Headnotes - Aug 31 2015

Announcements

Headnotes and Web Site

Deans' Offices

Dean's Welcome Back BBQ

Please join us for the Dean's Welcome Back BBQ on Sept 10th 4-6pm. The BBQ will be held on the grassy space behind Flavelle House. 

Academic Events

Copyright In Canada Conference 2015

Copyright In Canada Conference 2015
October 2, 2015
University of Toronto


The Centre for Innovation Law and Policy is excited to promote the Copyright in Canada Conference, presented by our colleagues, on October 2, 2015.  Please register now!
 

The University of Toronto Library’s Scholarly Communication and Copyright Office and the University of Toronto Bora Laskin Law Library are organizing a national conference on the state of the nation three years after the Copyright Pentalogy and the Copyright Modernization Act.  Aimed at academics, practitioners, and students, this conference hopes to examine the effects of the Pentalogy and the Act, as well as to serve as a forum for discussion on where we go from here.

 

Registration

Registration is now open for the Copyright in Canada Conference 2015 on October 2, 2015. Registration fees will be $100 CAD inclusive for general admission and $30 CAD inclusive for students. Read more.

 

Featured Speakers and Schedule

The schedule will feature speeches from the Honourable Ian Binnie, Ariel Katz, and Casey Chisick, as well as multiple panelists. The conference will be immediately followed by a cocktail reception at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Read more.

 

For more information, please visit http://www.copyrightincanada15.wordpress.com.

Aboriginal Law Speaking Event - Sari Graben

Aboriginal Law Speaking Event – Sari Graben: Current Issues in Aboriginal Title

Note: This event is required for students enrolled in the Workshop in Contemporary Issues in Aboriginal Law (LAW484Y1Y), but is also open to the public. Space is limited, and lunch will be served. RSVP to lisa.delcol@utoronto.ca required.

Topic Overview

Professor Graben will provide overview of the case law on Aboriginal Title (focusing on Tsilhqot'in) and question in what way we can analyze the increased liberalization of Indigenous property against the ability to control market liberalization. Scholars, who share a critical perspective on the jurisprudence, debate whether the characterization of Aboriginal rights in liberal terms is in and of itself harmful to Aboriginal societies, in that the theory and/or ideology underlying the liberal project is incompatible with Aboriginal theories of knowledge and social ordering. Taking the position that legal reforms that recognize the duality of Aboriginal rights as both proprietary and governmental are possible and that there is support in the theories of property that underpin both Aboriginal laws as well as the common law, the authors address what aspects of property Aboriginal Title must have to make aboriginal sovereignty work within a liberal framework and compare it to what has been developed in Tsilhqot'in and Aboriginal rights jurisprudence more generally.

Speaker Bio

Sari Graben is assistant professor, Law & Business, Ryerson University. Professor Graben’s primary theoretical interests are in the field of Indigenous law and development, with a special focus on regulatory institutions, emergent property systems and governance. Her research analyzes key challenges that arise from the regulation of Indigenous rights and engages with critical theories that deepen comparative frameworks used for pragmatic experimentation. Her published works on contemporary treaties address their legal interpretation as constitutional documents but also as frameworks that regulate resource use through co-management and property ownership. She publishes widely in the field and is currently co-editing a book (with Angela Cameron and Val Napoleon) entitled Indigenous Peoples and Real Property: Beyond Privatization. Professor Graben obtained her doctorate from Osgoode Hall Law School, held a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at University of California – Berkeley Law and held the Canada-US Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at the University of Washington (Seattle). Her teaching areas are business law, aboriginal law, natural resource law, and international law.

