All Posts Tagged With: "law"
Lawyer calls for another new law school
We’ve heard of the rural shortage. But a suburban shortage?
Photo by Ian Barrett for Maclean's
Just months after British Columbia opened its first new law school in 30 years, a top lawyer is advocating for another one, this time in Surrey.
B.C.’s newest law school is at Thomson Rivers University in Kamloops, where its mission is, in part, to address the rural lawyer shortage.
Tony Wilson, an adjuct professor at Simon Fraser University, makes the argument that there’s a pending shortage in suburban Surrey too. He notes that the city near Vancouver is projected to be the biggest in B.C. by 2020. Surrey grew by 13.6 per cent between 2001 and 2006.
There’s plenty of work, Wilson argues in his letter to Canadian Lawyer. “Surery has… clients, many of them in real estate, real estate development, or other small or medium-sized businesses,” he says, “and if you’re into criminal law, the newspapers would suggest that opportunities abound.”
Lakehead closer to opening law faculty
Law society approves, provincial consent pending
Lakehead University is one step closer to opening a law faculty, after the Law Society of Upper Canada gave its stamp of approval last month. The unanimous decision follows approval of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada earlier this year. President Brian Stevenson said that the latest recognition is “the final external vote of confidence we needed.” The university’s senate will be asked to approve the creation of a law faculty, and law degree program on Friday, but Lakehead still has to gain consent and funding from the provincial government.
Law schools accused of ‘bait and switch’ on scholarships
American colleges enticing quality students to boost their rankings
American law students are accusing schools of “bait and switch” when it comes to merit-based scholarships. According to a Saturday report in the New York Times, more than ever, law schools ares enticing students with the promise that their tuition fees will be mostly, or even fully, covered.
The catch is that in most cases, a minimum grade point average is required to retain funding passed the first year, and students say law faculties are not always upfront with how difficult it is to keep their grades up, or what proportion of students keep their scholarships. At Golden Gate University of Law, in San Francisco, for instance, 57 per cent of current first-year students have merit scholarships, but only around a third can be certain to maintain the requisite 3.0 GPA to keep their funding going into second-year. First-year classes are more likely to be subjected to curve grading.
Jerry Organ, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, in Minneapolis, has studied the rise of merit based scholarships since the 1980s. He pointed out to the Times that since U.S. News began ranking law schools in 1987, there has been fierce competition for quality students. The grades and LSAT scores of students account for 22 per cent of a school’s ranking, suggesting that if exceptional students can be swayed from attending a more elite college with the promise of large scholarships, it can help boost a school’s score. “What law schools are buying is higher G.P.A.’s and LSATs,” Organ said.
Bad behaviour bars star student from becoming a lawyer
Ryan Manilla appeal over ‘good character’ requirement dismissed
Ryan Manilla, the 29-year-old star law school student who won jobs at Canada’s top firms, has been officially barred from becoming a lawyer after a scuffle with his condo board, as reported in Maclean’s. After appealing the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC)’s decision to ban him from joining the profession over its ages-old “good character” requirement, Manilla appealed, but the LSUC has dismissed his appeal, the Toronto Star reports. As president of his condo board, Manilla sent threatening emails to fellow members, and forged a letter from a woman claiming to be a private investigator, all part of his battle against a proposed fee hike. He was eventually charged with criminal harassment, but charges were dropped after he met certain conditions, including apologizing and making a charitable donation in the names of those he targeted. Even so, the Law Society has banned him.
American law schools see drastic drop in applications
A legal career no longer seen as a ‘safe bet’
The number of students applying to American law schools is at its lowest point since 2001, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. According to the Law School Admission Council, applications have dropped 11.5 per cent over last year, a sign that students are becoming disillusioned with the job market for law graduates. In 2009, the American Bar Association released a report that concluded that, “The rising cost of a legal education and the realities of the legal job market mean that going to law school may not pay off.”
While students flocked to law schools when the economy first went into recession, it is now becoming apparent that it might not provide the job prospects and employment security many had hoped it would. “The froth in the applicant pool—those who were just going to law school because they didn’t know what else to do and everyone told them it was a safe bet—is pretty well gone,” Kent Syverud, dean of the Washington University School of Law’s, said.
U of T to offer professional law degree
It is the first program of its kind in North America
A unique master’s degree program combining law and business is set to launch at the University of Toronto this fall. In creating the Global Professional Master of Laws program, the university says it is responding to student demand.
