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MOOT TIMES The Law Student’s Newspaper VOL I APRIL 2009 No. 8 APRIL 2010 VOL II No. 8 Faculty Sold to Husky Energy Multi-thousand dollar deal imminent It was reported that the University of Calgary Faculty of Law will be sold to Husky Energy Inc. in a bold move to maintain the operation of the cash-strapped law school. The faculty will con- tinue operating as a subsidiary of the energy corporation. Rumours of a sale began to circulate amid reports the faculty had fallen under harsh economic times. With rising tuitions costs and little hope that the school would be able to reach its quality targets, a sale seemed inevitable. In a Moot Times exclusive investigation Dean Al Lucas was spotted at 3:00 am on March 30 in the Arts Parkade meeting an unidentified man, believed to be a high-powered executive, from Husky. The executive was described as a short, stocky man sporting a white suit and string tie. See inset picture for an artist’s rendering. Lucas could not be reached for comment. His northwest estate has been inaccessible to media due to the steady flow of dump trucks leaving large piles of cash on his front lawn. Professor Jennifer Koshan quipped, “Well, the Charter clearly applies to the University (read my blog post on this), so I plan to bring a Charter challenge arguing a violation of the right of law students and professors to be free from corporatization and the imposition of neo-conservative values. I mean, market modifiers, Anne Coulter and now Husky Oil. What is this University coming to?” The Associate Dean, Iwan Saunders, fired back, “Is corpo- ratization even a word?” Saunders is over the moon at Husky’s involvement. “It’ll certainly make my life a lot easier now that Operation: String Tie has been deployed”, he said. “We’ll send all students on a compulsory study abroad to look for new oil and gas deposits. If they find some, they pass; if they don’t, they fail. Simple. And as for students who still want to bitch and complain,” he went on, “we’ll just box them up and dispatch them via cargo on WestJet to Husky’s latest find in Siberia.” The university administration insists that it will be “busi- ness as usual” until the sale is formally announced but insiders at Husky say that the sale will be an opportunity to “clean house” and eject the faculty members that are deemed “undesirable to our goals.” In a related statement Professor Shaun Fluker asked, “Does this mean I’ll get free gas?” Industry insiders further speculate that Husky will imple- ment a curriculum overhaul and introduce an “academic czar”. Many high-profile names have been thrown around but the leading candidate appears to be former Florida governor John Ellis “Jeb” Bush. His family’s rich history in the oil industry and proven track record in academia make “Jeb” perfect for the job. Part of the curriculum overhaul will involve a number of course changes to be implemented in September. Law 401: Legal Perspectives will be replaced by Law 412: Your Soul and the Oil Industry Law 598: International Environmental Law will be replaced by Law 599: Kyoto? Shmyoto! Law 531: Environmental Law will be replaced by Law 532: Duck Feather Cleansing Law 647: Unjust Enrichment will be replaced by Law 648: Just Enrichment New logo for the faculty discovered at the Husky headquarters in downtown Calgary. In This Legal Issue April Fools cover Murray Fraser Hall page 4 Opinon page 6 Profiles page 10 Grad Surveys page 112 Work/Life Balance page 18 What the Scott Hall !? back cover (Left) Dean Al Lucas fled from his office to a secret fire door when approached by the media. (Right) Artist’s rendering of the unnamed executive from Husky Energy Inc. who met with Lucas in a clandestine meeting on March 30.

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Page 1: Moot Times - April 2010

MOOT TIMESThe Law Student’s

Newspaper

VOL I APRIL 2009 No. 8APRIL 2010 VOL IINo. 8

Faculty Sold to Husky Energy Multi-thousand dollar deal imminent

It was reported that the University of Calgary Faculty of Law will be sold to Husky Energy Inc. in a bold move to maintain the operation of the cash-strapped law school. The faculty will con-tinue operating as a subsidiary of the energy corporation.

Rumours of a sale began to circulate amid reports the faculty had fallen under harsh economic times. With rising tuitions costs and little hope that the school would be able to reach its quality targets, a sale seemed inevitable.

In a Moot Times exclusive investigation Dean Al Lucas was spotted at 3:00 am on March 30 in the Arts Parkade meeting an unidentified man, believed to be a high-powered executive, from Husky. The executive was described as a short, stocky man sporting a white suit and string tie. See inset picture for an artist’s rendering.

Lucas could not be reached for comment. His northwest estate has been inaccessible to media due to the steady flow of dump trucks leaving large piles of cash on his front lawn.

Professor Jennifer Koshan quipped, “Well, the Charter clearly applies to the University (read my blog post on this), so I plan to bring a Charter challenge arguing a violation of the right of law students and professors to be free from corporatization and the imposition of neo-conservative values. I mean, market modifiers, Anne Coulter and now Husky Oil. What is this University coming to?”

The Associate Dean, Iwan Saunders, fired back, “Is corpo-ratization even a word?” Saunders is over the moon at Husky’s involvement. “It’ll certainly make my life a lot easier now that Operation: String Tie has been deployed”, he said. “We’ll send all students on a compulsory study abroad to look for new oil and gas deposits. If they find some, they pass; if they don’t, they fail.

Simple. And as for students who still want to bitch and complain,” he went on, “we’ll just box them up and dispatch them via cargo on WestJet to Husky’s latest find in Siberia.”

The university administration insists that it will be “busi-ness as usual” until the sale is formally announced but insiders at Husky say that the sale will be an opportunity to “clean house” and eject the faculty members that are deemed “undesirable to our goals.”

In a related statement Professor Shaun Fluker asked, “Does this mean I’ll get free gas?”

Industry insiders further speculate that Husky will imple-ment a curriculum overhaul and introduce an “academic czar”. Many high-profile names have been thrown around but the leading candidate appears to be former Florida governor John Ellis “Jeb” Bush. His family’s rich history in the oil industry and proven track record in academia make “Jeb” perfect for the job. Part of the curriculum overhaul will involve a number of course changes to be implemented in September.

Law 401: Legal Perspectives will be replaced by Law 412: Your Soul and the Oil Industry

Law 598: International Environmental Law will be replaced by Law 599: Kyoto? Shmyoto!

Law 531: Environmental Law will be replaced by Law 532: Duck Feather Cleansing

Law 647: Unjust Enrichment will be replaced by Law 648: Just Enrichment

New logo for the faculty discovered at the Husky headquarters in downtown Calgary.

In This Legal Issue April Fools coverMurray Fraser Hall page 4 Opinon page 6Profiles page 10 Grad Surveys page 112Work/Life Balance page 18What the Scott Hall !? back cover

(Left) Dean Al Lucas fled from his office to a secret fire door when approached by the media. (Right) Artist’s rendering of the unnamed executive from Husky Energy Inc. who met with Lucas in a clandestine meeting on March 30.

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Pat Dowler: More than Just a ManLike Tim Robbins in the first few scenes of Shawshank, when you first see him, you wouldn’t think much to look at him. But every few

years, there comes a student that quietly changes the very face of the legal scene. I would like to go on the record and predict that Patrick Finnegan Dowler will be this person.

Bold prediction? Perhaps. But, like Canucks heartthrob and future hall of famer Ryan Kesler, sometimes you have to look past mere skills and look at something more important—that is, heart. It is a unique characteristic that compels a select few to search for more than mere short term success and achieve greatness. I have had the pleasure of working alongside P Diddy these past two years and it has become abundantly clear that Dizzle (as he likes to be called) has heart in spades.

“Working with Dizzle this past summer, I realized that he’s not like the rest of us. He isn’t a law student . He simply is the law” says fellow SLA summer student Miriam Gibbs.

To the uninformed these claims may seem exaggerated - material more suited for some drawn out April Fool’s prank. But like a David Blaine audience member, sometimes only see-ing can lead to true believing.

Childhood friend Rob Wilson noted, “to be honest, he got picked on a lot as a kid. But when he got to law school he really hit his stride. One day we will all work for him or die by his hand.”

Pat declined comment- a testament to both his modesty and his inability to interact with lessers.

