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.

Emerging Issues Workshop Series: Perspectives on Senate Reform

Monday October 23^rd

12:30-1:45 pm

Jackman Law Building # J225

Presenters: Senators Tony Dean, Howard Wetston & Sabi Marwah

Moderator: Professor Yasmin Dawood

We’re bringing back the Emerging Issues Workshop Series!  Join us for the 2017/18 kick-off event.  This first workshop will address the matter of Senate Reform.  We’re delighted to welcome three sitting Senators for a thought-provoking conversation that will be moderated by Professor Yasmin Dawood, Canada Research Chair in Democracy, Constitutionalism, and Electoral Law.

Pizza lunch will be served.  Registration is not required; however, capacity is limited to 25 students.  Come early to avoid disappointment!   

emerging_issues_workshop_series_poster_-_senate_reform.docx

Dear students and faculty, 

All members of the Faculty of Law community are cordially invited to attend a special sitting of the Economic Torts seminar, featuring guest speaker, the Honourable Thomas Cromwell.   Justice Cromwell served as a member of the Supreme Court of Canada from December 2008 to September 2016, after previously sitting as a Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.  Prior to his appointment to the bench, Justice Cromwell practiced law in Kingston and Toronto and taught in the Faculty of Law of Dalhousie University.  Following his retirement from the Court, Justice Cromwell joined Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Ottawa and Vancouver as Senior Counsel.

As a member of the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice Cromwell authored a number of leading decisions in the area of economic torts and commercial law, including: Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71;  A.I. Enterprises Ltd. v. Bram Enterprises Ltd., 2014 SCC 12;  Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Minister of Transportation & Highways), 2010 SCC 4; and Galambos v. Perez, 2009 SCC 48.

Adjunct Professors Alexander, Kain and Podolny will join Justice Cromwell in a discussion of the theory and development of the economic torts and commercial law jurisprudence in Canada.  Members of the audience will be invited to ask questions and participate in what promises to be a lively and stimulating conversation.

The event will take place on October 23, 2017, from 6:10 until 8:00 pm, in Room J140.

PENSION FUND INVESTMENTS AND GOVERNANCE ROUNDTABLE

 NOVEMBER 3, 2017
9:00-11:00
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Jackman Law Building, Room J140 

This roundtable will examine issues facing pension funds including: the challenges that consistently low rates of economic growth pose for pension funds; how pension funds approach regulatory compliance when faced with regulation from multiple jurisdictions; and the rationales that pension funds use when choosing to allocate assets in the public or private market (including the strategies used to find long-term investments and sustainable returns on investments). In addition, the roundtable will focus on the Canadian environment and examine the following questions: 

• Is the success of Canadian pension plans in alternative asset classes based on their governance models?
• Is the size or governance model more important to success in this arena?
• To what extent do pension funds use external advisers in their respective investment activities?
• Is the use of external advisers dependent on or related to the fund’s governance model?

Roundtable participants will specifically examine the role that internal legal counsel plays in the day-to-day operation of pension funds and the circumstances in which pension funds choose to retain external legal counsel.  

Introductions:
Edward Iacobucci, Dean and J.S.D. Tory Professor of Law, University of Toronto
Anita Anand, J.R. Kimber Chair Investor Protection and Corporate Governance, University of Toronto 

Speakers:
Michael Kelly, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, OMERS
Patricia Bood, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, bcIMC
Matthew Cockburn, Partner, Torys LLP
John Walsh, Managing Director, General Counsel OPTrust
Michael Wissell, Senior Managing Director, Portfolio Construction, OTPPB

$75 to register. No charge for students. Please contact Nadia Gulezko (by telephone: 416.978.6767 or by  email at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca) who will keep the registration list and provide further information. 

Approved for substantive CPD hours. 

Pension Fund Roundtable Program and Bios

The Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, Faculty of Law, and Woodsworth College cordially invites you to attend our 2017 John LI. J. Edwards Lecture event on:


Date: Thursday October 26th, 2017
Time: 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm - reception to follow

THE ARCS OF MASS INCARCERATION: Four Turning Points in the History of US Penality and their Legacy for the Contemporary Penal State

Presented by Jonathan Simon
Jonathan Simon is the Adrian A. Kragen Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Center of the Study of Law & Society at UC Berkeley.

Location:
University of Toronto
Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies
Canadiana Gallery - Room 160 on the main floor
14 Queen's Park Crescent West
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3K9


Sponsored by the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, Faculty of Law, and Woodsworth College.

Named after the founder of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, John Ll. J. Edwards, this is an annual public lecture on issues related to criminal law,
crime, policing, punishment, and security.

