Quid Novi

Université McGill,Faculté de Droit

Volume 31, no. 1623 mars 2010

McGill University,Faculty of Law

Volume 31, no. 16March 23rd, 2010

QQUUIIDD NNOOVVII

IN THIS ISSUE...

3.A Fresh Start

4. J-Board Decision

8. Suggestions for Structural Change

11. Non-Law Book Review...

8. Legal Essay Writing Contest

14. BLSAC Thanks You All!

15. Six Things I Hate

16. Traffic Act 3 -Shotgun Shack

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QUID NOVI

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From theOmbudsman

by Charlie Feldman (LAW II)

Last week, we chose to redact in partthe N-word that appeared in a submission.The author, when submitting, asked us tokeep the dialogue intact. The Associate Ed-itor who first reviewed the piece did not sig-nal the presence of the word (when askedlater, this Editor stated the belief that theword was not a problem in terms of ourpublication). It was only upon subsequentreview that we saw the word and had a de-bate about whether it was appropriate forinclusion.

The author’s reaction to our redactionappears as submitted at the end of his arti-cle this week. As a side note, he suggeststhat the editing team “grow a pair” which,while it could apply to me (in my editing ca-pacity), it is confusing as it applies to Court-ney and Chanel. What is it exactly these twoladies should grow in pairs?

We are often faced with difficult choicesat the Quid as regards submissions. Nor-mally, if there is a content concern, we at-tempt to address it with the author. Thisusually results in the author withdrawing thesubmission or agreeing to (usually minor)edits that render the piece more suitable forpublication. In extreme cases, the Editors-in-Chief can refuse publication.

There is a delicate balance to be struck,as freedom of expression is something wehold near and dear. We don’t like censor-ship. That being said, there are cases wherecontent goes over the line and is simply notpublishable. Where exactly the line is drawnis in part guided by the Quid Editorial Policyand Operational Guidelines. Certainly, you may agree with some deci-sions and disagree with others. As always,we welcome your feedback:[email protected].

VISITTHENEWLY-UP-DATED QUIDWEBSITE

http://quid.mcgill.ca/

(Thanks to Webmaster RyanSchwartz!!)

Featuring: ISSUESINPDF!!!!

C’est tellement incroyable!

Droit a l’image will returnnext week.

23 MARS 2010

Notice to readers:The campaign blurb for Hélène Vallée in last week’s issue printed incorrectly. We apologize for formatting errorand diminished readability.

While my term as President of the LSAdoes not begin until 1 May I wanted totake a second to quickly address someissues. First, congratulationsto the in-coming executive. I know most of youaren’t thinking about student politicsright now with papers, exams andcourse aux stages taking up all of yourtime. It’s been an interesting year forthe LSA executive. There have beensome definite successes that will havea long-term impact on both the associ-ation and faculty. Last month I de-tailed some small examples of eachVP’s successes. Recently, there hasbeen more progress such as the VP-Fi-nance and President saving the associ-ation over ten thousand dollars a yearby renegotiating our insurance con-tract with a new provider. As well, theVP-Internal will be introducing a newmicro-brew beer specially created forthe faculty in the coming weeks. Fi-nally, my resolution to increase thecredit weight of second year LegalMethodology from two to three creditswas passed by faculty council lastweek after an eight-month journey.

At the same time, not everything ranas smoothly as it should have. Ideeply regret the perception that theexecutive might have been attemptingto avoid LSA council in the fall semes-ter. Hopefully, with the J-Board pub-lishing their ruling we can put thatincident behind us and move forward.I promise that meetings will be held asconstitutionally required next year.

That incident only provides furtherproof that one of the yearlong goals ofthe next executive must be a coher-ent, thoughtful reevaluation and ex-amination of the Constitution andBy-Laws, which are in desperate needof reform.

After having been part of the LSA forthe past year I have some definiteideas for substantive reform going for-ward. The committee I have begunwith respect to the second-year cur-riculum will continue into next year. Iam committed to having a successfulorientation, enjoyable coffeehousesand other LSA events. As well, theConstitution and By-Laws must be re-examined, more curricular reform isnecessary as is an exploration of theplace of French in our faculty. Severalstudents throughout the year men-tioned to me that one French courseat least should be a required part ofour degree. I am certain that such aproposal will spark debate but I be-lieve it is a necessary discussion for afaculty that claims to be bilingual.

Not all reform can or should come di-rectly from the LSA council. J’ai laferme conviction que les étudiants doi-vent jouer un rôle actif dans l’orienta-tion de leur éducation. J’espère quevous y verrez l’opportunité de venirme parler et me partager vos ques-tions, suggestions et/ou préoccupa-tions. Je suis là pour vous, alorsn’hésitez pas à me contacter si vous

avez des questions, des idées, ou vou-lez nous aider.

I would like to take a second to thankall the students who didbring theirsuggestions and ideas to me through-out the year. It is because of student-initiated proposals that some curricularreforms are being discussed or a newfaculty wide French word count policymight become a reality. Students maybe surprised to find out that most ofthe faculty members I have workedwith during the past year take seriousnote of when you present a student-initiated suggestion. One of my majorgoals for next year will be to continueand foster student-initiated reforms byproviding them with the necessarysupport and help.

Finally, I would to take a second tothank the outgoing LSA executive andcouncil. Both bodies were filled withstudents who were willing to take thetime and try to improve life at the fac-ulty. We might not have always suc-ceeded but I can assure students itoften wasn’t because we didn’t takeour responsibilities seriously. Goingforward, I believe that while we shouldacknowledge our successes we musttake advantage of our failures to learnand improve for next year. Lastly, Iwould like to thank Alex Shee for giv-ing us his endless energy throughouthis term and trying to improve life atthe faculty for all students.

A Fresh Startby Stefan Hoffman (LAW III) - LSA President-Elect

LSAELECTIONRESUTLTS:

VP Administration - Farah GoulamhoussenVP External - Kirk Emery

Valedictorian - John Keith Serry

3

IN THE MATTER OF a Referenceby Charlie Feldman to the JudicialBoard concerning the interpretationof certain provisions of the LSA Con-stitution

Friday, March 19, 2010

Present : Annamaria Enenajor, BrettHodgins and Jessica Syms

Jurisdiction:

Pursuant to s. IX 33 (1) of the LSA Con-stitution which states “Any member ofthe Corporation or any LSA Group mayrefer questions or disputes to the JudicialBoard”, the Judicial Board has acceptedthe following reference questions from2nd Year Class Co-President CharlieFeldman:

Question 1: Is it the duty of the CRO toset an election date that allows the LSACouncil to meet its exigencies per Con-stitution, or, apart from the formal re-quirements indicated does the CRO havecomplete discretion in this regard?