So as we head into exams, I leave you with this: Find the Pat Dowler within. * Pat Dowler is not special in any way and should be treated as such.

East Coasters Barred from Graduation 2010 BY 3Ler

The faculty announced late last night that they would be changing the graduation policies for the class of 2010. The intention of the policy is to deny graduation to students from Newfoundland, but the poor drafting of the policy will capture three other students from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia as well.

In an about-face move, the faculty defaulted on its commitment to increase regional representa-tion given that Alberta is nearing have-not provincial status and New-foundland is looking more like a have province.

An excerpt from the policy reads as follows: “Whereas we are the faculty of law; whereas we have the authority to change faculty policy in emergency situations; we deny graduation to those students origi-nating from the Atlantic provinces and, in particular, those Newfies.”

No member of the faculty could be reached for commentary. However, it is clear that four students in particular will be affected: Erin Farrell of Newfoundland, Matt MacPherson of P.E.I., Matt Lofgren and Jamie Taylor of Nova Scotia.

“ I am absolutely devastated and beside myself,” MacPherson said. “I truly believed in the power of the New West and this episode has shattered all my dreams.” But everyone was not so heartbroken.

“ I see this as the perfect opportunity to open up my own studio and provide yoga to all my stressed out classmates. That is my true dream,” Taylor admitted.

Ilan Tshekman, self-appointed advocate of student causes, assessed The Regulations of the Faculty of Law and pointed to s. 4 (d) (vii) which states, “(a) student who successfully completes the third-year programme is

thereby entitled to graduate.“ All four students confirmed that they are on track to pass all of their courses and they are enthusiastically working through the graduation requirement, Advanced Legal Research.

Meanwhile, Bergis Mostaghim, former SLS president, is unsure whether or not the faculty is subject to the Charter’s application, so she is looking at filing a human rights complaint. The thrust of the argument will be that the students have been discriminated on the grounds of regional origin. In particular, Mostaghim takes issue with the effect of the word “Newfie” on the student’s human dignity.

The third avenue for redress will be procedural fairness, led by Beamer Comfort who has plenty of expe-rience battling the City of Calgary through ultimate fighting. Although it could not be confirmed, unidentified sources suggested that Craig Alcock was willing to bring in reinforcements if necessary.

With all this support from fellow classmates, the students are hoping that they will get the J.D. they deserve. Still, Matt MacPherson could not erase the forlorn look on his face yesterday evening, when editors found him looking at the graduating

class photo of his birth year, 1985. A cheesy photo that could have been on the walls. A dream that could have been painted in Calgary.

Matt MacPherson heartbroken

Erin Farrell still unaware of the news or that she has returned from exchange.

“Morally reprehensible,” is what T.J. Butler, the Pro Bono Students Canada U of C Program Coordinator, thinks about the sale. “Say goodbye to any morally relevant course offerings and diversity of interests in the incoming student body. And forget public interest law, I bet they’ll see it fit to turn the Pro Bono office into some oil and gas propaganda facility.”

Not all students see doom and gloom for the faculty. Vince Light proclaimed, “I’ve been lobbying for privatized law schools for years and it’s about time those damned Birkenstock-wearing hippies are put in their place. At last the oil industry will have a dedicated voice to fight the tyranny of environmental activists who have sought to silence them.”

Headquartered in Calgary, Husky Energy Inc. is one of Canada’s largest integrated energy and energy-related companies, with segments operating from Western Canada, to offshore Canada’s East Coast, the United States, China, Indonesia and Greenland. Husky shares fell $7.56 to $19.84 in morning TSX trading in the wake of the rumour.

Page 4: Moot Times - April 2010

Students go after the Clerking Option by Orlagh O’Kelly

An increasing number of Calgary law students are going after the prestige and the experience of clerking with judges across the country.

“It is important to have the recognition that what you are doing is an incredible privilege,” commented Claire Marchant, who will be clerking under Chief Justice Whittmann at the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, where Kristy Williams will join her.

During the articling period of 2010-2011, six students will assume such privileges with the Queen’s Bench, the Alberta Court of Ap-peal in Calgary and the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa- a notable representation considering the faculty’s small class size.

For the articling period of 2011-2012, Brynne Harding was worried that she had jeopardized the opportunity to represent Calgary at the Supreme Court of Canada. Upset by her interview performance and her rusty French, she was only reassured by Justice Abella’s encouraging and empathetic demeanor. But her efforts were rewarded. Harding, among others, was added to the list of clerkships last month when she was awarded the honour of clerking with Justice Rothstein, one of five Supreme Court judges she interviewed with.

“I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go to law school, but, I knew, if I went, I wanted to clerk,” Harding said. The sticking point for Harding was her particular interest in the role of being a judge and the fact that they have the responsibility of making the right deci-sions.

“I have an inherent interest in the role of a judge, perhaps more so than my inherent interest in the law,” the second year student admitted.

Rob Moyse who will clerk at the Federal Court of Appeal, had much the same to say about the prospective experience.“To see that process from the judge’s perspective- you will never have that opportunity in your career,” he said, adding quietly,

“not until you are a judge.”For Moyse, there was the added interest in a substantive area of law- intellectual property- that drew him to the federal level,

whereas Christy Elliott and Vhari Storwick, were drawn to the province’s appellate court for their own reasons.“Considering that we live in a common law jurisdiction, how case law is developed from a first person perspective is really invalu-

able,” Storwick commented.To be sure, all of these students recognize the value of working with judges at any level. Yet, even though the faculty has put a lot

of work into informing students about the possibility of clerking, Harding noted that, “a lot of students who would not have trouble obtaining a clerkship, do not apply.”

As such, the students were enthusiastic to share some of their sage advice on how they acquired the positions, beyond completing the basics of any clerkship application, namely reference letters, a writing sample, and stellar grades.

“In your written application, make it very clear that you are excited about clerking, that it is your first choice and be sure to high-

We are measured by the company We keep

Calgary Toronto Moscow Almaty Caracas Rio de Janeiro www.mdstudents.ca

MD_UofC_MootTimesAd.indd 1 12/23/09 2:01:11 PM

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light your writing skills,” Storwick advised.For the interview itself, Moyse suggested that it is important

to know about that particular judge and to engage in some of their decisions. Harding, similarly, noted that with Supreme Court in-terviews, it is especially important to know your judges and your case law because the interview is so involved. Most importantly, Harding emphasized the need to think very deeply about where you stand in order to answer the inevitable question - “why do you want clerk?”

“The more sincere and thoughtful your answer is, the more successful you will be,” Harding said.

What are these students looking forward to next? Per-haps, as Storwick admitted, it’s the simple privilege of “read-ing judgments before they are released.”

The Law Show!!! By Emma Neary (1L)

All year I have been hearing about the Law Show and how it is supposed to be one of the highlights of law school. I, along with many other first years, have been berated by the upper years to get involved, as the first year participation has been poor in the past. The event has since come and gone and, my opinion – the first years not only brought it, they owned the night.

The Law Show took place on March 19th, at Quincy’s on 7th and far exceeded my expectations. This was in large part due to involvement of Jon Ng and Geoff Marinangeli in numerous acts throughout the evening. They were the brains behind the renowned “Secrets” videos, the “Thank You Letters” skit, and the three “Law Student” parodies featuring Elizabeth Kinhnicki. All the acts had the audience in stitches. Videos of some of the performances can be found on facebook. The fact that I found the videos just as funny the next day speaks volumes to the quality of the humor.

The show also included a variety of musical talent. The Law Band, featuring Jessy Inkpen, Stephanie Sfikas, Simon McCleary, Vincent Light, Dorab Colah and Micheal Bagan performed both before the show and after intermission. While I can’t remember what they played, I do remember being thoroughly impressed by their musical abilities. The musical talent didn’t stop there, as we were also treated to performances by Ryu Okayama on guitar, and a stellar rendition of “Piano Man” by Vincent Light to close down the evening.

