OSGOODE SOCIETY FOR CANADIAN LEGAL HISTORY

Students interested in Canada’s legal past should consider joining the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, this country’s leading organization for promoting our legal history. The Osgoode Society is not affiliated to any law school, but its members include law students as well as lawyers, judges, academics in law and history, and other interested parties. The President of the Osgoode Society is Mr Justice Robert Sharpe of the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the editor-in-chief is Professor Jim Phillips of the University of Toronto.

The Osgoode Society runs a number of programmes, principally its publishing programme which has produced 103 books since 1981. These books cover all areas of law – judicial biographies, court histories, criminal law, human rights law, women and the law, indigenous peoples and the law, case studies and more. For a full listing of all these books and our other activities visit www.osgoodesociety.ca.  

Membership comes with a copy of the annual members book, which this year is a biography of Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, the second woman, and first francophone woman, to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The biography is written by Constance Backhouse of the University of Ottawa, Canada’s pre-eminent historian of women and the law. Student membership is only $25!!! You can join on line using our website.

   The  David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights' 2017 Constitutional Roundtable Series

 ___________________________________presents_______________________________________

Richard Albert Professor, Boston College Law School

The Most Powerful Court in the World?
Constitutional Amendment after the Senate Reform and Supreme Court Act References

with Associate Professor Yasmin Dawood (Canada Research Chair in
Democracy, Constitutionalism & Electoral Law, University of Toronto) as discussant

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 12:30 – 2:00 Solarium, Falconer Hall
University of Toronto Faculty of Law, 78 Queen's Park

LIGHT LUNCH PROVIDED
__________________________________________________________________________________

Since its creation in 1875, the Supreme Court of Canada has acquired increasing importance in constitutional law and politics as a result of both constitutional design and the gradual accretion of authority that derives from reasoned judgments, legislative deference and public support. As the Constitution of Canada marks its sesquicentennial, the Supreme Court has acquired a new power that will make it the gatekeeper to constitutional reform in the years ahead: the power to rule whether a proposed constitutional amendment is constitutional. The recent Senate Reform and Supreme Court Act References reveal the blueprint for how the Court will exercise this extraordinary power under its reference jurisdiction in the future.
The source of the Court’s new power is the doctrine and theory of the Constitution’s “architecture”—the Court’s own innovation whose content and boundaries are determined by the Court alone, even where the proposed amendment may affect the Court itself. 

richard_albert_sept_27_poster_final.pdf

Law & Economics Workshop

presents
Cynthia Rudin
Duke University Computer Science

Transparency, causality, and bias: 
Can we really use machine learning for high stakes decisions?

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
4:10 – 5:45
Jackman Law Building, Rm. J225
78 Queen’s Park

Standard machine learning techniques are problematic when used for high-stakes decisions, such as those arising in criminal justice. One serious problem is lack of transparency in the models, which causes arguments over whether the models are racially biased. "Black box" models also cause problems when data are entered incorrectly, causing misleading predictions that are difficult to detect. The U.S. Justice System currently suffers from these issues, since proprietary risk prediction tools are used for decisions about parole, sentencing, and other applications. There have been cases in the U.S. where prisoners have been denied parole due to incorrect data entered about them. Besides lack of transparency, a separate problem with standard machine learning methods is that they are not usually designed for causal inference. People often tend to misinterpret models as causal when in fact they cannot be interpreted that way.  I will argue that these are not inherently problems with machine learning as a field, but instead, the problems stem from using the wrong machine learning techniques. In the first half of the talk, I will present machine learning techniques that create interpretable predictive models, and present applications to recidivism prediction in the U.S. In the second half of the talk I will discuss whether machine learning methods can be created to be appropriate for some specific causal inference settings.

Cynthia Rudin is an associate professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and statistics at Duke University, and directs the Prediction Analysis Lab. Her interests are in machine learning, data mining, applied statistics, and knowledge discovery (Big Data). Her application areas are in energy grid reliability, healthcare, and computational criminology. Previously, Prof. Rudin held positions at MIT, Columbia, and NYU. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University at Buffalo, and a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. She is the recipient of the 2013 and 2016 INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Awards, an NSF CAREER award, was named as one of the "Top 40 Under 40" by Poets and Quants in 2015, and was named by Businessinsider.com as one of the 12 most impressive professors at MIT in 2015. Work from her lab has won 10 best paper awards in the last 5 years. She is past chair of the INFORMS Data Mining Section, and is currently chair of the Statistical Learning and Data Science section of the American Statistical Association. She also serves on (or has served on) committees for DARPA, the National Institute of Justice, and the National Academy of Sciences (for both statistics and criminology/law). 