Katherine Baker Memorial Lecture

2015 Katherine Baker Memorial Lecture

 Professor David Armitage
Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Harvard University

"Civil War? What Does This Mean?": Mid-Nineteenth-Century Answers to a Nagging Question

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015
4:00pm to 6:00pm

Location TBD
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
 
Civil war is an essentially contested concept, and has been from its Roman invention in the 1st century BC to contemporary debates around events in Iraq and Syria. This lecture treats the confusions over the meaning and application of the term "civil war" in the era of the US Civil War (as it came to be called mostly after the conflict itself), with special reference to its legal redefinition in the Lieber Code (1863) amid contemporary discussions by Anna Ella Carroll, Victor Hugo, Abraham Lincoln, Karl Marx, Herman Melville and J. S. Mill, among others

David Armitage is the Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at Harvard University, where he teaches intellectual history and international history. He is also an Affiliated Professor in the Harvard Department of Government, an Affiliated Faculty Member at Harvard Law School and an Honorary Professor of History at the University of Sydney. A prize-winning teacher and writer, he has lectured on six continents and has held research fellowships and visiting positions in Britain, France, the United States and Australia. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, among them The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2000), The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (Harvard University Press, 2007), Foundations of Modern International Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and The History Manifesto (Cambridge University Press, 2014). His latest book, Civil War: A History in Ideas, will appear in 2016 from Alfred A. Knopf in the US and Penguin Random House in Canada.
The Centre for Innovation Law & Policy presents: Paul Hoffert

The Centre for Innovation Law & Policy presents: Paul Hoffert 

Automating Music Similarity Analysis: An Artist's View of Using Computer Software

 to Support Copyright Infringement Litigation 

Thursday, September 24, 2015

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Room FA3, Falconer Hall

84 Queen's Park 

 Lunch will be served. 

Please register, by sending an email to: centre.ilp@utoronto.ca.

 

The Centre for Innovation Law and Policy is pleased to present Paul Hoffert, Professor of Music, Law, and Information Science at University of Toronto and Chair of the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. Author, innovator, educator, composer and recording artist, Paul Hoffert will tell us about the promise and pitfalls of using computer technology to answer one of copyright law’s most difficult questions: when does one work infringe another? Are computers smart enough to draw the line between permissible similarity and infringement, or are the lines too blurred for a mere machine to evaluate?

For more information on the Centre for Innovation Law & Policy, go to http://innovationlaw.org/ . For more information on Paul Hoffert, go to http://www.paulhoffert.ca/ .

Innovation Law & Policy Workshop: Mario Biagioli

Innovation Law & Policy Workshop presents: Mario Biagioli, University of California, Davis, School of Law

Beyond Pastures:  Networked Commons v. Traditional Commons 

Thursday, September 17, 2015

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall

Lunch will be provided. To register, please send an email to: centre.ilp@utoronto.ca.

Abstract:  From software and science to collaborative forms of cultural production, the commons of the so-called knowledge economy are typically figured as networks, either material or virtual. No longer associated with groups of people sharing the same workspace, most of these collaborations are figured as changing grids, with interactions following a schedule so variable as to question traditional notions of collaboration. This is in stark contrast with the images of green village pastures or communal fisheries that are typically mobilized to exemplify these kinds of technological commons. More than just a problem of poorly fitting metaphors this indicates a tension within current conceptualizations of the commons -- a tendency to conceptualize it as resource rather than as forms of collaborative action. The mobilization of geographically-specific and community-managed pastoral figures of the commons indexes a conservative undercurrent within otherwise progressive intellectual property politics that, I argue, ends up romanticizing communities and their allegedly organic norms and forms of collaboration.  In doing so, it unwittingly reifies the logic of property (albeit in the form of communal property) rather than un-think it to make room for post-property concepts better able to capture collaborative knowledge making and knowledge access.

Student Activities

Business Law Society - Accepting 1L Applications to join our Executive Team

Business Law Society 1L Executive Recruitment

The Business Law Society is a student organization at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law with a mandate of facilitating professional and personal development, offering networking opportunities for students interested in business law, and providing practical and meaningful exposure to transactional legal work. Our goal is to work closely with firms and students over the 2015-2016 academic year to provide programming that fulfills this mandate in a targeted manner.