“The faculty has done a lot of consultation and academic research to identify important areas of study such as trade, investment, and the globalization of institutions. International commercial arbitration is a huge area that was not significant in the past but is now a larger issue,” law dean Mayo Moran told the Varsity. The “executive-style master’s degree” will cater to both legal and business professionals, including those who might not have had any previous legal training.
Moran says the program will bridge the gap between lawyers who are “trained to think of what could go wrong and to be conservative” and business leaders who “are more forward looking.” According to the university, it is the first program of its kind in North America.
TRU wants premium pay for law profs
New program to open in September and no professors have been hired
Canada’s newest law school, at Thompson Rivers University, is scheduled to open in September, but aside from dean Chris Axworthy not a single faculty member has been hired.
The university has sent a request to the faculty association seeking approval to pay law professors more than other members of the union. “In order to provide a quality student experience we need to hire quality law faculty, and these faculty are highly sought after. We have done research on the current salary levels for law faculty across the country and TRU is proposing competitive market salaries,” a TRU statement to the Kamloops Daily News read.
Precisely how much TRU would like pay law professors has yet to be reported, but the current ceiling for tenured faculty is $107,000 annually. TRU is also awaiting final approval for the degree program from the province, which is keeping it from appointing faculty.
The law school, which was announced by the provincial government two years ago, will be the first to open in Canada in 30 years, and is partnered with the University of Calgary. Monday of this week was the deadline for applications, and according the university, 400 students have applied for 65 spots.
Should plagiarism be illegal?
Why we shouldn’t be tolerating down essay mills
It was sad but not surprising to see that in Nova Scotia, Canada’s university province , yet another essay mill has sprung up to help students cheat in return for digital cash on the virtual barrel head.
So this week I’ve been feeling like if we ever could rely on a broad sense of personal integrity or honour to help uphold standards of intellectual integrity, we can’t anymore. Fortunately, our society has a way of curtailing bad behaviour when social norms are not enough. We call them laws. So consider this modest proposal:
Plagiarism at universities should be illegal.
After all, plagiarism, when successful, allows students who have not earned credits to be granted them nevertheless and thus to earn degrees to which the students have no right. And yet, those students can, for the rest of their lives reap the benefits of those degrees without any real fear of discovery or punishment (once you’ve graduated, nobody double-checks your papers). But taking money for a job as a teacher or a lawyer or a doctor based on a degree you did not earn seems tantamount to fraud as far as I can tell. And fraud is illegal.
I, of course, am not a lawyer, so I can’t speak to all the legislative and litigational hurdles that would have to be overcome to get this done, but I would welcome input from clever lawyers who agree with me. And, to be sure, making plagiarism a violation of the law would not stop it altogether, but it would have an effect. For one, it would clarify the seriousness of the offence, and make would-be plagiarizers think twice before stealing a paper. Second, the law could standardize procedures across institutions. Third, the legal ramifications would force all professors to give a full account of the proper use of sources. Finally, it would give authorities the power to shut down the essay mills designed for no other purpose but to defraud public institutions.
Look at it this way: if you payed your tuition with money you printed in your parents’ basement, you would be guilty of a crime, not just an academic offense. Why is getting credit for someone else’s work a lesser offence?
(Editor’s note: This post has been updated.)
Law school not worth it?
Due to costs and tight labour market, going to law school may not pay off for a large number of students
The problem with having a two-week Christmas break right after exams is that the holiday comes smack in the middle of post-first-year-midterm malaise. Accordingly, when very well-meaning people would ask me how law school was going, my answer was usually any or all of me bursting into tears, straight up walking away while mumbling or looking them straight in the eye and saying something like “It’s totally not worth it.”
Apparently, had I wanted to back up my overly-emotional sentiment with some facts, I could have appealed to a rather unlikely ally: The American Bar Association.
Hidden deep on their website is this little four-page PDF gem that basically says that for almost half the people who go to law school, it’s totally not worth it to go to law school:
The combination of the rising cost of a legal education and the realities of the legal job market mean that going to law school may not pay off for a large number of law students.
Here are some of the most uplifting statistics (all American, by the way):
- The average public law student borrows $71,436 for law school
- The average private school student borrows $91,506
- Most American public law schools raised tuition this year by 10 to 25 per cent to make up for funding shortfalls
- In 2009, 42 per cent of law school grads had starting salaries of less than $65,000/year
It’s hard to argue with statistics, especially ones that paint a picture devoid of all sunshine. It’s also doubtlessly true that any potential students, law or otherwise, should do their research before applying and enrolling. But I still find the whole thing to be a little eyebrow raising.