Musical videos were popular additions. The Rugby Girls made a rendition of the “We love the World” video from the Discovery channel and Kane Richards and Andrew Kowalchuk’s “Just Another Day…” a video about CANS was a definite hit. Other contributions included Aly Shaffer’s monologue about running for SLS president, a performance by the Mooters, Nabeel Peermohamed’s tribute to Michael Jackson, and Professor Fluker’s skits “One Minute Inside The Head of a Professor.” The MC’s Aghi Balachandran and Nolan Shouldice did an admirable job of filing the gaps with their banter and a promotional video for Steven Schott. There was also a silent auction featuring a painting by Carmen Gustafson.

The night did not disappoint and the reputation of the Law Show as being one of the highlights of the year will undoubtedly live on. We can only hope that Jon and Geoff didn’t spend too much time on their skits, as it would be a shame for them to flunk out. We’ll be expecting great things from them again next year, and I’m not sure what the rules are regarding PNAILS - Partici-pants Not Actually In Law School.

Moot Notebook by Orlagh O’Kelly

Despite a smaller venue, the SLS law show went off with bril-liant success on March 19, 2010. The students demonstrated that videos are out and live shows are the new cool. Jon Ng (1L) and Elizabeth Kinhnicki (1L) stole the show with their intermittent parodies of obnoxious law students, which took them from the mezzanine level to Safeway. Ryu Okayama (2L) wowed everyone with his musical talent. Professor Fluker demonstrated his funny side even doing one of his “in the mind of Professor Fluker” skits with an XYZ. Thanks to those faculty members who attended in-cluding Dean Lucas, Associate Dean Saunders, Professor Rafferty, and Professor Koshan.

The campus took off this week with heavy weight females coming on campus, including Historian and Governor General’s award winner, Margaret MacMillan, and- to many students’ dis-may- Ann Coulter. Most exciting, a small group of law students were fortunate enough to have an intimate Q and A session with acclaimed journalist, Sally Armstrong, author of Bitter Roots Ten-der Shoots on the plight of women in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, most students are gearing up for exams and summer fun. The graduating students are riding out the last few weeks and happy to know that, at the graduation banquet, Andrea Urquhart (3L) will give a toast, Gavin Carscallen (3L) will give a speech, and Kane Richards(3L) and Erin Farrell(3L) will be the evening’s emcees.

As an aside, the Moot Times Editors and Founders, Vhari Storwick (3L), Esther Kim (3L), Fiana Bakshan (3L) and myself would like to say thank you to everyone (students, faculty, staff, legal communi-ty) for making this project come to life! Best wishes for the future! Long live Moot Times.

If you are interested in carrying on the Moot Times legacy, please contact: [email protected]

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Law Show Photos by Amanda Winters

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A Place to Call Home [Unless You’re Palestinian]: Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict By John Baharustani, 2L

Having finally watched Avatar, I was amazed at how well the movie was made. Like many others, I was outraged by how the Na’vi were treated by the humans who colonized and occupied their land for self-ish purposes. On discussing the movie, I asked my lovely date how she would feel if something similar was actually happening a lot closer to home.

Like Avatar’s producers, in A Place to Call Home: Inside the Israel and Palestinian Conflict, Kathryn Mitrow paints a beautiful picture – of Israel. While some of what she writes is true, the article omits informa-tion which shows that the reality of the situation is not as pretty as she tries to make it appear.

A Place claims “Israel brings the West into the Middle East.” This is called colonialism, and is generally neither socially nor politically ac-ceptable. Previous experiments have ended disastrously: Congo, Sudan, South Africa and Vietnam are just a few of the more obvious examples of the death and destruction colonialism brings when one country is used by foreign occupants for selfish purposes. The only successful attempts at colonialism – Canada, Australia and the US – succeeded by largely deci-mating native populations. Most Israeli Jews have ancestry in Europe (Ashkenazi; some Israeli Jews are ethnic Ethiopians, evidence that Israel is a country based on religion, not ethnicity).

Under the Israeli Law of Return, a European with a Jewish grand-parent has more of a claim to Palestine than Arab Palestinians who have lived there for thousands of years. I have Palestinian friends who still have the title to houses they were forced out of in 1948 who are not al-lowed back in the country, let alone the houses they legally own.

A Place cites the infamous “security barrier” or “fence”. The Berlin Wall was also mostly a fence, but whether the structure is a wall or fence is irrelevant. What matters is not that Israel built it, but that it is mostly built on Palestinian land. This was recognized by an International Court of Justice advisory opinion in 2004 that ruled the barrier unequivocally illegal under international law.

Moreover, A Place claims the conflict is “complex”, which is why it hasn’t been resolved yet. But the framework for a peaceful solution has existed for decades. Every year the UN General Assembly votes on a diplomatic settlement of the conflict. The resolution, “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine,” calls for a two-state settlement based on the June 1967 border and a just resolution of the refugee question based on the right of return and compensation. Like every other year, the vote in 2009 was 164 nations in favour, 7 against (of which one was Israel, and four were the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, and Palau). It’s Israel that constantly undermines the peace process.

Israel’s de facto land theft (settlements) in Jerusalem and the West Bank renders a viable Palestinian state impossible. Was it not enough for 8% of the population to have 55% of mandate Palestine as originally envisioned by the UN in 1948? Palestinians are slandered by mainstream media as religious fundamentalists, but they’re not the ones who believe the “land is given to us by God.” The hundreds of Israeli settlements, which Mitrow in A Place seems to think are a good thing, have effec-tively obliterated the peace process. Israel seems to want it all; as Mitrow was told, “it belongs to us, it is ours.” In reality, the settlements are universally considered (even by the US) to be illegal under international law, especially since they were taken in war.

Finally, A Place cites terrorism as the fuel that makes this conflict so volatile. On this point I am in absolute agreement. Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. However, by calling a spade a spade, you can’t just reveal the Jack and act like the King doesn’t exist. Palestinian militias do not have a monopoly on terrorism.

Googling “Deir Yassin”, “Stern Gang”, “Haganah” and “Irgun” clarify the Jewish origins of Israeli-Palestinian terrorism, decades before Palestinians used violence to fight back. “Baruch Goldstein” is a more contemporary example of a suicide massacre on a mosque where a Jew-ish terrorist killed and injured almost 200 praying Palestinians. Watch Waltz with Bashir, the poignant Israeli animated documentary which vividly illustrates Israel’s reprehensible complicity in the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in 1982. The UN

General Assembly subsequently declared it an act of genocide by a vote of 123-0. Israel didn’t even try to vote against the resolution. Instead it abstained, even though it was an instigator, facilitator and eyewitness of the atrocity.

The 08-09 Gaza Massacre (it’s not a war if the other side can’t fight back, and tin rockets don’t count – they’re like bringing toothpicks to a gunfight) is a recent example of the fact that Israel commits acts of terror-ism on a grand scale. A suicide bomber is a terrible thing, but it’s media shysters who make this a more horrible specter than the fleets of $30 million F-16 bombers using sophisticated targeting systems to purposely drop tons of explosives and white phosphorous on schools, hospitals, po-lice stations, and UN aid buildings in the Gaza Strip, against an unarmed and starving population denied sustenance by Israeli blockades barring the necessities of life. Amnesty International reported that the Israeli attacks occurred when Palestinian children were leaving school. 1,400 Palestinians were killed, the overwhelming majority of which were civil-ian. Thirteen Israelis died, almost all soldiers (four from friendly fire), causing Israeli professor Avi Shlaim to call the logic of the offensive an “eye for an eyelash”. This might be why Israel ignored its own Supreme Court ruling to allow media into Gaza during the attack.

But don’t take my word for it. One of the most respected jurists in the world, Judge Richard Goldstone, acting for a UN fact-finding human rights commission, wrote a report suggesting Israel committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity (in deliberately targeting civilians) during the Gaza Massacre. Goldstone knows a thing or two about war crimes: as the UN International Criminal Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor, he successfully prosecuted ones that occurred in Bosnia and Rwanda.