We are currently recruiting students entering their first year at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law to join our executive team. This is an amazing opportunity to learn about business law while building both your own network and those of your peers through personal interaction and exciting events with Toronto's premier business law firms. This role will require 1L students who have a keen interest in business law and who would enjoy organizing meaningful events for their peers throughout both terms of the school year.

Interested candidates are asked to submit a 250-word Statement of Interest and their Resume to blstoronto@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 18 at 5:00 PM. Successful applicants will be interviewed on either Monday, September 21 or Tuesday, September 22.

One of the 1L executive positions will be reserved for a Communications Director. We are looking for a candidate who is proficient at creating newsletters and managing electronic communication platforms such as Gmail and Facebook. Experience with these skills is considered an asset. In the body of your email submission, please indicate whether or not you are interested in the Communications Director position in addition to a more general 1L Executive position with the Business Law Society.

Any questions can be directed to blstoronto@gmail.com. We look forward to your applications!

Sincerely,

Michael Stenbring & David Styles

Co-Presidents, Business Law Society

Law School Clubs Fair

The Law School Clubs Fair will be held on Sept 16th 12:30-2pm in the Hart House Great Hall. Representatives from law school clubs and committees, public interest programs and law school journals will be in attendance to chat about how to become involved. 

Centres, Legal Clinics, and Special Programs

Upper Year Competitive Mooting - Info Session and Tryouts
If you are an upper year interested in competitive mooting, attend an information session hosted by the Moot Court Committee on September 10th from 12:30 pm - 2 pm in Northrup Frye 003. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about the competitive moot tryout process. We’ll also give you some information on each of the competitive moots that U of T will be participating in this year. 
 
The first round of tryouts will be held September 20th and 21st. The final round will be held September 22nd. 
 
If you have any questions, or require religious accommodation because of the tryout dates, please contact us at utlawmoot@gmail.com
 
 
PBSC 1L Info Session

PBSC will be hosting an info session on placement opportunities for 1L students on Wednesday September 9th at 12:30pm in Vic Chapel. Lunch will be provided. If you cannot make the session, more details on applying can be found at: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs-centres/programs/pbsc-pro-bono-students-canada/pbsc-programs-university-toronto

PBSC Upper Year Info Session

PBSC will be hosting an info session on placement opportunities for upper year and graduate degree students on Friday September 11th at 12:30pm in Vic Chapel. Lunch will be provided. If you cannot make the session, more details on applying can be found at: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs-centres/programs/pbsc-pro-bono-students-canada/pbsc-programs-university-toronto

IHRP/Asper Working Group Information Session

Location: EM001

September 17, 2015

Time: 12:30-2:00pm

IHRP Project Management Session

Location: VC304

Date: September 15, 2015 

Time: 5:00-9:00pm

Pro Bono Students Canada - Family Law Project

Pro Bono Students Canada’s Family Law Project

The Family Law Project is a unique clinical opportunity that provides unparalleled practical experience in family court assisting unrepresented litigants. Volunteers assist unrepresented litigants with legal drafting of their court documents and navigation of the court system. All students will be supervised by duty and advice counsel at a court in the GTA and will have the Family Law Project Manual and Family Law Project Handbook as a reference guide.

Our volunteers fill a real need in the system among those without legal representation. Volunteers gain hands-on drafting and client interviewing skills; a thorough understanding of the court system; practical experience with low-income and culturally diverse communities; and significant exposure concrete issues faced in family courts.

If you are interested in volunteering with FLP or would like more information about the program, please contact Callie Cochrane, U of T’s Family Law Project Coordinator at flp.toronto@probonostudents.ca or visit us at http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs-centres/programs/pbsc-pro-bono-students-canada/pbsc-family-law-project. There will also be a brief overview of the Family Law Project at PBSC’s Upper Year Information Session on Friday, September 11th at 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Vic Chapel.