LEGAL THEORY WORKSHOP

presents

John Gardner
Oxford University Faculty of Law

Discrimination Revisited

Wednesday, September 27, 2017
4:30 - 6:00 PM
Room 219, Flavelle House
78 Queen's Park

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).

University of Toronto Faculty of Law

presents 

The Rule of Law and the National Security Regime in the United States and Canada 

Friday, October 6, 2017
12:30 – 3:30
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall, 84 Queen’s Park 

Presenters: 

Shirin Sinnar
Stanford Law School 

“Procedural Experimentation and National Security in the Courts” 

In the last fifteen years, individuals have brought hundreds of cases challenging US national security practices for violating human rights or civil liberties. In the relatively small number of cases where courts have permitted civil suits to proceed far enough to decide legal questions, influence policy, or afford litigants relief, they have experimented with new methods for managing the secret information that is often implicated in national security cases. Illuminating this procedural experimentation, this Article contends that courts can address secrecy in national security adjudication in a tailored, pragmatic fashion, rather than deferring to the executive at the threshold. But this account also shows the limits of such strategies: where misapplied, some procedures may fall short of due process, undermine norms of public access and transparency in the courts, reduce pluralism in the adjudication of disputes, or import bias into judicial decision-making. Together, this suggests that courts should adopt these procedures cautiously and with case-specific assessment of their costs and benefits. 

Professor Sinnar is Associate Professor of Law and John A. Wilson Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law School. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2012.  Her scholarship focuses on the role of institutions, including courts and executive branch agencies, in protecting individual rights and democratic values in the national security context.  Her articles have been published in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and other journals. 

Kent Roach
University of Toronto Faculty of Law 

“Intelligence to Evidence in Civil and Criminal Proceedings: 
Response to August Consultation Paper” 

This paper responds to the government’s proposals for redressing the “intelligence-to-evidence” (I2E) dilemma, discussed in its targeted consultation document distributed in August 2017. We discuss each of the government’s proposals. We preface that discussion, however, by emphasizing the need for operational reform.

Commentator:

David Dyzenhaus
University of Toronto Faculty of Law 

A light lunch will be served. 

RSVP by October 2 to n.gulezko@utoronto.ca

In recent months, President Trump has stepped up his anti-immigration campaign. The President declared his intention to end the DACA “Dreamers” program, which has until now kept hundreds of thousands of young people safe from deportation. The Supreme Court is set to review Trump’s “Muslim ban” in a matter of weeks, while the Trump administration makes it increasingly difficult for Muslims to enter the United States using tools other than the blanket Muslim ban. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested thousands of undocumented persons across America, breaking apart families and sparking nationwide demonstrations and lawsuits. Will courts defer to the President on these policies or challenge him? Will street protests and popular mobilization have any effect on either the Trump administration or the Courts?

To answer these crucial questions, the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with the Islam and Global Affairs Initiative and the Global Justice Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is pleased to host a dynamic discussion panel with leading experts on national and international security and the US courts system.

Join Shirin Sinnar, a John A. Wilson Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and other leading scholars as they dive into pressing issues on rights, liberty and democracy, immigration, national security, and the role of institutions and mass resistance.

More information and registration: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/event/23877/

The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and the Feminist Law Students Association at University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (FLSA) are pleased to invite you to join the panel discussion at LEAF Toronto’s official relaunch event, “Looking Back and Moving Forward: Equality and Gender Equity in 2017”, September 27, 2017 at the Jackman Law Building in room J125 which is accessible via elevators.

This event is a joint effort of the LEAF Toronto Branch and the FLSA to re-launch the local Toronto chapter of LEAF. We will be screening the film Constitute! which will be followed by a guided panel discussion. We hope to discuss issues such as women’s constitutional rights, ongoing struggles of gender equality in the current political climate, as well as looking forward.

The screening of the film will take place from 6:45p.m. to 7:20 p.m., therefore guided discussion will be between 7:20p.m. to 7:50 p.m., followed by approximately 20 minutes of Q&A session.

Refreshments will be served. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase.

All are welcome.

Hey funny people! Law Follies will be hosting a screening of last year's Law Follies in J250 on Monday, September 25. Snacks will be provided.