A key fact not easily found in the mainstream narrative is that Israel instigated the Gaza Massacre during a cease-fire, the terms of which Hamas honored and Israel broke by killing six members of Hamas and completely sealing Gaza’s border preventing everything (including food and medicine) from entering or leaving. A blockade is a well known act of war. In other words, Israel provoked Hamas by strangling Gaza, a ruse for starting an operation planned months in advance while main-taining plausible deniability for the gullible. But of course it’s Hamas that is the terrorist group, that, unlike Israel, doesn’t have the right to defend itself, according to North American media and politicians who are as well known for their tendency to lie as their devotion to nefarious Israeli lobby groups like the ADL, CJC, B’nai B’rith and AIPAC.

I could go on and on: home demolitions and forced evictions on Pal-estinian land, humiliating checkpoints, settlers with lush lawns and pools while Palestinians wait hours or days for drinking water, and roads that only Jews are allowed to use are but a few examples of what is rapidly becoming an apartheid state.

Mischaracterizing one of the most important and far-reaching con-flicts of the 20th and 21st centuries by making the aggressor appear to be the victim, and the victim to be the aggressor, is a travesty fostered by a deliberate and carefully crafted campaign of misinformation. There are plenty of places to find good information on this subject – the main-stream media, corrupt politicians and uninformed opinion are not good places to start.

This article represents an opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of Moot Times.

In Defence of Freedom of Speech By: Kathryn Marshall

As a pluralist society, new issues are constantly emerging for debate in Canada.

Interestingly, it is an issue that has been around since before con-federation that has erupted as the latest hot topic for debate in Canada: freedom of speech. The recent visit to Canadian campuses, including the University of Calgary, by American media pundit Ann Coulter and the controversial human rights cases against authors like Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant have pushed freedom of speech to the forefront of debate.

There seems to be two main competing viewpoints at the centre of this debate.

The first viewpoint is that speech, in particular political speech, should be absolutely free because any limitation on it would limit an in-

Page 7: Moot Times - April 2010

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Page 8: Moot Times - April 2010

8

God Save McQueen: Thoughts on the Loss of Fashion’s Enfant Ter-rible By Anjli Patel, 2L

I wasn’t awoken by my alarm clock on the morning of Thursday, February 11, but rather by a text message. I reached for my cell phone, flipped it open, and what I read jolted me awake: “McQueen found dead in his apartment.”

My first rather bleak thought was, ‘I bet he overdosed; Marc and Donatella, take note.’ The sad reality is that drug use is rampant in the creative worlds of music, fashion and movies. For every addiction splashed across the cover of a tabloid and dissected in the blogosphere –

from Marc Jacobs to Donatella Versace – many others fly under the radar. I thought perhaps McQueen had succumbed in private.

But an overdose wasn’t the cause of his death. Sadly, McQueen had been overwhelmed by the recent death of his mother, Joyce, and hanged himself on the eve of her funeral. Compared to the older designers Gianfranco Ferré and Yves Saint Laurent who died in 2007 and 2008 from illness, McQueen’s death was as sudden and shocking as Gianni Ver-sace’s death in 1997, when he was gunned down by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Both Versace and McQueen were young and at the height of their careers.

Eerie foreshadowing: Scarves from Alexander McQueen’s fall 2009 collection.

Needless to say, I couldn’t concentrate on anything that day, and I’m still constantly reminded of him through unintentional tributes: Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on my YouTube playlist; the cover of Holts Magazine featuring a model wearing McQueen’s black and white houndstooth bustled jacket, flounced skirt and knee high boots from his fall 2009 runway show. The latest issue of L’Officiel Paris pays homage to McQueen through approximately 1000 photographs over 153 pages, documenting all of his runway shows, including his work as Creative Director of Givenchy ready-to-wear and couture from 1996 to 2001.

Of all the news that I have read on McQueen’s death, one particular sound bite has stuck with me. When asked about McQueen’s death, Stefano Tonchi, newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of W Magazine, com-mented on the increasingly intense pressure faced by designers, “the pressure on creators of topping what they have done before. But not once a year: Every three months, every six months you have to be better than what you have been.”

Continued Tonchi, “When McQueen began in fashion, designers worked on two or three collections a year. Now you have to be a busi-ness manager, a marketer. It’s, what? Eight, ten, fifteen collections a year. Men’s, women’s, couture, diffusion. Then they want accessories. Then they want watches. Then they want jewelry.” “Basically he is the first victim of what is a conflict between creativity and business.”

In other words, Tonchi is suggesting that the commoditization of fashion killed McQueen, which I think is only partially true. Many a fashion empire has been built before McQueen’s without the conquering designer perishing at the expense of expansion. Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at Chanel in 1983 and over the past 27 years has built the house into the force it is today. Similarly, Valentino founded his label in 1959 and was at its helm for just shy of half a century.

But this justification isn’t entirely comforting. Even though I’m always scrolling fashion show images on Style.com, I never stopped to think about the sheer number of clothes, bags, shoes and accessories that are designed in a calendar year under one label. That’s a lot of ideas for one person to generate. Most of the time I can barely muster an idea for a paper topic, let alone fifteen collections worth of ideas. Sure, McQueen had a team of designers helping him with all of his collections – most head honchos do have hired help – but at the end of the day, as Creative Director, he was running the show.

And that ‘show’ didn’t become profitable until early 2008, nearly a decade after the house’s inception and its 51 per cent acquisition by Gu-cci Group. Granted, a decade is nothing compared to the financial woes that Christian Lacroix experienced. In the 22 years that his fashion house was in existence, it never once turned a profit, and was shuttered at the end of last year after declaring bankruptcy. Nevertheless, Lacroix’s fate serves as a reminder to new designers and young fashion houses that without profitability, there can be no creativity.

McQueen’s creativity notably carried over from the clothes he de-signed to the runway shows he presented, becoming his signature. The fashion industry attended his shows expecting drama and theatrics, and when he didn’t deliver in that respect he was often panned, regardless of the strength of the actual clothing.

One early collection entitled “It’s Only a Game” was presented as a game of chess, with the models acting as chess pieces, taking their places on a giant chess board. Another collection, “The Widows of Culloden,” revisited his “Highland Rape” graduation collection, and ended with a life size, ethereal hologram of Kate Moss in a billowing dress projected above the audience, a show of loyalty to Moss who had been blacklisted by the fashion industry after her cocaine scandal. Finally, his fall 2008 collection, “The Girl Who Lived in the Tree,” told a rags-to-riches tale of a downtrodden girl who, upon finding her Prince Charming, left her tree and was transported to a world of finery inspired by the British Raj,

dividual’s ability to freely participate in democracy and share ideas with society. The second viewpoint is that reasonable limits should be placed on speech because government has a duty to protect society from hatred and violence and the incitement of both.

The second viewpoint is the one that has been more popular in Ca-nadian jurisprudence in the last few decades. Hate speech is an offence listed in the Criminal Code and restrictions to freedom of expression and speech have been recognized by the courts. The creation of national and provincial human rights commissions have become the main govern-ment authority for dealing with hate speech complaints and the number of complaints they deal with grows each year.

Both viewpoints are highly debated, but the questions remains: is free speech truly possible if the government restrains it? And do these restraints create a chilly climate for speech in Canada?

My view is that restrictions imposed on speech are by their very nature arbitrary and based on political lines, which creates a self-cen-soring society in which people limit their political speech. Today, the government limits speech with a goal of protecting minority groups from discrimination, stereotyping and exposure to hatred and violence. While during the Cold War, across the English speaking world, governments sought to limit political speech and expression with the goal of prevent-ing the spread of communism on their own soil.

While today’s goal of limiting speech to protect groups from hate is no doubt a reasonable goal, the latter goal of limiting freedom of political speech to protect against communism was also seen as reasonable at the time. The point of this comparison is to demonstrate that a definition of what is a reasonable limitation on speech can be political and arbitrary, and ultimately have unclear boundaries.

Prior to and during the Cold War, it was reasonable to take action against certain identifiable political groups and ideologies that imposed a threat to overthrow the government; specifically communism was targeted.