Career Development Office and Employment Opportunities

CDO EVENT: Vancouver/Calgary Student Panel
Date:  Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location:  Northrop Frye Hall, Room 113

Please RSVP on www.utlawcareers.ca for this event.

This program is intended to assist students who have been invited to participate in the Vancouver/Calgary OCIs to prepare for those interviews. Students will be provided with information about:

• the event itself, including timing, process, what to expect and what to bring to the event; and
• how best to prepare for the interviews.

Students will also have the opportunity to hear from 3Ls about their experiences in the process, and to ask questions and get answers from those in the know.

For more details about this program, please contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca.

CDO EVENT: Toronto OCI Preparation Session and Upper Year Panel
Monday, September 21, 2015 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location:  Victoria College, Room 323

Please RSVP for this program under the "events" tab of www.ultawcareers.ca.

Students who went through the Toronto OCI recruitment process last year discuss their experience interviewing with firms and government employers and provide their own personal tips for those of you going through the process this year. Come on out with your questions.

For further details about this program, please contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca.

CDO EVENT: First Year Introduction
Thursday, September 24, 2015 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location:  Emmanuel College, Room 001

Please RSVP under the "events" tab on UTLawcareers.

This mandatory program is intended to provide first year law students with an opportunity to meet the CDO staff and be introduced to the services they provide, an overview of the legal recruitment landscape, a sense of the timing of first year recruitment processes and, importantly, reassurance that your career search needn’t start now.

For further information on this program, contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca.

CDO EVENT: Government Student Panel
Date:  Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 12:30pm to 2:00pm
Location:  Room TBD

Please RSVP under the "events" tab on UTLawcareers.

Come out to hear from Government Employers about their 2L summer interview processes. Students will learn about the various substantive interview models these offices use and the format and types of questions they can expect interviewing with a government employers.

For more information on this program, please contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca.

SLS/CDO EVENT: Upper Year OCI Interview Preparation Session
Date:  Friday, October 2, 2015 - 9:30am to 1:30pm
Location:  Room TBD

Please RSVP for this program under the "events" tab of www.utlawcareers.ca

Please join the SLS and CDO for an opportunity to test your interview skills and ask questions in mock interviews with upper year students who participated in last year's OCI event and are currently working with Toronto employers.

Students will be able to interview in a more informal setting and ask those questions which you may have been too intimidated to ask employers at the 20 Minute Miracle event in August. This will be a great opportunity to practice for the OCIs and November Interview Week .

All students are welcome, however at this time of year, 2Ls may find the session most useful.

Come dressed casually and bring a copy of your resume.

For more information, please contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca.

This Week on UTLawcareers

Please find attached a list of the 1L, 2L and 3L/4L employment opportunities which are currently available onwww.utlawcareers.ca.

For more information on these postings, please contact ann.vuletin@utoronto.ca

Bookstore

Bookstore

                   Hours for the week of September 7th, 2015

 The last day to return books this term will be Monday,  September 28th.

 

                                                                         Monday:                 CLOSED

Tuesday:       9:30 a.m.  -   3:30 p.m.

Wednesday:  9.30 a.m.  -   3:30 p.m.

Thursday:      9:30 a.m.  -   3:30 p.m.

Friday:           9:30 a.m.  -   1:30 p.m.

 

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

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

 

 

External Announcements

CIGI Public Lecture on Climate Change featuring Roger Cox, Lawyer for the Urgenda Foundation

 

CIGI invitation to Lecture by Dutch lawyer Roger Cox

Climate Change and Rule of Law: Could domestic public interest litigation contribute to enforcing international commitments?

The International Law Research Program (ILRP) at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is proud to present a special lecture featuring leading Dutch lawyer Roger Cox, on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 5:30 p.m. in Toronto, Ontario.