Question 2 (a): May items for which theConstitution specifies a date (such aselection of LSA Speaker by October15th, adoption of the preliminary budgetby Oct 30th) occur after these dates? Maythey be challenged for failing to complywith the Constitution? Or, will they bevalid in an instance such as ours whereCouncil has failed to meet?

Question 2(b): When a date is specifiedby the Constitution, are the actions re-quired to occur before that date legiti-mate if performed after that date? Arethere circumstances in which noncom-pliance is acceptable?

Question 3: Acting under V-15, is it ac-ceptable for the Executive to undertakeany actions that Article IV-17 suggestmay be reserved for Council?

Question 4 (a): Can LSA Council meetprior to the election of first-year class

presidents and faculty council?

Question 4(b): If yes, who sits? (I.e. doesV-15 preclude elected class presidentsand the law senator from convening withthe Executive in the form of the Legisla-tive Body)?

Question 4 (c): If yes, may the Councilvote? May it adopt its own budget ormust the full Council – including first-year presidents –be reserved the right tovote on this as IV-17 appears to indicate?

Question 4 (d): If no, and there are nomeetings occurring that include thosepersons elected for the academic year,how might the full Board convene to ful-fill its responsibilities?

Answers in brief:

Question 1: Yes, in principle the CRO isconstrained by the exigencies of the en-tire Constitution, and not just those di-rectly relating to his or her duties.However, as the “deadline” provisions inquestion have been found to be invalidbelow, the CRO will not be bound bythem.

Question 2 (a) (b) (c) are answered to-gether: Yes, actions for which dates areset by the Constitution may be held afterthese deadlines. The deadline provisionsthemselves are void for uncertainty.

Question 3: No, the Executive (“transi-tory body”) may not undertake actionsspecifically set for Council, only theday-to-day operations of the LSA.

Question 4(a)- (d) answered together:No, the Council may not (officially)meet prior to the fall election.

Reasoning:

Question 1 :

Per Syms : À prime abord, j’acceptequ’en accord avec les articles 15(1), 17(f)et (12) de la Constitution de la Faculté deDroit de McGill, le CRO jouisse d’uneentière discrétion quant au choix de ladate du déroulement des élections à lasession d’automne. Cependant, je ne suispas d’accord quant à la proposition selonlaquelle le CRO n’a pas à tenir comptedes échéances constitutionnelles impo-sées à l’Exécutif. Je suis d’avis qu’une datelimite pour les élections d’automne de-vrait être déterminée afin de permettre lefonctionnement le plus facile de tous lesdifférents organes constitutionnels assu-rant la gestion et gouvernance du corpsétudiant de la faculté. Bien que chacunsoient techniquement indépendants lesuns des autres, je suis d’avis que tous lesgroupes constitutifs du mécanismeconstitutionnel de la Faculté doivent tenircompte les uns des autres dans leurs ac-tions afin de faciliter le fonctionnementgénéral de la Faculté de Droit de McGillsur le plan constitutionnel.

La détermination d’un délai acceptablepour les élections d’automne ne viendraitpas, selon moi, limiter le pouvoir discré-tionnaire du CRO de manière déraison-nable. Ceci viendrait plutôt faciliter ledéroulement des tâches des autres or-ganes constitutionnels de la Faculté. L’en-semble de la communauté étudiantedésirant être mise au courant le plus tôtpossible des décisions prises par l’Exécu-tif, surtout en ce qui concerne le budgetadopté, il est important que ce dernierpuisse se réunir le plus tôt possible dansla session.

Par conséquent, je propose qu’une datelimite soit déterminée pour les électionsse tenant à l’automne afin de favoriser lemeilleur fonctionnement possible au seindes tous les organes exécutifs de la Fa-culté de Droit de McGill.

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Per Enenajor (concurring opinion) : Iagree with my colleague Ms. Syms on thisissue. The Constitution is the supremerule governing the conduct and affairs ofthe LSA. All activities carried out by theLSA must conform to the Constitutionand therefore, the provisions spelling outthe duties of each member including thetask of the CRO must be interpreted in away that conforms to Constitution or elsebe struck down. Where there is discre-tion, as with duties of the CRO, that dis-cretion must be exercised in conformitywith the imperatives of the Constitutionas a whole. This includes the constitu-tional requirement of s. 15(1) that theSpeaker of the LSA shall be elected nolater than the 15th of October. As Mr.Feldman mentioned in his written sub-mission, placing the burden of compli-ance with this deadline solely on theExecutive would be problematic since theCRO enjoys exclusivity in the area ofelections. The drafters of the Constitu-tion, in view of the document’s centralfunction to facilitate good governance ofthe LSA, could not have intended theCRO’s discretionary power to allow himor her to railroad constitutional exigen-cies such as those in ss. 15(1), 17(f) and12. Although the CRO is not explicitlyrequired to hold elections before the 15th

of October, the requirement that theLSA elect a Speaker before the 15th ofOctober places a duty on the CRO to ex-ercise his or her duties in a way thatmakes this possible.

Furthermore, I would suggest that theLSA seriously consider constitutional re-form to eliminate such ambiguities andspell out more clearly the entire scope ofthe duties of the CRO. Mr. Feldman sug-gests the creation of a committee to re-vise the applicable By-Law. I wouldrather defer to the LSA to come up witha strategy that would bring about this de-sired outcome.

Our unanimous decision in the invalidityof the “deadline” provisions of the Con-stitution in Question 2 requires me to ad-

dress at this point the significance of thatfinding for the majority answer to Ques-tion 1. For the sake of clarity, Question1 stands for the principle that it is theduty of the CRO to set an election datethat allows the LSA Council to meet itsexigencies as per the Constitution. If anyConstitutional provisions spelling outthese exigencies are found to be nolonger valid (like those treated by Ques-tion 2), they will no longer constrain theCRO.