For one, I’ve yet to meet a law student who did no research and simply applied to school because they thought a JD was some kind of golden ticket that would get them the super awesome apartment they saw on The Good Wife. It’s kind of insulting to potential law students, all of whom have financed at least one degree somehow, to be like “Spoiler alert, people: Law school is expensive.”
Moreover, it’s strange to me that the American Bar Association itself seems to be of the opinion that a law degree’s sole worth is grounded in its future earning potential. I know I gripe a lot about law school, but every day there is something that makes it worth it, and it has nothing to do with an imagined salary five years down the road. Law school is an aspirational gambit, and for nobody I know is the end game money. It’s also really hard, and I don’t believe you’d make it if the only thing pulling you through was the prospect of 50 Bentleys in the West Indies.
There are lots of good reasons for going, though, and it’s strange to me that those have all been skipped over in this little tome. Law school is full of interesting people and fascinating new facts and whole new worlds of things to become passionate about and people to be nerdy about learning around, not to mention a world of future careers at all kinds of pay grades. Maybe the ABA should spend a little more time advocating for that, or, heaven forbid, advocating for the cost of a legal education to go down a bit.
Wikipedia, saviour of law students
Within the bounds of what it’s appropriate for, it’s the best
As a child, if given the choice between spending time with a human or spending time with a book, 99 times out of 100 I would take the book, and the other one time it was probably only because my mother had physically taken my book away on that particular occasion. Books were my friends, and we were the very best of. In library contests where children had to move a paper totem along a wall advanced by minutes read, my little hot air balloon was often idling at the far end of the wall before half the others had even left the start gate.
In light of the hours upon hours I now find myself reading every single day, in retrospect, I kind of wish I had spent at least a little more time outside or developing the social skills that are probably going to atrophy over the next three years of law school.
Everyone tells you how much reading there is in first-year law school, but no one (read: me) really believes it until you get there. A few days before class started in September, some of the first-years were meeting up for lunch when our smart phones all went off with an e-mail from the Assistant Dean. It included, among other illuminating facts about first-year law, that we would probably be assigned 300 to 500 pages of reading a week.
“Okay, but not really,” we (again, read: me) said. “They’re probably just trying to scare us.”
Whether this tendency to believe things in the face of all evidence to the contrary will benefit or harm me in a legal career is yet to be seen. However, the Assistant Dean, unsurprisingly, was not lying. If anything, she was lowballing the estimate.
On any given night of the seven days of the week, I would say I have between two and five hours of reading. The real kick in the pants, too, is that all my amassed hours of childhood (and adulthood) reading has contributed very little to my ability to read what is assigned from law school. In fact, law school in large measure requires the same approaches that one used to learn to read the first time, like following the text with your finger to guide your eyes. The biggest thing, though, is having to pause three or four times a page to look up a phrase (frequently, and I would argue unnecessarily, in Latin) that you can’t quite figure out. And it is on this point that I would like to virtually kiss the feet of the originators of Wikipedia.
I will pause here to note that there are many objections to the use of Wikipedia in academic endeavours, and many of these are valid. I would never, nor would I ever advocate, relying on Wikipedia (or any other secondary source) as the first path of learning something. Nor would I ever cite Wikipedia in an assignment or even in class. My point is, there are limits to Wikipedia’s utility, but within the bounds of what it’s appropriate for, it’s the best.
I’d argue that Wikipedia’s main area of appropriate usage, in relation to law students, is its ability to put into plain language the dozens of new words or phrases we run up against when cracking into those 60-120 pages of nightly reading.
Real life example: Last week, for my property law class was assigned a really interesting case that had to do with the tort of conversion. As a precursor to reading, our professor suggested that we figure out what “conversion” was and my brain was all like “Duh. Conversion is either when you change one unit of measurement to another or that thing that Coach Taylor occasionally talks about on Friday Night Lights. Case closed.”
This is how the case defined conversion: “conversion-a tort that protects against interference with possessory and ownership interests in personal property.”
At which point my brain was like “No mention of measurement has been made, and it seems unlikely this is what Coach was imploring the Panthers to do. Harmonization of previous known definitions of conversion has failed. Wikipedia?”