  • Event: “Climate Change and Rule of Law: Could domestic public interest litigation contribute to enforcing international commitments?” featuring Roger Cox and Canadian legal experts
  • Date: Tuesday, September 15, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
  • Location: Osgoode Hall Lamont Learning Centre, 130 Queen St. West, Toronto (east door facing City Hall – north of Queen)
  • RSVP: http://cox-cigi-ilrp-lecture.eventbrite.ca   

There is no charge for this event; however, an RSVP is required as space is limited.

Mr. Cox, lawyer for the Urgenda Foundation, designed and was the lead attorney for the suit by 900 Dutch citizens resulting in the Court of The Hague’s ground-breaking ruling in June 2015 that ordered the Netherlands to reduce the country’s carbon emissions 25% by 2020. Citizens in other European countries — party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — are commencing suits based on the Urgenda ruling.

Is this case relevant in the Canadian context?

 Join us to hear Mr. Cox, in his first North American appearance, and Canadian legal experts including Hon. Stephen Goudge, Q.C., formerly Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal, and Lorne Sossin, Dean and Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, discuss the possible role of Canadian judges in ordering governments to lower carbon emission and live up to international law commitments.

The ILRP at CIGI is a 10-year initiative, jointly funded by CIGI and Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The law program leverages academic, business and governmental perspectives to improve international law for better global governance. The program strengthens understanding of international law by connecting knowledge, policy and practice. The program focuses on international economic law, international intellectual property law and international environmental law.

For further information, please visit: https://www.cigionline.org/events/climate-change-and-rule-of-law-could-domestic-public-interest-litigation-contribute-enforcing.

Contacts at CIGI:

David Estrin, Certified Environmental Law Specialist and Senior Research Fellow, destrin@cigionline.org

Jill MacLean, ILRP Program Assistant, jmaclean@cigionline.org, 519.885.2444 ext. 7488

Media Inquires:  Kevin Dias, Communications Specialist, kdias@cigionline.org, 519.885.2444 ext. 7238

Weber Symposium - Donald Gordon Centre - October 30-31, 2015

Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada decided Weber v Ontario Hydro, one of the most influential and baffling decisions ever issued by the Supreme Court of Canada in the field of labour arbitration. Join the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace at a Symposium to examine the Weber legacy, evaluate its impact on labour arbitration, and discuss what lessons we can learn from the Weber experience about employment dispute resolution more generally.

Magna Carta Essay Competition

THE COUNCIL OF CANADIAN LAW DEANS and MAGNA CARTA CANADA

2015 LEGAL WRITING COMPETITION

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Council of Canadian Law Deans (CCLD) and Magna Carta Canada are pleased to mark the occasion of Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest coming to Canada by organizing a national writing competition for both common and civil law students.

ELIGIBILITY:

The competition is open to every student currently enrolled in a Canadian Law School.  The essay must be the original work of the student but may also be work or part of work previously submitted by the student within a law school course.  Co-authored essays are ineligible.  Each student may submit only one essay.  Submissions in French are encouraged.

CONTENT GUIDELINES:

The essay must address “the relevance of Magna Carta in Canada in 2015”.  The subject matter may be addressed from a number of perspectives including, the legal, historical, or societal effects of Magna Carta in Canada in 2015.

Submissions must be in Microsoft Word, double-spaced, in a twelve-point font, with one-inch margins; footnotes or endnotes must be single-spaced, and also in a twelve-point font with one-inch margins.  Citations may be embedded in the text or set out in the footnotes or endnotes.  The essay must not exceed 1,500 words exclusive of headers, footnotes, and endnotes.

ENTRY PROCEDURE

Electronically submit the essay with a cover page which includes: the essay title, student name, law school and email address.  If law students, ordinarily resident in the Provinces of either Newfoundland or P.E.I. wish to also be considered for a law society prize to be awarded by that provincial law society, they must indicate that fact on their cover page and provide their address in either Newfoundland or P.E.I.