Per Hodgins (dissent) : I wouldhold that the CRO has no duty to set anelection date to accommodate the time-line for board meetings set out in theLSA Constitution Part IV ss. 15 (1), 17(f), and Part V s. (12) [I would also notethat the Constitution’s inconsistent num-bering should be addressed]. I agree withAlex’s submission that the Constitutionand By-Law 9 give complete jurisdictionand discretion to the CRO in all mattersrelating to elections, and that it was theclear intention of the drafters that this bethe case.

Charlie points to the oversight role the J-Board has over CRO discretionary deci-sions, as evinced in Shee v. CRO (2008).However in this decision the J-Boardheld that “it was not the intent of the leg-islative or executive branches of the LSAthat the Judicial Board should micro-manage the functions of the CRO”, andthat the J-Board’s role was to “ensure thatthe determinations and actions of theCRO conform to the minimal require-ments of the principles of natural jus-tice” (paras. 4-5). The question at issue inthat case was whether the CRO had ap-propriately used its discretionary powerto disqualify a candidate from an election.I don’t believe the current issue –whether the CRO is required to hold anelection by a certain date – involves thesame questions of natural justice. I there-fore do not believe J-Board interferenceon this question is justified or necessary.

Question 2 (a) (b) (c):

Per Hodgins (Syms, Enenajor con-curring): As Charlie notes in his submis-sion, without an enforcementmechanism, there is no consequence fora breach of the Constitution’s “deadline”provisions. This is exactly correct. As anenforcement mechanism, Charlie pro-poses that the J-Board declare all actionsby the Council to be invalid. I believe it iswithin the power of the J-Board to do so.However I do not believe that such an ac-tion would be in keeping with the inten-tions of the drafters of the Constitution,with the Constitution’s purpose, or with“public policy” within the faculty. Thedrafters of the Constitution wanted tocreate the framework in which the LSAcould function. It was not their intentionto create rules by which the LSA Councilcould be prevented from functioning atall, nor would this be a reasonable re-sponse to the Council’s failure to meet oract by the Constitutional deadlines. Char-lie suggests that by disallowing any ac-tions by the Council, important decisionscould be submitted to the student bodyas a whole through a referendum, in aform of direct democracy. I believe thatto put the business of the LSA into thehands of the student body which hadelected Council members for the exactpurpose of having representatives makethese decisions would unnecessarily en-cumber the decision-making process andlead to an ineffective LSA. I would there-fore not find the Council’s actions thisyear to be invalid.

I note Alex’s submission that the use ofthe word “shall” in Part IV s. 15 (1) indi-cates a degree of flexibility which theword “must” would not have. I disagreeand see no meaningful distinction be-tween “shall” and “must”; both wordsimply an imperative. I therefore believethat the drafter’s intention was to havethe actions in question occur by thestated dates. Yet returning to Charlie’soriginal concern, what recourse is thenavailable to create a consequence for

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breach of the Constitutional deadlines?Attempting to identify and punish the in-dividuals responsible for the lapse wouldbe an unnecessarily acrimonious process– and at this point a rather empty gesture.I see no other options with any morepromise. We are left with certain Consti-tutional provisions with no enforcementmechanism. Therefore, as with vaguecontractual clauses, I would find the“deadline” provisions of the Constitu-tion to be invalid, and of no force and ef-fect by reason of uncertainty. For greaterclarity, the provisions I would find invalidare in bold as follows:

Part IV s. 15 (1) The Speaker ofthe LSA Council shall be electedby the Board of Directors. Theelection shall be by secret ballotand take place no later thanthe 15th of October.

Part IV s. 17 (f) To adopt a pre-liminary LSA budget for the ac-ademic year before October30th, which shall include adopt-ing the budget of LSA Groups;

Part V s. 12 The Board shallmeet at least once betweenthe beginning of classes inthe Fall Term and October15th, and thereafter at leastonce every two weeks duringthe period while classes are insession.

During oral submissions, we discussedwith Charlie the hypothetical situation ofnational elections not being held withinthe Constitutionally-set period, and whatthe remedy would be in such a situation.There is no precedent of which I amaware, however I think the obvious an-swer is that an election would be held assoon as was reasonably possible. The an-swer would not be to prevent an electionuntil the next electoral period had expired(or indefinitely). By the same token I amconfident that if the body which draftedthe LSA Constitution were asked whatshould happen if elections aren’t held in

time to accommodate the Constitutionaldeadlines, they would respond that elec-tions must occur as soon as possible.

At the risk of opening a “Pandora’s box”,since many provisions of the Constitu-tion have no clear enforcement mecha-nism, I would note that future decisionsby the J-Board should not adopt a testalong the lines of “no enforcementmechanism = invalid”. Rather the J-Board must first consider if there are rea-sonable remedies to be applied, which inmost cases I believe there would be. It iscertainly always open to the J-Board tofind individual actions invalid, for exam-ple.

I would also like to note that the deadlineprovisions have a very legitimate goal: en-suring that the Council proceed with itsactivities in a timely manner. Alex hasmentioned the possibility of constitu-tional reform in various articles in theQuid, but even in the absence of such re-form, I still believe there are informalways to ensure that the Council begin itsbusiness as early as possible:

Pressure from the student body can cre-ate a motivation for the Council to meetearly, particularly with the public airingof complaints, as occurs in the Quid.

By-law 9 s.2.2 states that “The CRO willpost a time for the opening and closingof nominations, and these dates andtimes will be determined by the CRO inconsultation with the President.” Surelyduring such consultations, the Presidentcould express the need for elections tooccur early enough for the Council toconvene by mid-October. Such influ-ence over dates would of course be in-formal, but remains an important toolin keeping a reasonable timeframe forthe Council.

Part IV s. 17 (g) also gives the Council asupervisory role over the CRO, whichagain should allow for informal consul-tations stressing the need for timelyelections.

When applications for the CRO posi-tion are being advertised, the Councilshould make it clear that the duties ofthe CRO include organizing an electionearly in the fall school year, and shouldreview candidates based partly on theirwillingness to do so and on their punc-tuality.

These are merely a few ways that timelyelections can be ensured without re-course to a constitutional provision.