Conversion is a common law tort. A conversion is a voluntary act by one person inconsistent with the ownership rights of another.[1] It is a tort of strict liability.[2] Its criminal counterpart is theft.
The two sentences are basically the same, but the one on Wikipedia managed to snap the legal meaning of “conversion” to the grid in my head by using plain language that the strict definition given in the case was not, and it did it in about three seconds. It’s pretty hard to argue against the utility of that. And it’s phenomenal how many of the terms and phrases I’m coming across for the first time have fully written and referenced Wikipedia entries.
How did people live before the Internet?
Photo by nojhan
Canada’s best professional schools 2010
EXCLUSIVE RANKINGS. Plus: where to go, how to get in, the hottest programs, and the biggest pitfalls
Coast to coast, getting into professional schools has never been more competitive than it is this year
ENGINEERING
From building bridges to running Bay Street
Technical geeks? Hardly. Today’s new breed of financial engineers take the lead as global innovators.
If you build it . . .
Robots, stem cells and green scenes: what engineers are making now
Aim for 80-plus
Average final-year high school grades of first-year undergrads starting engineering school in fall 2009
Engineering’s hot fields
Across 13 disciplines, mechanical, electrical and civil continue to be the top draws, but other fields have grown significantly over the past four years. Environmental and software numbers are up by roughly half, while mining or mineral enrolment has nearly tripled.
Sizing up engineering enrolment across the country
The number of female Undergraduate enrolment at Canadian engineering schools remains low
MEDICINE
Want degree, will travel
‘Think of the passion that comes from people willing to go halfway around the world to study’
No science? No worries
Getting a C in chemistry may not be a barrier to that white coat, as med schools reassess their admissions
How many get in
2009 figures show enrolment continues to increase with women outnumbering men at most institutions
How much they pay for it
Medical school first-year tuition for academic year 2010-2011
Applications high, success rates low: the stats tell the story
The medical college admission test (MCAT) is a standardized test required for admission at many faculties
M.B.A.
Northern exposure
‘The fact that the Canadian economy gets a lot of attention can only be good for Canadian business schools’
These doctors mean business
Fuelled by late-blooming entrepreneurs, business schools see doctoral enrolment double
McGill and Quebec Play chicken
A tuition hike is opposed by the province; so far neither side has blinked
Coffee, donut and an M.B.A
Slated to start in January 2011, a new morning M.B.A. class will run three mornings a week at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary
RANKINGS: How do Canada’s business schools stack up internationally?
Canadian schools didn’t crack the top 20 in either of the Financial Times’ rankings, but York (Schulich) placed first on the alternative Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey
Canada’s M.B.A. programs: a variety of options at 35 institutions
The traditional M.B.A.—two years, full-time—is no longer the only way to go, with many schools offering part-time studies
Canada’s E.M.B.A. Programs: for the working professional
Executive M.B.A. programs normally allow their participants to remain at their jobs, pursuing the degree part-time
RANKINGS: Financial Times Executive M.B.A. ranking 2009
The FT’s E.M.B.A. evaluation looks at a variety of performance measures for each school
Law
Ranking Canada’s law schools
How do faculty measure up? How do grads fare? Maclean’s fourth annual survey reveals all
Last year, maybe. This year, no way.
Getting in has never been easy. But now, it’s nearly impossible.
The letter of the Law
J.D. vs. LL.B degree
RANKINGS: Toronto and McGill law schools top the list
How successful are grads in landing top jobs? How often is faculty members’ work recognized by other academics?
Law School: what will it cost?
2010 tuition figures for first-year students
Law school: what will it cost?
2010 tuition figures for first-year students
Listed below are the 2010 tuition figures for first-year students, shown from the least expensive to the most. The numbers do not include other compulsory fees, which at some institutions can add well over $1,000 to the bill.
*Two figures are listed for law schools in Quebec and Nova Scotia: the higher figure is charged for students from outside the province.
Down by law
An underfunded public justice system means law students face some tough choices
Law today is not really one profession, but several. For most lawyers, specialization is simply inevitable. True, some general firms still exist, particularly in smaller markets, but most lawyers will spend their careers in specific practices. When they enter law school, students are not required to have a practice area in mind, and the first-year curriculum is designed to cover all of the most fundamental material. But by the start of second year, the decision looms. And increasingly, hard financial realities—not just interest or inclination—drive a student’s choices about practice area.