However, the result during this period of time was that unpopular political viewpoints were effectively banned in Western democracies. Legitimate political discourse was disrupted by the government’s restric-tions on free speech in an attempt to protect the state from political ide-ologies commonly seen as a threat to democracy. At the time, the general consensus was that these restrictions were reasonable and necessary to protect the greater good.

Today, these restrictions might not seem so reasonable. The reality is that no matter how reasonable restrictions on free

speech may seem, they are by nature informed by the politics of the day and can lead to oppressing valid opinions.

Therefore perhaps the most objective authority on what the bound-aries of legitimate speech should be is not the government, but society.

Democratic societies are a market place of ideas, and ultimately the reason why Canada did not see a spread of communism is not because the ideology was banned by government, it is because it was rejected in the marketplace of ideas.

No matter how odious some of speech and ideas may be, by intro-ducing these ideas into society they become fair game for debate, suscep-tible to criticism and retort, and ultimately sent to the reject pile.

Of course there will always be people who may subscribe to odious ideas or espouse hateful speech, but I trust the Canadian public and not the politics of the day to decide for themselves what opinions and ideas are valid.

Page 9: Moot Times - April 2010

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Page 10: Moot Times - April 2010

Name: Douglas James Mac ConHometown: Richmond Hill, Ontario

Undergrad Studies: Honors Bachelor of Political Science

Graduate Studies: Master of International Relations

Pre-law school employment/volunteer experience: English Teacher in Osaka, Japan & Operations Manager in Perth, Australia. I volunteered my time ‘teaching’ English to gei-sha’s in Kyoto and swimming with manta rays in the Indian Ocean.

Exam Rituals? I hate exam time – I try to limit stress by start-ing early. I also go around spreading REALLY bad CANs to other students.

What do you do to keep sane? I would like to say eat right and exercise but that would be dishonest. Mostly movies and Scotch. But mostly Scotch.

If you could be any place right now, where would you be? Somewhere hot, on a beach, wearing a banana hammock.

What’s the scariest thing you have ever done? Leaving Aus-tralia to come to law school in Calgary, Alberta.

Person you look up to and why? Tiger Woods. He’s a true male role model. He is proof that when you’re rich and fa-mous you can have it all – a hot wife AND hot mistresses.

One thing people in law school don’t know about you: I have a collection of very rare buttons.

Post-grad plans (ie. Travel? Where will you article?): I will be working at Miller Thomson LLP in Toronto. Before that fun and excitement I will be doing a trip to Peru to see Ma-chu Pichu and Lake Titicaca.

Name: Adrienne WongHometown: Vancouver and Taipei

Undergrad Studies: International Relations and Psychol-ogy

Pre-law school employment/volunteer experience: Worked in China for 2 years and in Italy for 1 year. Volunteered at a child abuse centre in Vancouver and a foster home in Beijing.

Exam Rituals? Snacking.

What do you do to keep sane? Spending time with loved ones, going hiking/skiing, traveling. Watching 30 Rock/ something that really makes me laugh helps too.

If you could be any place right now, where would you be? In the future, on April 22nd, having finished my last exam of law school...ever!

Person you look up to and why? My mother because she stays strong and calm under the most stressful situa-tions.

One thing people in law school don’t know about you: My family has always owned and rescued animals, espe-cially in Asia where they don’t have adequate Humane society facilities. At one point we had two Dalmatians, an Akida Inu, an African Grey parrot, and an Amazon Blue Front parrot.

Post-grad plans (ie. Travel? Where will you article?): Traveling to the Scotland, Ireland, England, Italy and Corsica before I begin my articles in Calgary.

Profiles!

resplendent with velvet jackets, tulle and feather dresses, encrusted slippers and antique Indian jewelry and headdresses. Perhaps I am biased, but I think this collection showcased McQueen at his absolute best.

It’s somewhat disheartening to see the conspicuous consumption that contributed to McQueen’s demise flourish in the wake of his death. A search for “Alexander McQueen” on eBay yields some 2,000 listings peddling the wares of the late designer, hoping to make a small fortune. I didn’t have to scroll for long before I discovered a belt from a few seasons ago that I had bought on sale for $100 listed for $3,500, and a domain name, In-MemoryofAlexanderMcQueen.com, listed for $1 million. I still can’t decide which listing is in poorer taste. Grey market aside, in the week following McQueen’s death, the label’s sales rose 1400 per cent.

Now, more than a month after McQueen’s death, the question remains as to who will take over his post at the house he created. Initially there were rumours that the house would be shuttered, which I think would be an overdramatic and unnecessary move. That’s not to say that McQueen will be easy to replace, but designers before him have died at the height of their careers and their legacies have lived on. Christian Dior created his illustrious house in 1947 and died a decade later of a heart attack. Franco Moschino launched Moschino Couture! in 1983 and he died of a heart attack a decade later as well. In both cases, principal design duties were assigned to the late designers’ assistants; at Christian Dior, to the young Yves Saint Laurent, and at Moschino, to Rossella Jardini.

Having said that, the most obvious choice to take over would be McQueen’s assistant, Sarah Burton – if only she hadn’t resigned upon his death. Who then?

The executives at PPR, which owns Gucci Group, have their work cut out for them in trying to find a replacement that fully encompasses Mc-Queen’s aesthetic: the razor sharp tailoring and couture sensibility, in which McQueen was trained during his stints at Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes and Givenchy Couture, intertwined with his fantastical imagination and a gothic undercurrent.

I think Olivier Theyskens is the right designer for the job. The 33-year-old Belgian received critical acclaim for his demicouture gowns as Cre-ative Director of Rochas from 2003 to 2006, and further explored his dark aesthetic as Creative Director of Nina Ricci from 2006 to 2009. He has both the technical expertise and gothic-romantic streak to preserve the aesthetic that McQueen championed and to put his own spin on it as well.

One thing is for certain: it’s the beginning of a new chapter for the house of Alexander McQueen, I’m anxious to see what follows.This article represents an opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of Moot Times.

Page 11: Moot Times - April 2010

11

Name: Cathy Nguyen Hometown: After being here for over 10 years, Calgary is where I call home.

Undergrad Studies: BSc Sci-ence & MSc Science

Pre-law school employment/volunteer experience: Once upon a time, I was a scientist who worked in a lab studying peptides, proteins and peripheral nerves. After I retired my lab coat, I became an event planner. Now here I am in my last semester of law school and I love it! I think I’ve finally found my happy medium.

Exam Rituals? I buy new office supplies right before finals every semester. I swear it helps me study better! Post-its, sticky tabs, binders, dividers, notebooks, paper, pens, mark-ers, highlighters – you name it I’ve bought it. I love new office supplies! I’m such a nerd.

What do you do to keep sane?

A good bottle (or 2) of Shiraz shared with good friends – sounds like a perfect evening to me.

If you could be any place right now, where would you be?

The lovely islands of French Polynesia – I’m going to make it there someday.

What’s the scariest thing you have ever done?

The Journey to Atlantis ride at Sea World in San Diego – I KNOW it’s just a rollercoaster, but I’m the first to admit I am such a chicken at amusement parks.

Person you look up to and why?

My grandmother. Definitely. She is one amazing lady. She is the reason why my family is in Canada today. I could never thank her enough.

One thing people in law school don’t know about you:

Once in a while I like to retire my high heels and go camping. No really, I do! But on one condition – the site has to have warm showers and flush toilets. That still counts right?

Post-grad plans (ie. Travel? Where will you article?):

I’m getting married in California in May, and then I’ll have the month of June to contemplate life. I haven’t decided where I’ll do that yet. I’ll have to consult my piggy bank at the end of the semester. Starting in July, I will be articling at the City of Calgary, which I am super excited about!