Question 3:

Per Hodgins (Syms, Enenajor concur-ring): Part V s. 15 of the Constitutionmakes it clear that the executive is to havethe power to act on behalf of the Coun-cil as a whole until the newly electedCouncil is able to meet in the fall. AsCharlie notes, the provision is unclear asto what actions are “reasonably neces-sary”. In his submission Alex suggeststhat this provision includes a great dealof “flexibility” which implies that the ex-ecutive has the power to exercise mostCouncil functions if it sees fit to do so. Iwould not comprehensively enumeratethose actions which the transitory bodycan and cannot do on the Council’s be-half. However, I believe the transitorybody’s discretion must be based on a verynarrow interpretation of “reasonablynecessary”.

It seems to me that the purpose of PartV s. 15 was to allow the day-to-day func-tions of the LSA to continue through thesummer in the absence of the full Coun-cil. This should not include substantivedecisions intended to be taken by theboard as a whole. Actions I believe are“reasonably necessary” would include or-dinary purchases and sales (of office sup-plies or small items of equipment, forexample), the advertisement of commit-tee positions, the appointment of com-mittee members, keeping the LSA officesorganized throughout the summer (hir-ing a staff member if necessary), and any

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other similar activities intended for gen-eral upkeep and day-to-day activities.Only in emergency circumstances wouldit be valid for the transitory body to makemore substantive decisions.

The transitory body does not have thepower to borrow any significant amountof money, or purchase, lease, or disposeof property of any significant value; toratify its own committee appointments;to adopt a budget; to elect a Speaker; toremove committee members, or makeany other substantive decisions intendedto be made by the Council as a whole. Ido not believe it was the Constitutionaldrafters’ intention to assign vast discre-tionary power in the transitory body butrather, as stated above, to allow the day-to-day administration of the LSA to con-tinue between the end of the springsemester and the beginning of the fallone.

I find it appropriate here to make a briefcomment on the present J-Board, themembership of which has not been rati-fied by the Council. The composition ofthis body could indeed have been chal-lenged at the time Charlie publically sub-mitted reference questions to us (orearlier). However no challenge occurred,and all Council and Executive memberswho have since interacted with this bodyhave implicitly recognized our legitimacy.I thus believe a challenge of legitimacyfrom a party who disagreed with this rul-ing would appear quite disingenuous. Ofcourse, this situation has only beenbrought about by the extraordinary cir-cumstances this year which gave rise tothese reference questions. In the future J-Board appointments must be ratified bythe Council.

Question 4(a)- (d)

Per Hodgins (Syms, Enenajor con-curring): Part IV s. 13 of the Constitu-tion is clear as to the composition of theLSA Council (“Board of Directors”).Prior to the fall elections, without the en-tire Council available, the Council cannot

meet. I would not forbid meetings held,in the interest of comity, between Coun-cil members elected the previous springand the Executive prior to the fall elec-tions. Such meetings could be relativelyinformal, used to discuss areas of con-cern or interest, to identify potential pri-orities for the coming year, or to facilitateconsultations with the CRO regardingthe timing of the fall election. Such ameeting could not constitute a trueCouncil meeting, and no substantive de-cisions could be made on behalf of theCouncil as a whole. I agree with Charlie’ssubmission that this would amount todisenfranchising those Council memberselected in the fall (first years). However,such a meeting could be an expression ofgood faith by the transitory body, whichwould nonetheless continue to hold itslimited powers, outlined above, until theCouncil could meet.

In response to part c) of the question, Ibelieve the above makes it clear that theresponsibilities of the Council cannot befulfilled until the Council meets. Thetransitory body does not have the powerto exercise the Council’s powers beyondthose activities outlined in my responseto question 3 above.

Subsequent Questions of Validity:

With respect to the Questions above, itseems unreasonable and impractical todeclare as invalid the actions of the CROand the LSA that have been undertakensince May 2009, but all future LSA bod-ies must abide by the constitutional in-terpretations provided above.

Annamaria Enenajor

Brett Hodgins

Jessica Syms

23 MARS 2010

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Suggestions for Structural Improve-ments to McGill Law’s Curriculum

by Justin Douglas (Law III)

As my experience at McGill Law drawsto a close I will be leaving this institu-tion with a plethora of emotions. Part ofme just wants to run far away from thewalls of Chancellor Day Hall, never toreturn. Another part is very proud thatI was able to endure, complete andhopefully, in my own little way, leave asmall mark on the institution that Ispent so much time in. The trans-sys-temic teaching approach adopted byMcGill Law is still, relatively speaking, inits birthing stages. Having almost com-pleted the program, I propose a num-ber of simple suggestions that couldenrich the quality of students’ experi-ence while at the Faculty. I hope mythoughts spur a dialogue between thestudent body and the administrationand results in concrete improvements tothe curriculum.

To be fair, my time at the Faculty hasenabled me to develop many tangibleskills and participate in a range of ac-tivities. I would therefore like to preface

my constructive criticism by highlight-ing some of the Faculty’s strengths: - excellent reputation-ability to attract potential employers-internships and for-credit communityplacements-Extra-curricular activities such asProBono, the LSA, MLIC, Clubs, HRWG-Exchanges and terms away -Research Assistants and Tutorial Lead-ers-Mooting-Conferences, guest lectures, HighSchool Outreach-Student-initiated seminars-McGill’s student body and the collectivepotential that exists within all of us-The personal and inspiring success sto-ries of Law Alumni

While these are certainly intangibles,the classroom experience and the over-all quality of teaching/learning at theFaculty is underwhelming. There is acertain laissez-faire expectation placedon students. We are independent and,

therefore, should be able to learn onour own. However, our student body isdiverse and we need a variety of teach-ing tools to help us maximize our learn-ing. The emphasis placed onlecture-style teaching, with 100% examevaluations may be appropriate forsome students. It may also be an effi-cient method of marking. But it is cer-tainly not the most effective way tolearn or to gauge comprehension. I, forone, need to be more engaged with,and inspired by, the subject matter, andthis “one style fits all” approach hasserved to disconnect me from the learn-ing process. I knew that this would bea tough program, but I came here tolearn. I wanted to gain as much knowl-edge and experience as possible, toallow me to “succeed” wherever lifemay take me next. I have given the cur-rent system a great deal of thought,and although I know that my sugges-tions will not completely address what Iperceive to be the deficits in our legaleducation, I do think that they offer astep in the right direction. Here is what I suggest:

1st Year Class Structure:

First–year Legal Methodology should bechanged into a two-week, two-credit in-troductory pre-course. Course workshould include a case summary, legalresearch engines, point-first writing andgeneral legal writing exercises. This iscommon practice at other universitiesincluding, for example, the University ofToronto. With a political science back-ground, I personally would have bene-fited from a pre-course, rather than the“figure it out after it’s finished” ap-proach that McGill seems to haveadopted.