The rising cost of legal education is well documented, and most students face significant debt upon graduation. After seven or more years of university, it’s natural that they expect some payoff. For many, a certain income level is not only desirable but a bare requirement—they need the money. We are talking, after all, about adults who range from their mid-to-late 20s to considerably older. Some already have families to support; others are eager to start. The combination of these costs and education debt is a very powerful incentive to look for jobs that will cover the bottom line.
Most people outside the profession think all lawyers are very well off. But actual earnings vary considerably. When Service Canada last collected the information in 2007—available on its Job Futures website—lawyers were earning an average of $50,600 a year after two years of employment. More striking is the disparity between the top 20 per cent, who were earning an average of $70,000, and the bottom 20 per cent, earning an average of $30,800. That gap doesn’t close as time goes by. In fact, it widens. Law is a profession where some do very well indeed while others toil at the margins. And it isn’t simply that some lawyers are more successful than others. Practice area has an awful lot to do with it.
Just as the cost of legal education has been climbing, funding for areas of law that rely on public dollars has been in retreat. Though legal aid systems vary from province to province, one consistent theme is inadequate public investment. British Columbia is dramatically slashing its legal aid budget. As a result, family law has been hard hit, with the elimination of full-time staff lawyers and of a major family law clinic in Vancouver. In Ontario, the criminal defence bar is boycotting the system in protest of inadequate funding, refusing to accept legal aid certificates in a small but growing number of cases.
Any student graduating into this environment must face some tough choices. Is it really worth taking up practice in an area of law starved for public investment? Is it even possible?
The right to be an exceptional Canadian
Should religious freedom trump Canadian law?
No.
Ahem. Some context:
The Hutterites are a Christian sect who live by a strict code based on the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ. The group fled persecution in Russia in the early 20th century and some immigrated to Canada, settling in farming communities of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Some Hutterians believe that to willingly have their photograph taken violates the second of the Ten Commandments, which forbids idolatry and graven images. It is on this belief that the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was forced to rule just days ago.
In 1974, the Alberta government began issuing photo driver’s licenses. Special licenses were available for those with religious objections until 2003 when the Alberta government began requiring photos for all licenses. The change was made as a measure to protect against identity theft. The Hutterites won cases before the Alberta Court and the Alberta Court of Appeal, but the SCC ruled 4-3 on July 24 to uphold Alberta’s provincial rules. As it stands, all Alberta driver’s licenses must have a photo.
Now, back to the overarching question. Admittedly, the fact that this particular religious debate is so inexhaustible makes me think the hastiness of my initial “no” was a bit brash. I’m not suggesting we adopt the American melting pot, and I don’t support religious stifling in the name of conformity. If, for example, identity theft concerns would not be properly quelled by license photos—as lawyers for the Hutterites contend—I would see no reason to force religious objectors to have their pictures taken. But laws exist for a reason (yawn), which is (in theory) to promote the greater good. (Yes, I know what happened during the Dreyfus affair, yes I understand the concept of “scapegoating the innocent” and no, I don’t think this was a show trial.)
These debates seem to arise precisely when the authority of Canadian law is called into question. I’m not talking about whether or not new Canadians should paint flags on their faces on July 1st, I’m talking about whether citizens should be forced to uncover their faces while voting. (See Harper’s abandoned plan.) And frankly, I’m not sure. I don’t know enough about identity theft and voter integrity to authoritatively conclude. But I do think we should stop running scared when the issue sparks a little dissent. (Again, see Harper’s abandoned plan.)
I also think us feeble sideline commoners should take some perspective. In my opinion, the question should not be “What right does the government have to interfere with religious belief?” but, “Why is the government interfering with religious belief?” If the answer is a valid one (and to some, it will never be) maybe we should put our tissues away.
The great thing about Canada (yawn) is that we have choices. If you really don’t want your picture taken, hitch a ride. (Yes, I know, “but driving is a right” and “we should strive to accommodate” and other like claims…) If you don’t like the education system, send your child to private school. Eat fish on Friday, if you want, and only watch satellite television. Believe what you will about life and death and holy texts and pray to whomever or whatever you wish—as long as you stick to the law. If you can’t, it’s on you to find a way to make it work, not the government. In Canada, we live by Canadian law. If you don’t like it, find a way to live with it. Because if I step into your mosque, I’m going to take off my shoes.