Law Follies is the annual law school comedy show. This year the show is on February 8, 2018. We feature skits, dances, parody songs, and videos. We are looking for writers, performers, and general funny people to be a part of our show. 

The Runnymede Society at the University of Toronto is hosting a pub night on Monday, September 25, featuring Justice Bradley Miller of the Ontario Court of Appeal! All students are invited to join us at the Duke of York from 5:30 pm onwards to learn about the club and upcoming events, as well as to hear from Justice Miller on recent legal developments and advice for young lawyers.

Those interested in attending are highly encouraged to read Bracken v. Fort Erie, 2017 ONCA 668, a recent Charter decision written by Justice Miller.

Date and time: September 25, 5:30-8:30 pm
Location: Duke of York, 39 Prince Arthur Ave
Please RSVP to utoronto@runnymedesociety.ca.

The Honourable Bradley W. Miller was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in January 2015 and elevated to the Court of Appeal in June 2015. Prior to his appointment, Justice Miller was a tenured professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario, working in the areas of constitutional theory, constitutional law and philosophy of law. He received his LL.M. in 1994 from the University of Edinburgh and a D.Phil. in Law from Oxford University in 2004.

Dear Students,

We have a great opportunity for current U of T students (as well as recent grads of up to two years) to learn more about the various occupations in the Law industry through our Job Shadowing Program. Note: This is a career exploration program and is not intended for job searching purposes.

These placements will take place for half a day to five days between October 30^th to November 10^th. Please see the list of available vacancies below:

• Family Lawyer, Himel Mediation Services
• Associate Lawyer, Blakeney Henneberry, Murphy & Galligan
• Lawyer, Fleet Street Law
• Criminal Law Lawyer, Philip Klumak Barristers & Solicitors

Should you be interested in participating, you are required to attend a mandatory orientation briefing prior to the placement dates. Available dates are listed in the CLN Events & Workshops Calendar as Career Exploration Orientation.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. For more details on the Extern Program, please visit cln.utoronto.ca.

Best,

Carol

Carol Lam

Coordinator, Career Exploration

University of Toronto Career Centre  |  214 College Street, Toronto, ON. M5T 2Z9

Tel: 416-978-7764 | careers.utoronto.ca or cln.utoronto.ca

The Ethics of the Individual

This discussion will revolve around the disjuncture between the ethical stance of the individual and the structures of late capitalism. What beliefs and stories do we tell ourselves about our own personal decisions and our responsibilities in the face of the challenges that our society faces as we move into an uncertain future?

Eva-Lynne Jagoe
Professor of Comparative Literature & Spanish and Portuguese
University of Toronto

Wed, Sep 27, 2017
12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

Medical, Legal and Ethical Definitions of Futility

What is medical futility? How do we define it? How does uncertainty about the meaning of what is futile direct us in the practical work of patient care? And how do we reconcile these questions with legal understandings of medical futility?

In this seminar, we will attempt to address these concerns through an exploration of both conceptual and practical issues of the ethics of medical futility.

Dr. Sunit Das
Division of Neurosurgery
University of Toronto

Thu, Oct 5, 2017
12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto
Rm 200, Larkin Building

Ethical Futures: Imagination and Governance in an Unequal World

A C4E Public Lecture by

Sheila Jasanoff
Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies
Director, Program on Science, Technology and Society
Harvard Kennedy School

Can we responsibly design a future that does not connect to its pasts?  Can we govern a future that we cannot imagine?  As technology becomes the most powerful instrument for shaping the human future, these questions have assumed greater importance for moral engagement and analysis.  Using examples such as nuclear risk, assisted reproduction, and agricultural biotechnology, I will show that choices of how to live with technology are shaped and constrained by prior, institutionalized visions of the public good.  New and emerging technologies, reflecting longstanding socioeconomic disparities among human societies, threaten to override such cross-cultural variations in moral imagination and associated norms of democratic self-governance.  How should global societies respond to that challenge?  Contemporary debates around gene editing, especially of the human germline, offer an opportunity for further reflection on this point.

co-sponsored by:

  

Fri, Sep 29, 2017
03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility
1 Devonshire Place

The Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) will be holding their annual conference from October 2-4, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Montreal Hotel. This year's conference is focusing on cultural and religious diversity in the administration of justice - 'The Charter Challenge Conundrum: The Clash of Rights and Values and the Canadian Cultural Mosaic'.

Full details about the conference and registration can be found on the CIAJ website: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/training-programs/2017-annual-conference/

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