First-year tutorials should continue, butthe structure should be modified. Themandate of Tutorial Leaders should beexpanded to include all core first-year

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classes (Constitutional Law, ContractualObligations, Extra-Contractual Obliga-tions and Civil Law Property). The LegalMethodology Professor should continueto oversee the ten first-year TutorialLeaders. TL’s should instruct one-hourweekly tutorials.

Over the first semester, TL’s should co-ordinate with the core courses profes-sors and together ask students to writefour memos. Each memo should beworth 25% of the overall grade of theclass for which it is written. First-yearstudents should write one memo everytwo-weeks for the first two to threemonths of studies. TL’s should assist theprofessors in the marking of all memos.It is not necessary for the TL to markhis or her own students’ work, as pro-fessors assign final grades. TL’s should,

however, give helpful and clear feed-back to students on how to improve thequality of their work. It would also behelpful if professors gave more con-structive criticism and feedback on thework as well.

After the memos are completed, TL’sshould help student prepare for mid-terms, finals and optional assignments,as well as continue to help professorsmark first-year materials. TL’s could alsobe used in-classroom, if professors feela need. Or professors could direct cer-tain activities to TL labs, if they feel aparticular area or concept needs furthertime. I realize this would require a gooddeal of coordination, but I would sug-gest that the benefit to students wouldhighly outweigh the administrative bur-den.

Evaluation of the four core first-yearclasses should consist of the a 25%memo, a 25% assist-only mid-termexam (including a fact-pattern and atheory question), a 25% optional paperin second semester and a final examworth 25%, 50% or 75% of the finalgrade.

Legal Foundations should only be aone-semester course. First-year stu-dents should be free to choose a three-credit elective in second semester.

2nd Year Class Structure:

Legal Methodology II should be elimi-nated. Instead, a three-credit LegalEthics course should be required as partof the second-year curriculum. JudicialInstitutions and Civil Procedure shouldalso be a mandatory second-yearcourse. Two factums should be writtenin second year, one in-conjunction withLegal Ethics and one in-conjunctionwith JICP. The mooting component ofLegal Methodology should be re-inte-grated into the second year curriculum,the pass/fail element should be re-moved, and the moot should be given asignificant percentage of the overallcourse grade.

Advanced Common Law and AdvancedCivil Law Obligations should be re-moved from the mandatory require-ments and changed into basketcourses. These courses have been con-sistently problematic for students andthe Law Department for a variety ofreasons. Students would be betterserved by other required courses, suchas a full-year class on Criminal Law.

Upper-Year Courses:

The elective options need to be ex-panded. Seats in Sports Law and Enter-tainment Law fill as soon as registrationopens, yet Maritime Law is offeredevery year and half the seats remainopen. Seminar courses should be thenorms for upper year classes. Participa-tion should be a component of the classgrade in order to encourage atten-dance. Low class attendance is commonin upper year courses. It is likely a re-

MARCH 23RD 2010

9

flection of the value students feel theyare getting from being in the classroom.Professors who find student attendancevery low might consider this, and takethe opportunity to reflect on how to re-engage students.

Readings need to be limited and fo-cused. By third year, most students arenot going to read 1000 pages a week,but they do want and are willing to ex-amine particular issues in orderto de-velop an in-depth understanding of thematerials presented. At this stage, writ-ing massive, time-consuming term pa-pers in-lieu of exams is also not helpful,since pouring heart and soul into apaper only to have a professor glance itover and then drop it into a slush pile isboth non-motivating and disheartening.

Feedback from professors needs to bemore specific and concrete. Any feed-back received after writing a 100%exam “is too little, too late,” since stu-dents have moved on to new classesand professors by that point. Studentsdon’t benefit from learning after thefact; they need professors to imparttheir knowledge in a way that preparesstudents for the challenges of theirevaluations.

There needs to be a balance betweentheory and practice. While McGill Lawprides itself on offering a highly theo-retical program and approach to legalsystems, students also need a strongfoundation in the basic principles andfunctions of the system before they canengage with it and critique it in a trulyacademic way. Students also need con-crete tools to succeed in this program.Bench memos, factums, contracts, ne-gotiations, arbitrations, and mock-trialsare some of the many ways to engagestudents and to go beyond the tradi-tional “exam and paper” mold. Profes-sors need to be encouraged to find newways of evaluating students by usingexperiential teaching techniques andhands-on learning.

Twenty-four to 48-hour take-homeexams are a form of cruel and unusualpunishment.

The Summer Program Should be Ex-panded:

Given that students are able to com-plete their studies over a three to fouryear period, summer courses should beanother valuable time for learning. TheSAO has explicitly stated to me thatsummer courses are not offered as atool for students to complete the pro-gram. To me, this is illogical. Studentsneed every opportunity to learn andsucceed. The department has been ableto offer the summer arbitration course,term papers and a few other options.There is an opportunity here for the de-partment to expand the summer pro-gram, not only to make it moreattractive and helpful to current stu-dents, but to exchange students andprospective students alike.

Tutorial Leader is an Invaluable Experi-ence:

Finally, I would like to take a momentto acknowledge the value of being a tu-torial leader. Legal Methodology hasbeen the defining course for me on mylearning journey at McGill. Unfortu-nately, it was not until I became a tuto-rial leader that legal, point-first writingreally “clicked” for me. Having the op-portunity to administer tutorials, markassignments, give feedback and providemoments of learning has culminated ina higher level of personal academic per-

formance and a more refined style ofwriting than would have otherwise beenpossible. I would highly recommend toall students that they consider this for-credit learning option.

I would also like to thank ProfessorLamed for the time and energy she putsinto administering this program. I havewitnessed her read and grade everyfirst and second year students’ LegalMethodology assignments. Despite thisworkload she still found time to organ-ize bi-weekly meetings with all tutorialleaders, organized the mock-moots, thereal moot try-outs, teach Insurance Lawand attend numerous faculty eventsand committee meetings. Yet she re-mains available to me whenever I haveneeded anything. This type of dedica-tion is inspiring and worthy of recogni-tion.