Attendance is free of charge but registration is required.
Please RSVP by Friday October 20th, 2017 to crim.events@utoronto.ca

If you are a person with a disability and require accommodation, please contact Lori Wells at 416-978-3722 x226 or
email crim.events@utoronto.ca to make appropriate arrangements.

Event poster

Runnymede Society
hosts

Justice Peter D. Lauwers

Liberal Pluralism and the Challenge of Religious Diversity

The Runnymede Society is pleased to host Justice Peter D. Lauwers of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, who will deliver a lecture on "Liberal Pluralism and the Challenge of Religious Diversity" (abstract below). All members of the law school community are invited to attend this event.

Note: The topic of the lecture has been updated.

Food and refreshments will be provided.

Date: October 19, 2017
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: J130

Please RSVP to utoronto@runnymedesociety.ca.

The Honourable Peter D. Lauwers was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in July 2008 and elevated to the Court of Appeal in December 2012. Justice Lauwers presided over cases in all the areas of the Superior Court’s operations, including civil, criminal, family, and class actions. Prior to his appointment, Justice Lauwers was a partner at Miller Thomson LLP, where he practiced civil litigation, constitutional law, human rights law, and administrative law.

In our society, and in our liberal democratic polity, diverse ways of living and the diverse moral commitments they represent must be reasonably accommodated if there is to be peace, order and good government. Religious diversity presents a particular challenge. At the broadest level, the question is: to what extent can a liberal democracy like Canada accommodate moral diversity, with religion being perhaps the most difficult challenge?

Some seek to tame religion through some form of public secularism, which leads to the question, is there a right kind of secularism in a liberal democracy? Others seek to tame religion by privatizing it, which leads to more questions: where is the border between the public and private spheres to be located? And should there be limits on public religious expression in the public square? The debates hover around a core issue: on what must we agree to maintain a viable civil society?

The debates illuminate and provide the resources to analyze the legal doctrine of freedom of religion as it has been developed in the case law of the Supreme Court of Canada. I conclude by posing several difficult questions any court venturing into the arena of religious freedom will face: what is to be the framework for resolving conflicts between rights?

The Litigation Association

presents

The Do's and Don'ts of Advocacy

Featuring Justice Stephen E. Firestone, Justice Robert F. Goldstein, and Justice Fred L. Myers

Join us on Monday to hear first-hand from our distinguished panel about effective advocacy in litigation. Our esteemed panelists will include The Honourable Stephen E. Firestone of the Superior Court of Justice, The Honourable Robert F. Goldstein of the Superior Court of Justice, and The Honourable Fred L. Myers of the Superior Court of Justice. The panel will be moderated by Professor Katherine Vitale Lopez who teaches Legal Research & Writing at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Date: October 16, 2017
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location: J250 

Please RSVP to litigationassociation@gmail.com

The Honourable Stephen E. Firestone was appointed as a justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in April 2013. He is a past Director of the Advocates Society and a past President of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. He is the author of Halsbury’s Laws of Canada – Motor Vehicles (2015) published by LexisNexis Canada Inc. He has been a regular contributor and speaker at the Law Society of Upper Canada, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development, and Ontario Trial Lawyers Association on Tort and Statutory Accident Benefit issues. Justice Firestone received his LLB from the University of Windsor Law School in 1986.

The Honourable Robert F. Goldstein was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto in June 2012. Prior to his appointment, Justice Goldstein was a lawyer with the Department of Justice, practicing mainly criminal and quasi-criminal law. He was a serving officer in the Queen's York Rangers and, between August 2009 and December 2010, served in Afghanistan. Justice Goldstein has given numerous lectures and authored a number of legal papers. Justice Goldstein received his LLB from McGill University in 1988.

The Honourable Fred L. Myers was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in January 2014. Prior to his appointment, Justice Myers was a partner with Goodmans LLP and practiced mainly in the areas of insolvency law and general commercial litigation. He has been active in a number of professional organizations including the Advocates' Society, as President of the Toronto Lawyers’ Association in 2001, and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Insolvency Institute of Canada. Justice Myers received his LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and his LLM from Harvard Law School. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for the Rt. Hon. Bora Laskin as well as Chief Justice Brian Dickson, and the Hon. Justice G.E. Le Dain.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED

Come meet the OBA President, Quinn Ross on Monday, October 16 from 12:30pm-2pm in J230. He'll discuss the future of the profession, recent issues around articling, and the OBA's role. There will be a Q&A and of course, free lunch! 

Students get a FREE OBA & CBA membership: https://cbaapps.org/JoinOnline/Join/forma.aspx

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/

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

• This exercise is for students, staff and faculty of the U of T Law School only.

• Only register for one date, please!