For more, see CBC News Indepth, the Toronto Star and the National Post.
robynoncampus@gmail.com
Girls can’t wear jeans to school, say university presidents
Indian state government tells schools to ignore illegitimately issued female dress code
In Kanpur, India, the state government and a group claiming to represent the presidents of the state’s publicly funded universities are clashing over whether or not girls should be allowed to wear jeans to school.
According to Indian media outlets, Uttar Pradesh Pracharya Parishad (UPPP), a group of 22 post-secondary principals, unanimously voted to ban women from wearing jeans on campus last week, saying that the move would reduce incidents of harassment. The group also voted to ban students from bringing cell phones to school.
“It has been viewed that eve-teasers generally target girls wearing jeans or modern clothes,” said university principal Ashok Kumar Srivastava. If girls wore traditional Indian clothes, he said cases of sexual harassment near college campuses would decrease. “We can take precautionary measures to prevent the harassment of girls.”
The decision was made soon after after four girls’ schools in Kanpur prohibited students from wearing jeans, tight tops, sleeveless blouses, high heels and tight-fitting clothes on campus.
Public education officials reacted to the ban with anger, rebuking the vote as an “immature decision” and “dictatorial.” The president of one teachers’ organization said he had never heard of the group UPPP. “If there was any such body, they would at least have informed [us].”
The next day, the state government issued a warning to all local officials that the ban on wearing jeans on campus was not to be enforced. The department of higher education also demanded that any schools that had passed the bans withdraw them or face legal action. The four universities that had initially forbidden jeans on campus promptly complied.
A government spokesperson says the UPPP is not a recognized organization, and that the group was only formed approximately four months ago.
Explaining the ban on mobile phones, Srivastava said: “More than a necessity, mobile phones have become a luxury for students, and they waste much of their time talking to friends.”
U of T prof takes the stand in defense of accused terrorist
Law prof says messages glorifying jihad do not advocate violence against Canadians
A leading expert in Islam and University of Toronto professor says texts glorifying jihad seized from the home of one of the so-called Toronto 18 do not advocate violence against Canadians.
Mohammad Fadel, a law professor at U of T, is the final defence witness at the sentencing hearing for 22-year-old Saad Khalid.
Khalid has pleaded guilty to taking part in a domestic terror plot that involved plans to detonate bombs at a number of high-profile targets over three days.
Fadel told a Brampton, Ont., court today the five documents found on Khalid’s laptop and on a memory card in his bedroom are simply moral arguments, not legal decrees that must be followed.
Even the most “incendiary” text, one that singles out the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, only calls for Muslims to donate money to the Taliban and pray for victory.
It’s expected final submissions at the sentencing hearing will begin Friday.
- The Canadian Press
What You Know About Tax
What you know about tax
Music video from Queen’s 2007 Lawlapalooza, featuring professor and former associate law dean Art Cockfield.
UNB students petition for wrongfully convicted man
Dying Ontario man was convicted of murder in New Brunswick 34 years ago
A group of law students has collected more than 1,000 signatures through an online petition in the effort to get compensation for a dying Ontario man who was wrongfully convicted of murder in New Brunswick 34 years ago.
Erin Walsh was convicted in 1975 of killing Melvin (Chi Chi) Peters in Saint John, N.B., and served 10 years in prison before getting parole, but was acquitted last year after new information was uncovered.
Walsh, who has colon cancer, has launched a civil suit that names the province, the Crown prosecutor in the original trial, the City of Saint John and Saint John Police as defendants.
University of New Brunswick student Shane Martinez says other provinces have compensated people who were wrongfully convicted, and New Brunswick needs to do the same.
Government officials have declined specific comment on Walsh while the civil suit is before the courts.
Premier Shawn Graham has asked Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne, who was attorney general and minister of justice from 1997 to 1999, to temporarily oversee the file for the province.
- The Canadian Press
UBC ordered to return $4 million in parking fines
University to appeal ruling that found it unlawfully gave parking tickets since 1990
A judge has found the University of British Columbia guilty of unlawfully issuing parking tickets since 1990, and has ordered the school to pay back more than $4 million in fines to thousands of parking miscreants.
Coleman on Campus: UBC can’t impose pricey parking penalties, court rules
The class-action lawsuit was brought to the B.C. courts in 2006 by representative plaintiff Daniel Barbour, a Vancouver-based chartered accountant.