A Shift Towards New Approaches toLearning:

McGill is an institution steeped in tradi-tion. and change can be difficult. . How-ever, McGill is also a place of dynamiclearning, and it has the potential to be-come even greater: a place where newideas and methods are used to engageand inspire a new generation of youngminds. Our collective will and dedicationis required in order for McGill’s law pro-gram to reach its full potential.

QUID NOVI

10

Non-Law Book Review: The Nibelungenlied by Nick Melling (LAW III)

Everybody loves a medieval Germanicepic. Hell, whether you’re a 19th cen-tury opera writer with a passion forhorned helmets, or just a regular Joewho likes to spend his spare time read-ing about slaying, you’ll surely findsomething to entertain you in thesegrand, guttural tales of armour-cladglory. And most likely you’ll find it in theNibelungenlied, which covers the fieldof German epics to pretty much thesame degree that the country of Aus-tralia covers the Australian continent.Unlike the country of Australia, how-ever, the Nibelungenlied is the work ofa literate man – a literate man with ahankering to write something really vi-olent.

My own love affair with the Nibelun-genlied began when my Swiss girlfriendDeborah gave me a copy as an entice-ment to improve my German. Thiswould have been a fine plan except thatshe got me the English translation, en-tirely defeating the purpose, and soonany thought of profiting linguisticallyfrom my reading experience was for-gotten in the tumult of great Germanicwarriors slaying, and other equally Ger-manic warriors being slain.

Indeed, you might say that slayingplays rather a large role in the Nibelun-genlied, to the exclusion of other, lesserdevices for plot development. You canget a fairly complete understanding ofthe story simply by browsing over thetable of contents, where you’ll findchapter titles like, “How Rüdiger wasslain”, “How Dietrich’s warriors wereslain to a man”, and (spoiler alert!)“How Dancwart slew Bloedelin.” In fact,of the last eight chapters, where thereal bloodletting really gets started,only two titles do not contain some con-jugation of the word “slay”: “How theythrew the corpses from the hall” and“How the Queen had the hall burneddown.” Resist the temptation to skipover these “chick lit” sections, though:I promise there’s still plenty of slayingfor readers who take the trouble to findit!

Given that the story is basically com-prised of 50 or so unpronounceablenames arranged in slayer-slayee pairs,how did the anonymous author manageto spin it out into something that takesmany hours to read, and probably asmany weeks to recite to the accompa-niment of harps in the old mead hall?As far as I can tell, it’s through the fol-lowing three literary flourishes, whichany modern author would do well tolearn.

1. Be obsessively, childishly em-

phatic.

One of the main problems with non-me-dieval-Germanic-epic writing is that itleaves so much room for doubt andspeculation, which can shake the veryfoundations of a reader’s confidence.Take the following trembling excuse foran assertion, from Jane Austin’s Prideand Prejudice.

"Elizabeth had mentioned her name toher mother on her ladyship’s entrance."

If your mind is caught in the taught grip

23 MARS 2010

11

of uncertainty right now, you’re notalone. Is this the first clue the motherever had about her ladyship’s identity,or is it possible that she already knew?Can we safely assume that the nameElizabeth told her mother was the rightone? For that matter, what is her lady-ship’s name? Short of turning back thepage to check, there is absolutely noway to be sure.

Now, put your troubled mind at easewith the medieval German equivalent.

"King Liudegast told Siegfried that hisname was King Liudegast. Thus didSiegfried learn the name of his adver-sary, King Liudegast."

That is a statement worth stating!

You can find the same cut-glass claritythroughout the book. In Chapter 16,How Siegfried was slain, Siegfried is fa-tally stabbed in the back by his treach-erous friend Hagen. A modern writermight carelessly leave it to the readerto figure out how Siegfried felt about allthis in his dying moments. Amused?Bored? Thirsty? A man could wastevaluable time pondering that chestnut.

But the author of the Nibelungenliedspares us the trouble. “Siegfried wasenraged” he clarifies. And then – just incase any reader should think thatSiegfried was being a bit of a dramaqueen about the whole thing – adds,“as indeed he had good cause to be.”

I dare anyone to find so much as ashadow of ambiguity in these words.

2. Spend a lot of time talking aboutsewing jewels onto clothes.

Mussolini is supposed to have declared,“War is to the male what childbearing isto the female.” Judging from the occu-pations of the sexes as portrayed in theNibelungenlied, a medieval GermanicMussolini would have been better un-derstood proclaiming that war is to themale what attaching gemstones to fab-ric is to females, since, aside frommourning their slain menfolk, this ispretty much all women do. The au-thor describes the entire stone-stitchingprocess in detail near the start of thebook, and then, inexplicably, does ex-

actly the same thing 30 pages later. Herestrains himself for the rest of the nar-rative, but continues to remind us everycouple of pages that the clothes every-one is wearing do indeed have gemssewn onto them, keeping the readerin a state of fraught suspense lest helaunch into yet another lecture abouthow this came to be the case.

As for the question of why exactly theauthor feels the need to talk so muchabout the finery of the clothing in hisstory, the text itself provides the an-swer:

"The ladies wore magnificent brocadesand altogether many fine robes so thata man who nursed ill will against anymust have been a half-wit."

In other words, the symptoms of severemental retardation include not only thefailure to appreciate fine clothing, butalso the holding of any negativefeelings whatsoever towards thewearers of fine clothing. So, thenarrator would have to be stupid not todevote a third of the book to discus-sions of fabric and jewels – quite liter-ally.

3. Repeatedly blurt out the story’sending in advance.

Good authors foreshadow. But greatauthors spell out the finale in pedanticdetail every couple of paragraphs, sothat even a shrewd reader who skipsover the table of contents will have nomore surprises waiting for him by thetime he reaches the end of the firstchapter. It’s all the fun of watching amovie with an annoying child who hasseen the movie before and can’t re-strain himself from showing off his su-perior knowledge, except that the childin question is an 800-year-old Germanminstrel who can’t be bribed or threat-ened or distracted away.