• If you have questions, please contact Amanda Carling, Manager, Indigenous Initiatives: amanda.carling@utoronto.ca

Register Now: 

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/blanket-exercise-at-u-of-t-law-fall-2017-tickets-38399797829

A Plea for Moderate Optimisation: On the Structure of Constitutional Principles as Interpersonal Reasons

In this talk I will make a modest effort to overcome the dichotomy between a teleological and deontological understanding of constitutional rights, which I argue underpins the debate on the principle of proportionality in constitutional law. In an opening part I will introduce a standard account of constitutional principles as optimization requirements, which has come to be known as Theory of Principles [Prinzipientheorie], and then draw a distinction between a demanding and a moderate conception of optimisation. I will suggest that while the demanding conception is incompatible with the deontological character of rights, it is also one that does not find strong support in the standard account. Conversely the standard account lends support to a moderate conception of optimisation, which may be rendered compatible with the deontological character of constitutional rights. Whether it can be thus rendered, depends on the possibility of reconciling deontological with other impersonal (teleological) reasons, which I set out to explore in the third part of the talk. There I discuss the familiar distinction between agent-neutral and agent-relative reasons with an eye to demonstrating that no sharp separation can be maintained between these two conceptions of reasons, at least not in the Kantian framework within which the standard account of Theory of Principles operates.

In concluding, I will suggest out that a relaxation of the tension between agent-neutral and agent-relative reasons can contribute to a better understanding of the claim that legal principles aim at optimisation. A notable consequence is that proportionality control is better understood in terms of determination of abstract normative reasons (principles) than in terms of balancing between disparate or conflicting standards.

George Pavlakos
School of Law
University of Glasgow

Mon, Oct 23, 2017
04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Room 200, Larkin Building
15 Devonshire Place

Law and Governance in Britain is the sixth conference on this general theme to be held at Western University (in London, Ontario), and marks the tenth anniversary of the series. The theme of the conference is intentionally expansive; the speakers have been asked simply to talk about whatever aspect of their research interests them most at the time.

Over the course of two days we will hear from an international group of British historians who explore relationships between the state and its subjects. The range of topics is wide and their intersections complex and varied. The conference will open with a roundtable on the work and career of J.M. Beattie, a pioneering scholar in the field of criminal justice history. His work on policing, trial, and punishment has been truly ground breaking. Criminal justice features in a number of subsequent panels as well, but the history of the emotions is also represented and we conclude with a panel which considers governance much more broadly.

The conference will take place in the Moot Court Room of Western's Faculty of Law on October 20 and 21, and the atmosphere will be informal, with ample opportunity for discussion and conversation during breaks or over the conference lunch or Friday night dinner.

For further information and to register, visit http://history.uwo.ca/Conferences/law-and-governance/index.html

Professor John Borrows will be giving the F.E.L. Priestley Memorial Lectures in the History of Ideas in University College on October 16, 17 & 18, 4.30 p.m.

Faculty, staff, students and the public are cordially invited. No registration necessary. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, please see the attached flyer.

Join the LCO as we kick-off consultations for our Defamation in the Internet Age project.  This project considers how technology and “internet speech” challenge freedom of expression, defamation, jurisdiction, legal remedies, and access to justice. 

The LCO is launching project consultations with a public lecture and interactive panel featuring Dr. Daithí MacSíthigh (Professor of Law and Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast), and John D. Gregory (former General Counsel, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General).

This event will also be the public release of the LCO’s Defamation in the Internet Age consultation paper.

Here are the event details:

Monday, November 6, 2017
4:00 – 6:00 PM  

Donald Lamont Learning Centre, Law Society of Upper Canada
130 Queen Street West, Toronto  

The event will be held in English only.

For more information and to register visit www.lco-cdo.org/DIALecture

This is a free event with limited spaces: register today!

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies annually awards two scholarships for the LL.M. degree at the University of Cambridge, England. The Right Honourable Paul Martin Sr. Scholarships cover full tuition at the University of Cambridge, a monthly living allowance, and return airfare, subject to any other awards received by the successful candidate.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Candidates who have been awarded a law degree from a three or four-year program at a faculty of law in a Canadian university in the four years before the candidate will commence his or her studies at the University of Cambridge are eligible for these scholarships.

An applicant must be accepted into the University of Cambridge and a Cambridge College for the LL.M. in order to receive this Scholarship, although such acceptance need not be confirmed at the time of the application for the Scholarship nor at the time that the Institute provides the candidate with notice that he or she has been selected to receive the Scholarship.

For full details, please visit the Canadian Institute website: http://www.canadian-institute.com/english/index.html

paul_martin_scholarship_flier_-_english_2018-2019_-1.pdf