Barbour’s two-door Jaguar was impounded while it was legally parked on Wesbrook Mall on the university campus. The school ordered him to pay $200 dollars to get his car back, alleging that he had violated the parking rules on at least one other occasion.
Until the start of the trial, UBC had argued that the fines were lawfully collected under the University Act, but then changed its tune, arguing that there were “private law justifications” for the regulations.
During the case, it was revealed that out of a total 432,847 tickets that were issued between January 1990 and December 2005, more than half remain unpaid.
Out of all the tickets issued, about 10 percent of license plates were responsible for nearly 40 per cent of the university’s parking violations.
In his judgment, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Richard Goepel said that although the university does retain the right to remove vehicles that are improperly parked, and can also recover the incurred costs, that the fines were far in excess of the damage caused to the school
“I’m extremely pleased,” Barbour told The Vancouver Province. “The court has recognized that UBC has been unlawfully collecting fines and unlawfully towing cars solely because people had unpaid tickets. The court has found that those are both illegal activities.”
Sharon Matthews, Barbour’s lawyer, told the paper that there were still several issues to be determined, which included setting up a system for people to come forward to recoup their money.
UBC public relations spokesman Scott Macrae told The Globe and Mail that the university plans to appeal the decision, saying it hampers the school’s ability to crack down on those who abuse on campus parking. This decision means that towing will now be the school’s only option for dealing with a car that is illegally parked.
“What we dispute is the judgment which says we cannot charge a fine for someone who abuses the regulation,” said Macrae, who said the money is used strictly for parking enforcement expenses. He says the school would rather be able to fine and not go to the “last resort” of towing.
Want to be a lawyer? Go down under
If you don’t make the cut in Canada, Bond University wants you
It was 3 a.m. as Warren Beil tried to toss a garbage bag into a dumpster and it burst over his head. At that moment, the Vancouver kitchen manager decided that it was time to explore other career opportunities. “I don’t want to be a chef,” he said to himself. “I think I’m going to go to law school.” It was December 2003, and he had already missed application deadlines at every Canadian university. Yet just a week later Beil, then 23, was on his way to Bond University, a law school in Australia that actively targets and recruits Canadian students.
Five years later, Beil — now completing his articling at a Vancouver law firm — is one of a growing number of future lawyers who are going abroad for their legal education. In 2007, 562 foreign-trained graduates applied to the National Committee on Accreditation, requesting the right to practice in Canada, up from 225 in 1999. If current trends continue, that number could grow by 200 applicants in as few as three years, according to Vern Krishna, a University of Ottawa law professor and former Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Bond is, by far, Canada’s most popular overseas law program. Since its founding in 1987, Australia’s first private university has geared its law program to attract Canadians. More than 140 are currently enrolled—making Bond’s population of Canadian law students almost as large as that of the University of Calgary’s faculty of law. Students meet fellow Canadians through the Canadian Law Students Association and study with visiting profs from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Western Ontario. They can even study Canadian constitutional law (Canadian corporate law courses are in the works, too) and get credit from the University of Manitoba. To top it off, it all takes place on a campus in the suburbs of Gold Coast, Queensland, a lush paradise that is a hybrid between Miami Beach and Waikiki.
Victoria Heron, a manager with student recruitment agency AustraLearn, says there are three primary reasons students choose Bond: to get through law school faster (a law degree at Bond takes only two years, not three), to gain international experience—and because they weren’t accepted at a Canadian law school. Eric Colvin, a Bond professor and former dean who used to teach at the University of Saskatchewan, says that two-thirds of graduates return to Canada to practice law and most have no problem finding jobs and articling positions. “The students say that they are able to get employment,” he says. “The fact that they have got their law degree from somewhere like Australia makes them somewhat exotic and interesting creatures and law firms are very willing to see what they’ve got to offer.”
Beil thinks his global outlook gave him an edge when applying for articling positions. “A lot of the Canadian law grads have never worked. They have never done anything,” he says. “In this market, employers just want to see something different. I got out there and saw the world and it makes me way more interesting.” But among his peers at the University of Toronto where he later completed a second law degree, Beil had to fight Bond’s stigma as Last Chance U. “The appearance of Bond to a lot of people in Canada is that the school will let anybody under the sun in,” he says. “People say, ‘You went to Bond because you couldn’t get in anywhere else. You’re not as smart as the rest of us.’ It’s simply not true.”