And by blurting out the ending, I’m nottalking about putting in cryptic prophe-sies in the mouths of oracles, OedipusRex-style. Such predictions generallyleave at least some room for uncer-tainty as to exactly how the predictedevents will come to pass: a thoughtlessoversight, according to the standards ofour good minstrel. In Chapter 16 –

which already bears the title “HowSiegfried is slain”, remember – the au-thor can’t restrain himself from rattlingoff the name of Siegfried’s future mur-derer and his cause of death a full threetimes in the first two paragraphs. Andthese spoilers are around the 32nd,33rd, and 34th explicit descriptions ofthe event since the start of the book.

Thus, when the author finally summonssome up some dramatic flair in the fol-lowing paragraph, letting Siegfried’swife rail on about some dream she hashad about flowers dyed in blood gettingtrampled by pigs, it’s a bit hard tosavour the grim foreboding of the mo-ment. Sure, it’s nice of our minstrel totry to set the scene a little, but he hasbeen proclaiming to us for the en-tire book exactly what the dreammeans. Using subtle foreshadowing atthis point is like making a public decla-ration to your friend a year in advancethat you will be throwing a surpriseparty for her, meeting her on the day ofthe party wearing sandwich boards thatsay “I am Taking You to a SurpriseParty”, quickly briefing her once againon the essentials of the event – andthen, one minute before going with herinto a house festooned with giant “Sur-prise Party” banners, remarking knav-ishly “Why, I can’t think where all ourfriends have gotten to!”

* * *

All that being said, I heartily recom-mend this book to everyone. Whereelse can you encounter euphemisms forkilling that include "meting out pitifulwages" and "playing rough tunes", orlisten to Kriemhild brag to Brunhildethat Kriemhild's husband raped Brun-hilde on her wedding night? Short of ac-tually visiting Germany, theNibelungenlied is about as close as youcan get to that simpler, more slaying-oriented world that we've spent the last800 years trying to leave behind.

QUID NOVI

12

1st place

SOQUIJ prize of $1500

2nd place 3nd place

$1000 $500

* The Contest is reserved to the students registered

in an undergraduate program of Law in a Quebec university

or in the Civil Law program at the University of Ottawa.

For the complete rules, visit www.abcqc.qc.ca.

For more information, contact Ms. Geneviève Cabana

at [email protected]

To participate*, you must

submit a legal essay

of 8 to 12 pages answering

the following question:

M. Lightfoot, alpinist, has entered into a contractwith a Québec company toadvertize mountain shoes.Informed that the company,which manufactures theshoes in its factory in Absurdistan, systematicallyrefuses to hire women, he now wishes to terminatethe contract and claim damages. Can he do so?

The Essay must be submitted by May 31st, 2010.

J U R Y

Ms. Carine Bouzaglou

Mr. Alexandre Fallon

Ms. Anne-Marie L. Lizotte

Mr. Sylvain Lussier, Ad.E.

Mr. Nicolas Nadeau Ouellet

Ms. Julie Patry

MARCH 23RD 2010

13

BLSAC Thanks You All! by Anthony N. Morgan (LAW II)

As many of you know, from Thursday,February 18th to Saturday, February20th, the Black Law Students’ Associa-tion of Canada (BLSAC) hosted its 19thAnnual National Conference in Mon-treal. Without question, based on theimmensely positive feedback we havebeen receiving, it is safe to say that thisevent was a resounding success! Wehad more than 180 participants includ-ing law students, lawyers, professorsand community members from acrossCanada. This is almost double the num-ber of participants we had at our twoprevious conferences!

Some of the conference highlights in-cluded lectures by Professor PeterHogg, Justice Adrian Saunders of theCaribbean Court of Justice, a senatorfrom the Caribbean country of Grenada,Senator Dr. Pemba Braveboy and Jus-tice Juanita Westmorland-Traoré.BLSAC’s 3rd Annual Koskie Minsky Di-versity Moot also took place during theconference, where a team from Dal-housie emerged victorious!

There were also many panels and dis-cussions concerning various matters af-fecting Blacks within the legalprofession, as well as law-related mat-ters affecting the Black community inCanada. In one session, we exploredthe realities of being a Black lawyerworking on Bay Street, which was dis-cussed on a panel with three partnersfrom some of Canada’s top nationalfirms. With local community activist WillProsper, Fo Niemi and René Saint-Légerwe discussed the shooting death ofFredy Villanueva in Montreal North inthe summer of 2010 by Montreal police.A “Notions of Citizenship” discussionwas also hosted by the local McGillBLSA chapter with Maher Arar andSuaad Hagi Mohamud’s lawyer, JulianFalconer. There were even sessions forlaw school aspirants on how to get intolaw school.

After a year of much planning andpreparation, we are all extremelypleased that everything turned out so

well. Indeed, the conference would nothave been such a great success withoutmany of you at our wonderful faculty.As such, I would like to thank the fol-lowing people for their amazing contri-butions for which I, the BLSACExecutive and BLSAM are exceedinglygrateful.

I would like to thank the following fac-ulty and staff at the McGill UniversityFaculty of Law: Dean Daniel Jutras, As-sociate Deans David Lametti andVéronique Bélanger, former AssistantDean Charmaine Lyn and former DeanNicholas Kasirer, for all of the wonderfulenthusiasm, encouragement and sup-port they offered since learning the con-ference would be held in Montreal justover a year ago. Special thanks go toProfessor Adelle Blackett, the BLSAC2009-2010 Faculty Advisor, who alwaysopenly offered warm guidance andwonderful suggestions and direction. Iwould also like to thank Prof. Blacketttremendously for making sure that Iand the other conference planners keptour studies a top priority despite thepressure of this major event. Indeed,you pushed and inspired us to do ourbest in putting this conference together,but only after our studies were in order.

Thank you to Professors Vrinda Narainand Kim Brooks for making your re-spective sessions such wonderfully en-gaging and insightful experiences forour attendees. Students are still tellingus how much they were impressed byyou both. Also, thank you to ProfessorRobert Leckey for generously assistingwith the organization of the 3rd AnnualKoskie Minsky Diversity Moot. You wentabove and beyond in helping us organ-ize every aspect of the Moot. Thank youto Maître Helena Lamed who alsohelped to make the Moot a success.Thank you to the following persons atthe faculty who also contributed to theconference’s success: Ms. Laurel Baker,Ms. Melissa.Poueymirou, Ms. LysanneLarose, Ms. Lysianne Sévigny and Ms.Maria Marcheschi. I would also like tothank the various custodians and re-

lated staff whose hard work allowed ourattendees to get the fullest enjoymentout of McGill Law’s facilities. Mr. ThomasChalmers was also a tremendous helpin terms of organizing and securingrooms and facilities at the Faculty.