Name: Sander DuncansonHometown: Shelburne, Ontario

Undergrad Studies: Canadian Studies at Queen’s, also a year at King’s College in Halifax

Pre-law school employment/volunteer experience: I tree-planted for a few summers during undergrad, and worked for an Engineering firm in town as their Drafting Manager before starting law school (a job I have kept through law school)

Exam Rituals? I generally try to steer clear of the law school leading up to exams and work out a plan on my own to prepare for each exam. For me, it’s important to get lots of sleep, eat well, exercise, and try to relax as much as possible leading up to exams.

What do you do to keep sane? Keeping a part-time job com-pletely unrelated to law is very helpful since it forces me to put my law courses in perspective. I also try not to work af-ter dinner or on weekends (if possible). Foosball helps too.

If you could be any place right now, where would you be? Drinking a coffee or cold pint in front of a café in Europe, watching people walk by.

What’s the scariest thing you have ever done? Zip-line across a gorge in Switzerland.

Person you look up to and why? My father-in-law – he has managed to have a very successful career while finding lots of time for friends, family and travel

One thing people in law school don’t know about you: I used to have long hair, earrings and a beard

Post-grad plans (ie. Travel? Where will you article?): My wife and I just bought a house, so we won’t be taking any huge trips any time soon. Instead, I plan to get a dog, work around the house, and work a bit for the Engineering firm before starting my articles at Osler in June.

Page 12: Moot Times - April 2010

Gavin CarscallenWhat are you doing after law school?

Getting married.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law?

Most memorable: Exams that bring people to tears in the first 30 minutes (happened three times)

Least memorable: 1st Year and 2nd Year Block week.

What was your favourite class/ professor? Girgis for Bankruptcy

What did you write in your high school year book? Too long ago to remember

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Ryan Jenkins

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Paul Taylor

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Orlagh O’Kelly

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Gus Lu

Most likely to be a billionaire? Drew Kacy Campbell

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Ricky Toor

Graduation Surveys!!!Andrea UrquhartWhat are you doing after law school?

Clerking with the Provincial Court of Alberta and then finishing my articles with a Criminal Defence lawyer in Calgary.

What was your favourite class/ professor?

Feminist Legal Theory- with Kathleen Mahoney/ Criminal Process with Pat Knoll What did you write in your high school yearbook?

A day with the top down is better than a life time in the box.... MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Dave Foster

Andrew KowalchukWhat are you doing after law school? Retiring.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law? There’s too many… of each.

What was your favourite class/ profes-sor? FLS was great.

What did you write in your high school year book? I skipped high school.

Parting words of wisdom…. I wouldn’t have traded these last 3 years for anything.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Forget judge… I say the next Chief Justice, because his initials are already J.C. – so all he needs is an extra first name, like Christopher or Caesar – is John Cassell.

Most likely to be Prime Minister? It would be wrong of me to say anyone else but Dave Foster.

Most likely to be disbarred? I can’t think of just one.

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? If anyone’s sav-ing the world – one case at a time, or, more likely, not – it’s Craig Alcock.

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Seriously?

Most likely to be a billionaire? Ilan Tsekhman, 5¢ at a time.

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Gus Lu’s dog.

Page 13: Moot Times - April 2010

Ilan TsekhmanWhat are you doing after law school? Sleeping it off

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law?

Most Memorable: Maryanne’s e-mails

Least Memorable: I forget

What was your favourite class/ professor? Evidence with Code

What did you write in your high school year book? See you in the car – Milhouse

Parting words of wisdom….2 quotes - neither of which are mine:“Nothing is worth doing pointlessly.” – Marcus Aurelius“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the

unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Kane Richards for having a mind like Eddie Greenspan and Beverley McLach-lin’s smile

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Jeff Wreschner cause he’s American and that’d just mess everything up

Most likely to be disbarred? Should I assume that they’ll be “barred” first?

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Isn’t that what the good people of SLA already do?

Mostly likely to become a Hero? I can’t tell you because that’ll put the rest of you in danger

Most likely to be a billionaire? Money will be irrelevant in the transhuman future – ask Hagen

Most likely to move to Hollywood? I’m gonna have to go with Coco on this one

Craig AlcockWhat are you doing after law school? Going to Maui bitches! Once suitably tanned and relaxed I will return to begin climb-ing what I expect to be a very steep learning curve.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law? The time that Jason Bourne came to the law school and assumed someone else’s identity while using the computers to crack open an international terrorist cell.

What was your favourite class/ professor? Bob Hall. No crap. Just the goods delivered straight up.

What did you write in your high school year book? Clearly nothing remarkable.

Parting words of wisdom…Go on exchange. Third year law makes you feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Claire Marchant.

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Jamie Taylor

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Andrea Urquhart

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Paul Taylor. For the comedy.

Most likely to be a billionaire? Sander Duncanson

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Catherine Spafford

Rob MoyseWhat are you doing after law school?

Studying for the Ontario bar exam. Then clerking at the Federal Courts.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law?

Being on the Jessup moot team was a real highlight for me... though it got a little sketchy for a while there, over Christmas, when Cassell was threatening to throw himself off the mezzanine.

What was your favourite class/ professor?As far as comedy goes, it’d have to be Rafferty in

Conflicts. I never knew it was possible to yell that loud: “NOOOOOooo (british accent).”

Parting words of wisdom….If you think the grad photo guy is making you sit/turn

your head in a way that you’re sure will look ridiculous, you’re probably right. And then you’ll have to get retakes.

Page 14: Moot Times - April 2010

Jamie Taylor What are you doing after law school?

Jumping on the hamster wheel...

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law?

After first year property mid-term exam, the conversation went something like this:

Andrea Urquart : “oh Jamie, you must have been so happy about that third question on the exam about Aboriginal rights since you knew that so well”....

Me: “....there was a third question??” FML.

What was your favourite class/ professor? I loved Municipal law with Kwasniak. Who else could

make an entire collection of interactive, animated slides about bylaws?

Parting words of wisdom….No wisdom really. I heard all of the advice going into

law school and still totally drank the kool-aid. Find a way to make it work for you.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Orlagh or Vhari.

Most likely to be Prime Minister? I foresee a job share between Vhari, Orlagh and I.

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Nanu.

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Professor Koshan.

Most likely to be a billionaire? Paul Taylor. Most likely to move to Hollywood? Dean Lucas.

Douglas James Mac ConWhat are you doing after law school? Mov-ing to Toronto to write my bar exams and then start working for Miller Thomson LLP. I will be travelling to Peru for 3 weeks before work starts.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable mo-ment at U of C Law?

Least memorable moment was 1st year. Most memo-rable moment was the victory lap known as Exchange - 3rd year….

Other favourites include ALL SLS Law Ski Trips.

What was your favourite class/ professor? Favourite class – Criminal Procedure with Knoll by a LANDSLIDE! Parting words of wisdom….Do as Club Doug 2000 says, not as he does.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Rob Moyse?

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Aniroodh Devalia in Zambia

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Andrea Urquhart or Sham – depends on how you define ‘save’…

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Ilan Tsekhman

Most likely to be a billionaire? Sander Duncanson

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Randi Collins?

Hi fellow students!

It has been a pleasure representing you all this year. I hope that you have had a great 2009-2010 Academic year and will look back on this year with fond memories (and for those whose memories banks are filled with CANS and cases at this moment, the SLS will be providing you with Yearbooks as friendly remind-ers of the fun that we all shared!)

I have a brief message for each respective year. To the first years, remember your first day of law school? Sitting in MFH 2370 and being told by me that you’ve made it! Well, congrats

on surviving your first year! More exciting things are set to come, remember to enjoy the moment! To the

second years, you all are past the halfway mark! Congrats on another great year and good luck with being the old, wise ones next year. To the Class of 2010, I can’t believe that we will be graduating this year! Time really flies when you are having fun. It has truly been a journey and I’m honoured to have been a part of it. Good luck to you all and (I can’t believe I’m putting this in writ-ing but) I am committed to planning a reunion for us!!! (President for life, right?!)

See you all at the End of the Year Party set for April 23, 2010.

Good Luck on your exams! Thanks again for making my 3rd year so memorable!

Wilma Shim

President’s Message

Page 15: Moot Times - April 2010

Gus LuWhat are you doing after law school?

