interests. Arguably, there is considerable scope for enhancing security cooperation both bilaterally and trilaterally.

The purpose of the symposium is to explore the possibilities and limits of enhanced security cooperation in East Asia, primarily between these three countries, and in the first instance specifically with respect to North Korea, but also more broadly.

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Feb 13: Ethics of AI in Context: Richard Zemel, Ensuring Fair and Responsible Automated Decisions

Information systems are becoming increasingly reliant on statistical inference and learning to render all sorts of decisions, including the issuing of bank loans, the targeting of advertising, and the provision of health care. This growing use of automated decision-making has sparked heated debate among philosophers, policy-makers, and lawyers, with critics voicing concerns with bias and discrimination. Bias against some specific groups may be ameliorated by attempting to make the automated decision-maker blind to some attributes, but this is difficult, as many attributes may be correlated with the particular one.  The basic aim then is to make fair decisions, i.e., ones that are not unduly biased for or against specific subgroups in the population. I will discuss various computational formulations and approaches to this problem.

Richard Zemel
Computer Science & Vector Institute
University of Toronto

Tue, Feb 13, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies Winter 2018 Speaker Series Schedule

External Announcements: Opportunities

Legal Leaders for Diversity Trust Fund
CDG Research Fellowship: Call for Applications

CDG Research Fellowship: Call for Applications
The Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) is inviting faculty and graduate students at Canadian universities to apply for the 2018 edition of the Charles D. Gonthier Research Fellowship. Created in 2009, this fellowship is up to a maximum of $7,000 and open to faculty and graduate students at Canadian universities. It is awarded annually to an academic who presents the best research on CIAJ's annual conference topic.

2018 Topic: Justice and Mental Health

Candidates must submit their application no later than March 31, 2018.

All details are available on CIAJ’s website at:
https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/research/charles-d-gonthier-research-fellowship/

Recipients: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/research/research-papers/

Brochure
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2018 Student Engagement in the Arts Awards - Deadline: Feb. 15

The University of Toronto Student Engagement in the Arts Awards (SEAA) provides a special opportunity to recognize the incredible contributions made by U of T students to our creative and performing arts communities on all three campuses.

 

The SEAAs were introduced in 2010 to celebrate the outstanding co-curricular leadership roles and volunteer activities undertaken by students in all ranges of creative endeavours. If you know a student who has developed a community arts program; curated an art show, film festival or open mic night; someone who’s edited a magazine or book of poetry; produced a musical, play, dance program, speaker series – you get the idea! - we hope you will consider nominating them for a U of T Student Engagement in the Arts Award. 

 

Nominations are open until February 15, 2018

Learn more and access the online application form at http://www.arts.utoronto.ca/engagementawards.htm.

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External Announcements: Calls for Papers

U of T Undergraduate Ethics Society and Law Journal

Mindful is the University of Toronto's interdisciplinary Journal for Ethics, affiliated with the Ethics, Society and Law program at Trinity College. Past issues can be viewed here: 
http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/current/programs-courses/esl/esl.html#Mindful Journals

Mindful Journal of Ethics is now accepting submissions for our 2017/2018 issue! We are currently accepting work with a significant ethical dimension, particularly as it intersects with legal and social issues. Relevant programs include, but are not limited to: Ethics, Society, & Law; Political Science; History; Criminology; International Relations; Women and Gender Studies; Philosophy; Public Policy; Equity Studies; Peace, Conflict, & Justice Studies; Aboriginal Studies; Environmental Studies; Bioethics; Global Health; and History and Philosophy of Science. Submit your essays, freelance op-eds, book reviews, and original photography or illustrations to mindful.ethics@gmail.com before February 24th at 11:59pm. Submissions must contain a clear ethical dimension. Please include your name, university, and contact information both in the body of the email and within your submission document. 

 

REQUIREMENTS:
- significant ethical dimension
- mark of at least 80%
- original work 
- cited in Chicago style footnotes 
CATEGORIES:
- essay (<4000 words)
- freelance op-ed (500-1000 words)
- book review (500-2000 words)
- original photography or illustration (short explanation of relevance to ethics is welcome) please note: orientalist/voyeuristic submissions will be rejected.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
- email mindful.ethics@gmail.com
- writing should be in .doc format, images in .png or .pdf
- text of your email should include your name, which course the document was submitted for, and grade (if applicable).

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Late announcements

Feb 28: The End of Public Works? The Politics of Infrastructure and the Quiet Decline of Local Democracy (Ethics in the City Series)

Focusing on Sidewalk Toronto, the joint project of Waterfront Toronto and Google’s Sidewalk Labs, Mariana Valverde critically examines the evolution, via neoliberal privatization, from public works to public-private partnerships as modes of urban governance.

Mariana Valverde
Criminology & Sociolegal Studies

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

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Prof. Lemmens is co-principal investigator on CIHR grant to overcome barriers to transparency about drug safety and effectiveness

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The transparency of research data is increasingly recognized as crucial to reliable, evidence-informed decision-making about health care. Recently, Canada’s Bill C-17 (“Vanessa’s Law”) gave Health Canada the ability to make information about drug safety and effectiveness more transparent. Yet, changing the real world practices of regulators and clinical researchers--much less the pharmaceutical industry--remains a huge challenge.

In Memoriam: Hon. Allan McNiece Austin, Class of 1952

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The Faculty of Law is saddened to hear of the passing on January 12, 2018, of alumnus the Honourable Allan McNiece Austin, Class of 1952.

Prof. Jutta Brunnée honoured by American Society of International Law for new book on International Climate Change Law

Thursday, February 1, 2018

International Climate Change LawProfessor Jutta Brunnée, Metcalf Chair in Environmental Law, has won a prestigious 2018 American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit for her new book International Climate Change Law (Oxford University Press, 2017) co-authored with Professors Daniel Bodansky (Arizona State University) and Lavanya Rajamani (Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi).  The ASIL book awards committee pra

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