ENTRIES MUST BE SENT TO magnacartacanadaessay@gmail.com  BY 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time ON FRIDAY October 2, 2015

JUDGING

The essays will be judged anonymously for the best essay from each province with a law school and for the best essay from a law student ordinarily resident in each of Newfoundland and P.E.I.  Each of these winners will then be eligible for the prize for the best essay in Canada. 

Each essay will be judged on its creativity and clarity, organization, quality of analysis and research, grammar and form.

PRIZES AWARDED

1) The student with the best essay from each province with a law school will be awarded a prize of $1,000.00 by the provincial law society. Notwithstanding that Newfoundland and P.E.I. do not have law schools in their province, the Newfoundland and P.E.I. law societies have agreed to recognize ($1000.00) the best essay from a student attending a law school within Canada, whose primary residence is in their province. Determination of primary residence will be at the sole discretion of the Newfoundland and P.E.I. law societies. 

2) All winning essays as identified above will be eligible for recognition ($1,000.00) as the best essay in Canada by Magna Carta Canada.

Note: By submitting an entry in this contest, the entrant affirms that the entry is his or her own work and grants the CCLD, Magna Carta Canada (and any relevant law society) permission to publish the entry.

The 2016 Grafstein Lecture in Communications: Lex Aetheria

 

The 2016 Grafstein Lecture in Communications

 

The Honourable Roger T. Hughes 

Federal Court of Canada

 

Lex Aetheria - Law of the Aether

  

Welcome to law school: Meet five of our newest students

Friday, September 11, 2015

Our newest law students hit the books last month in the Legal Methods Intensive course, and now are settling into their first semester at the Faculty of Law. We have 210 first years calling this place their academic home for the next three years, or more for the combined programs, and we’d like you to get to know a few. Like all our students, the first years come with amazing stories. Here are five profiles we'd like to share with you:

Law Alumni-Student Mentorship Program - Alumni Mentor Form

Thank you for your interest in mentoring a law student. Alumni support has made the law school mentorship program one of the largest at U of T.

Please help us to make the best match possible by filling out the form below. It should only take five minutes of your time.

Closing the new building envelope

Monday, August 17, 2015
Construction of the law building atrium site

Once finished, this dramatic new space above will be the Osler Atrium. Here it is, from the second level looking down at the atrium and out towards Queen's Park.

 

Summer is still blasting out its heat, and while closing up cottages and patios are still a distant thought, here at the construction site, the closing of the outer envelope has already begun.

Inside the building, interior framing and drywall are progressing. Eastern Construction program manager Dean Walker says many of the rooms are now framed, and prime painting has started. In addition, ceiling grid installation has commenced and will continue to flow through the Bora Laskin Law library.

"We are currently working to close the building envelope with roofing and installation of curtain wall frames, glazing and AVB (air vapour barrier)," adds Walker. "Exterior finishes are set to start with the installation of the stone cladding."

 

Courtyard law building construction

Here we have the building section looking northeast from the courtyard between the Bora Laskin Law library and the Jackman Law building.

 

Interior shot of drywalled painted law building during construction

JD student Riaz Sayani-Mulji writes "Hamilton police carding policies target vulnerable minorities" in Hamilton Spectator

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

In a commentary in the Hamilton Spectator, JD student Riaz Sayani-Mulji argues that Hamilton's police need to address the issue of carding and racial profiling ("Hamilton police carding policies target vulnerable minorities," August 10, 2015).

Read the full commentary on the Hamilton Spectator website, or below.


 

Student-Alumni Mentor Network - 3L Mentee Form

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Student-Alumni Mentor Network. 

Student-Alumni Mentor Network - 2L Mentee Form

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Student-Alumni Mentor Network. 

Law Alumni-Student Mentorship Program - 1L Mentee Form

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Law Alumni-Student Mentorship Program. Alumni support has made the law school mentorship program one of the largest at U of T.

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