Landscaping and a Permaculture Design Course in BC before I start articles.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law? Least memorable – Professor JWOWW calling Section 2 a bunch of idiots for our LP class.

What was your favourite class/ professor? Constable Blue/Pat Knoll in Criminal Process.

What did you write in your high school year book? I never wanted to see snow every again … I guess I failed in that pursuit.

Parting words of wisdom…. Pace yourself.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Kane Richards

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Tyler Hargreaves.

Most likely to be disbarred? Prefer not to answer.

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Bergis Mostagim

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Ilan Tsekhman

Most likely to be a billionaire? Cory Wilson.

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Beamer Comfort.

Jane ButcherWhat are you doing after law school?

Becoming a professional wedding crasher, starting with the nuptials of my classmates.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable mo-ment at U of C Law?

Probably the Blackstone debate in first year against Maya and Patty. None of us knew what we were doing and Patty was the first to speak: after about 45 seconds of argument, she turned to our extremely uptight judges and asked: “Do I have to keep talking?”

What was your favourite class/ professor?The day in torts when Wil Chan said “tortoise” in-

stead of “tortious” and Kathleen Mahoney laughed for 5 minutes solid.

Parting words of wisdom….don’t decide to go for a jog in shorts and a T-shirt in

April and then get caught in a freak blizzard 7 kilometres from home so that you get hypothermia right before you have to write six 100% exams in a row. Oh and don’t let people mess with your head.

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Me.

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Shamsher Kothari.

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Me. As-suming I ever become a lawyer. If not, Andrea Urquhart.

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Gus Lu.

Most likely to be a billionaire? Nanu.

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Beamer Comfort.

Jake MaslowskiWhat are you doing after law school?- Traveling, sleeping, and drinking heavily for 2 months

What was your most memorable/ least memorable mo-ment at U of C Law?- Most and least memorable moment = thinking I was go-ing to fail property in 1st yr

What was your favourite class/ professor? Block week Favorite prof: Irene McConnell

What did you write in your high school year book? I’m taller than all of you.

Parting words of wisdom…. is it too late to go to med school? MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Rob Moyse

Most likely to be Prime Minister? Wilma Shim

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Tim Ross

Most likely to be a billionaire? Sham Kothari; Sander Dun-canson

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Paul Taylor

Page 16: Moot Times - April 2010

As the winter 2010 semester ends, we at Moot Times not only have to close the book on another successful year for Moot Times, but we also have to say goodbye to one of our most treasured and respected features: Dear K + A. Before K + A leave the hal-lowed halls of U of C, we wanted to make sure that their readers (of which there are many) got to know them a little better. So without further…ummm…writing, here is the much-anticipated K + A Profile.

Signed, K +…I mean Moot Times Editors

What made you two start K + A?K: Flashdancing just wasn’t paying the bills anymore. We will get paid for these, right?A: I got into a car ac-cident with K, and the Judge ordered that we become best friends and write an advice column.

Do you think K + A has helped students?K: Let me answer your question with a question: Who said it hasn’t? Seriously…who said it? They’re dead to me.A: I know it has, because of a little boy named John Ng. He told me last year that he didn’t know what to do with his life until he stumbled upon Moot Times online and, without knowing legalese, read the only thing he understood: Dear K + A. Now he’s in law school, and can defend himself from a whole range of criminal charges!

What’s the process for writing K + A?K: I am not going to say spooning is integral, but I am not going to say it isn’t. Oh you meant this K + A, not the other kind of K + A. I’ll have to think about it…don’t print this.A: A whole crate of Colt 45 and Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick.

What are your plans for after law school?A: Actually, and this is no lie, I’m going back to Vancouver to do pirate law.K: Well I wanted to take my self-help program on tour, but instead I have to get a job because “Chad had a job” and “Chad supported me” and..I get it! I am not as good as your ex-bf Chad! Why didn’t you just marry Chad? Hell, if half the things you say are true, I’ll marry Chad!

Who is taking over for K + A when you leave?A: As long as it’s not T + T I’ll be happy.K: Interested parties should send a mock question and answer to Moot Times so they can forward it to us, because truthfully we lost the password to the email account like 3 days after we made it…I think it was “BSG blows” but not 100% on that one.

16

Bergis MostaghimWhat are you doing after law school?

I’m travelling for two months. Europe and the Mid East, here I come! Then I start articling at the Department of Justice with the Feds in July.

What was your most memorable/ least memorable moment at U of C Law?

Least memorable –easy exam time and possibly match week! There were so many memorable moments, I can’t pinpoint exactly one. As much as we complain about law school, I think there were so many outings and parties with our classmates that really made law school worthwhile.

What was your favourite class/ professor?Kathleen Mahoney. Her human rights class was fantas-

tic and it she is a great role model for all us aspiring human rights lawyers!

What did you write in your high school year book?I don’t remember…something cheesy I’m sure. lol.

Parting words of wisdom….”Your living is determined not so much by what life

brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. “ ~Kahlil Gibran

MOST LIKELY’S

Most likely to be a Supreme Court judge? Andrea Uruquhart

Most likely to be Prime Minister? I’m going to pick a gal and a guy to be fair so either Mohamed Amery or Erin Farrell

Most likely to be disbarred? No comment.

Most likely to save the world one case at a time? Orlagh O’Kelly

Mostly likely to become a Hero? Gus and Nanu. They would fight bad guys with their niceness powers. They would be a duo like Batman and Robin except Batman wasn’t that nice but you get my drift.

Most likely to be a billionaire? Shamsher Kothari or Hass Keshavji

Most likely to move to Hollywood? Paul Taylor

Page 17: Moot Times - April 2010

There’s more To being a greaT lawyer Than your gPa.Within our firm you’ll find lawyers who’ve closed billion-dollar deals, represented Prime Ministers and argued precedent-setting cases before the Supreme Court. You’ll also discover adventurers, marathoners and humanitarians. Every year, through our summer and articling programs, we seek out students who, like us, have both a passion for legal success and a desire to push themselves to their limit. We’re not just looking for exceptional lawyers, we’re looking for exceptional people.

To read our lawyer profiles and to see if BLG is right for you, visit blgcanada.com/student

Calgary | Montréal | Ottawa Toronto | Vancouver | Waterloo RegionLawyers | Patent & Trade-mark Agents Borden Ladner Gervais LLP is an Ontario Limited Liability Partnership.

blgcanada.com

Page 18: Moot Times - April 2010

Q: My girlfriend just broke up with me; all I do is weep into a pillow every night. Help me!K: Well since A is the resident weeping-into-pillow expert, he can give you all the information you need about pillow-weeping such as what fabric is best for quick dry once you fall asleep. I, on the other hand, can let you know what you really need: a perfect plan for getting your girlfriend back. As Katy Perry says, “shut up and put your money where your mouth is”, which I am guessing means, “shut up and sneak into her apartment and surprise her!” You see, it is as easy as following Katy Perry’s simple instructions. Not only do girls love surprises (as stated previously), but they also love guys that can get into places without keys and / or the need for an invitation. You sim-ply get into the apartment, unplug the phone (don’t want any distractions), remove all the light bulbs (environmentally friendly and sets the mood), and then wait in the shadows for her to return. Now, you have to make sure this is timed perfectly because believe you me, as fast as you can say, “surprise, I’m not leaving till you love me again!” this night can turn from what Katy Perry said, to “shut up and spoon your newly met cell-mate”. Trust me.A: What if I said I could solve both your problems at once? Get a Japanese Moe pillow! pictured below: I was going to tell you more about this phenomenon, but I think I’ll just show you some more pictures instead:

Q: No matter how much work I do, I cannot seem to do better than a B in any class. What’s wrong with me?K: Uncle K is gonna tell you some-thing that your parents probably should have told you a long time ago: There is nothing special about you. You work really hard and only get a B because, frankly, that’s what you are…mediocre. I know it hurts but it’s true. You’re average; always have been, always will be. Well ACTUALLY it’s because

Dear K + AYou ask, We answer, Everyone wins @ life.

Submit your questions to “[email protected]” (The Last K + A Ever!)[The views of K + A do not necessarily represent those of K + A]

everyone gets a B no matter what. The rest of that stuff is just because Uncle K has had a bad day and needed to take it out on someone. Oh, and you’re adopted. See you at Thanksgiving!A: Doing better than a B is pretty difficult. It’s probably because they are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey. I saw once in a movie…with B’s…I think it was called Indecent Proposal…that if there were no B’s, all the plants in the world would die. Plus, without honey Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern peoples couldn’t have embalmed the dead; and the Roman Empire wouldn’t have had any honey (which was used instead of gold) to pay taxes! [citation needed] Did you know that B’s are also found on every continent ex-cept Antarctica? I’m not really sure why this is, because I know that at the University of Antarctica Law School you can still get A’s, C’s, D’s, and the elusive “Emperor Penguin” grade. Maybe it’s because Ozone deple-tion over Antarctica can cause a cooling of around 6 °C in the local stratosphere? Thank

you Internet.

Q: I want to make Grad party awe-some. What can I do to guarantee a good time?K: Well, be-sides making sure you don’t bring up BSG at all dur-ing the night, it is pretty easy to make sure Grad will be fun. Just slip into your 1970’s white tuxedo, get to the dance early be-cause you have to defend your future mother’s honour. Make sure your fu-ture mom and dad have a special kiss by playing back-up guitar for the band, and then rock out

like no one has ever heard or seen before. Finally, slip away, jump into the DeLorean, and ride off into the sunset. If that’s not a guaranteed good time, I don’t know what is. If all that doesn’t work (hard to find a DeLorean these days), just make the pre and post parties pants optional. I always say, “If it’s pants optional, fun is mandatory!”

A: The prob-lem with K’s answer is that as soon as you get back from the past, you have to go right back to the future in the year 2015. Your job in the future will be to pose as your own son to prevent your future self from being thrown in prison. But, unfortunately, things get worse when the future changes the present. Specifically, Biff Tannen steals the time machine and gives his younger self a book containing 50 years of sports statis-tics, which the young Biff uses to amass an enormous gambling fortune and transform idyllic Hill Valley into a living hell. To restore the present, you have to return to the events of your previous adventure in 1955 and retrieve the book. It’s either that at Grad…or you and three friends travel back to the 80’s thanks to a time-bending hot tub.

Q: I feel after 1L that I am really making a difference! I can’t wait till I start my sum-mer job so I can start working on some awesome files and do some cool things. Am I right to feel this way?K: No you aren’t. If you feel this way now, this summer is gonna kick you right in the [edit]… and 2L’s and 3L’s are probably gonna do the same.A: I’m sorry, but I just can’t let it go: John Cusack is a punk-a**-b*****. It’s just…all this talk about Hot Tub Time Machine made me remember the time we got into a food fight with him in Vancouver. Basically, my buddy was bartending at a restolounge they shut down for a party for the cast and crew. He let us in the back door, and all we had to do was pretend to be part of the pro-duction. I was the mysterious cameraman with an eye for beauty, and my buddy was a personal assistant with the worst made-up story ever. Anyways, when my bartender friend finally got off, we sat down with everybody else and had some drinks. Then, all of a sudden, and out of nowhere, a mini cheeseburger comes flying our way. See, what John Cusack had done was freebase some cocaine off one of the dinner tables, then he got baked with Craig Robinson, and that’s when he decided to start a food fight. Naturally, we launched the cheeseburger back at their corner table, but my buddy didn’t want to lose his job so he told us to knock it off. But man would John Cusack have eaten balls that day, that’s for sure.

18

Page 19: Moot Times - April 2010

Love & Lost - the three things I grieve for most during bouts of nostalgia…

Hockey Pool updates presented by BD&P

Phone: 403-260-0100 Fax: 403-260-0332

www.bdplaw.com

Common SenSe, UnCommon InnovatIon.

Hockey Pool updates presented by BD&P

Phone: 403-260-0100 Fax: 403-260-0332

www.bdplaw.com

Common SenSe, UnCommon InnovatIon.

2009/2010BDPNHLHockeyPoolStats

PlayersGoalies

Rank TeamName Student G A W SHO Total

1 TheDowler

Act

PatrickDowler 204 383 35 6 628

2 Jagrbombs Aghi

Balachandran

187 385 35 16 623

3 Ogie

Oglethorpe

177 375 45 14 611

4 TeamSander Sander

Duncanson

208 372 24 2 606

5 Thedudes Jake

Maslowski

222 350 19 2 593

6 TheBrass

Ring

SteveSchott 194 355 21 8 578

7 ACL/DCL DaveS. 185 340 38 12 575

8 TeamSanjiv Sanjiv

Parmar

217 306 24 14 561

9 Serenity

Now!

NoelJarvis 193 311 30 10

544

9 HCHeaslip AlexHeaslip 166 340 36 2 544

11 TeamEtch‐a‐

Sketch

Adrian

Etchell

190 319 24 2 535

12 Giddyup

already!

CraigA. 208 274 24 4 510

13 Babychtime 161 296 37 14 508

14 BIGWILLY WilmaShim 167 280 33 6 486

15 TeamTerrible Daniel

WIlson

183 244 16 6 449

16 LeWall 154 247 37 4 442

By Aam Oppenheim (2L)The road- In the summer of 2006, 4 friends and I spent 8 weeks ramblin’ through west-ern Canada in a 1977 Chevy Freespirit RV (a product of the holiday rambler corporation). Northern oil towns, oceanside metropolitan centers, and villages hiding off the grid, we spent time in them all. That hanging sun in the big Alberta sky peeled and reddened my right arm, and rumble strips kept us from pitchin’ in Saskatchewan’s roadside ditch. Neon lights told us when it was time to wash the trip out of our mouths, and I broke my nose when we hit a mountain in interior BC. The RV leaked and smelled of purple gas, and we’d have epic fights from far too much time in far too cramped a space. I’d kill for that trip again…“Family” dinners- Back in my undergrad days (I’m only 26 so any back in the day phrasing

needs to be taken with a grain of salt) my roommate Dan and I would host “Family” dinner once a month. 10 close friends would cook dinners worthy of urban myth. The BBQ was rusted, and our kitchen was so small that getting around people was like passing a flight attendant in an airplane. Just before I graduated we had one last “family” dinner, packing 20+ people into apt. 1104 in Windsor Park Plaza. Now, where did some of those people go? Well, Toronto and Mon-treal, Victoria and Ottawa. Some are even in Calgary, but they live in McKenzie Town, and that may as well be Pluto. It’ll take a wedding to get everyone back together now, but you can bet your last bottom dollar, a “family” dinner’ll be on the itinerary…The Sidetrack Café & The Night Gallery- I spent my formative years in these now defunct Alberta music venues. Any born and raised Calgarian can (or can’t if they did it right) evoke a million little

“remember when…”s from evenings spent and wasted at the Night Gallery. Me? When Nova Scotia’s Joel Plaskett hung off the stage rafters, I swore off Top-40 forever. And then there’s Edmonton’s Sidetrack Café. Now, I’ve been in music venues all over this fair land of ours. From tiny dives, to giant arenas and soft-seat theaters, I can definitively say that the Sidetrack was the finest our country ever offered. After a condo development forced an ill-fated change of location, the bar permanently closed its doors. Losing the Sidetrack and Night Gallery severed a piece of local mu-sic’s cultural DNA. That’s a gapping hole, yet to be truly filled… Nostalgia is a funny thing. You reminisce only about the good, ignoring the bad. I love when people say “don’t you feel old” or “I miss being 18”. You couldn’t pay me to be 18 again, and I don’t think I’ll feel old until I’m 65 and my knees totally run out of juice. But no doubt, if I could turn my pedal bike into a time ma-chine, I would absolutely cherish a chance to re-live those 3 pieces of love & lost…

Page 20: Moot Times - April 2010

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