Thank you also to the members ofBLSAM, led by their President, YenivaMassaquoi, for your support in hostingthe conference. You all rock! Thanks forbeing so awesome, you know who youare! I would like to give special thanksto Laurent Koné, BLSAC’s 2009-2010VP-Québec and 2010 Conference Co-or-dinator, and Cynthia Burton, BLSAC’sFrancophone Representative. Thankyou for your vision, hard-work and de-termination in planning this conference.

Finally, there are a few other McGill Lawstudents who were also instrumental inhelping to make the conference a mostmemorable event: The executive mem-bers of the Law Students’ Association,led by our President, Alex Shee. Thankyou also to Tanya De Mello, François LeMoine, Marya Sawaf, Téo Leroux-Black-burn, Seth Abbey and Lee Rovinescu.

Without the support of all the afore-mentioned, the national conference andmy term as BLSAC President would nothave been such a grand success! Theoverwhelming support that the BLSAChas received from you, the students,faculty and staff at McGill Law, is one ofthe most special and moving things Ihave ever experienced. You're all won-derful. From the bottom of my heart, Ithank you all.

The author, Anthony Morgan, is thepresident of the Black Law Students’ As-sociation of Canada

QUID NOVI

14

15

23 MARS 2010

Problem 1: I don’t find the resultsI’m looking for!And I’m sure I’m not the only one. Asan illustration, let’s try a few searcheson three leading search legal engines.I’ll start with a simple search for caseson “equality”. Hopefully, this searchterm will give me back leading casessuch as Andrews, Law v. Canada, andKapp.

Quicklaw: "This search has been inter-rupted because it will return more than3000 results. You may wish to try oneor more of the following..." Really?Those suggestions are not very helpful.I think I’ll just try using a differentsearch engine instead.

CanLii: Okay, I see Andrews at...result#457. Still no sign of Kapp or Law....

Westlaw: Andrews is in at number 8,Kapp at number 17. Not bad, actually.Law v. Canada is still nowhere to beseen in the first couple hundred resultsthough.

Let’s try some more specific legal ter-minology. If I search on “judicial re-view”, surely I’ll see Dunsmuir show upin short order:

Quicklaw: "More than 300 results..."Maybe if I put the words in quotes?"More than 3000 results..." Okay, fine.Onwards to the next search engine.

CanLii: Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick.There it is! ...At result #1980.

Westlaw: Clicking...clicking...still click-ing. No more results after 400 docu-ments, and no sign of Dunsmuir to befound.

Okay, let's get REALLY specific. SurelyI’ll find Dunsmuir if I search for "Dun-smuir", right?

Quicklaw: "More than 300 results" ?!!!CanLii: Result #5. First page! Finally, asuccess!

Westlaw: Hmmm, well...if I go back andsearch specifically by case name, I dofinally see Dunsmuir at result #14...

Sure, it is easy to complain. However,with results like these, I was frustratedenough to do something. So, I devel-oped Nomus.ca(http://www.nomus.ca). It's now live,so let's try these queries again:

Nomus - "equality": Kapp at #1, An-drews at #2, Law v. Canada at #4.

Nomus - "judicial review" : Dunsmuirat position #1! And, if I may say so, it'snice to see Khosa, Ryan, and Baker allin the first 10 results...

Nomus - "dunsmuir": Thank you! Firstresult returned is Dunsmuir.

Problem 2: No snippetsSnippets are those little of bits of text,hopefully relevant to your search, thatare displayed below each search result.In my oh-so-humble opinion, they makeit so much easier to scan the results forthe item that you’re looking for. Googleshows them. Even Bing, the new Mi-crosoft search engine, shows them. Idon’t undersand why Westlaw is theonly legal search engine that showsthese snippets, but now Nomus doestoo!

Problem 3: Too many fields!If I’m writing a citation into the searchbox, it’s rather obvious I’m searching bycitation. I write a bunch of letters andnumbers, perhaps with some periodsbetween some of the letters. Searchengines should recognize this, ratherthan making me go to find the correctbox to write in...

Problem 4: No autocompleteOkay, maybe I’m just being lazy, but I’drather not write out a whole case nameif I don’t have to. Google brought us“the autocomplete” a couple of yearsago, and no search engine is complete

without it.

Problem 5: No TranslationsYou know, sometimes it’s tough being alittle B.C. anglo in the big bilingual worldof Montreal. Sure, I’ve gotten a lot bet-ter over the years at reading all thefrench-language cases assigned, butsometimes my mind is just too tired.That’s when I turn to Google Translate.It actually works surprisingly well.Given the multitude of unilingual peo-ple throughout Canada, would be toomuch to ask for translations of Cana-dian cases to be automatic? The an-swer is no. It’s not too much to ask.Nomus does it!

Problem 6: No Feature to Find theCases in My Course OutlineYou’re right, it’s doubtful this feature isin high demand to the public at large.So yes, you’ve figured me out. This lastpoint is really just a shameless plug foranother feature of Nomus. But, I haveno shame about that.

Nomus will find all the citations listed inany course outline or other document.Just upload it to Nomus through the“Case box” feature, and it will list all thecases found. You can e-mail them allto yourself or download them as a zipfile.

One Final Note

Tongue-and-cheek remarks aside, I donot mean to belittle any of the searchengines I’ve mentioned in this article.Even though I now use Nomus.ca nowas my own starting point for legal re-search, its databases certainly are notas extensive as other search sites outthere. As most of you are aware, Can-Lii, also free like Nomus, has done atremendous job in building up an ex-tensive database that is accessible toeveryone. Having said that, please giveNomus.ca a try as an additional re-search tool!

Six Things I Hate About Legal Search Sitesand What I Did About It

by Kent Mewhort (Law III)

Traffic Act 3 - Shotgun Shackby Guillaume Ste-Marie (Law I)

16

QUID NOVI

We were greeted at the cabin by fire-flies and Cass. She was Matt’s friend, orgirlfriend, it wasn’t clear. We steppedinto the house and established ourquarters in the living room, next to thefront door. Past the room were a smallkitchen, then a bedroom and a bath-room in the back; an unlikely shotgunshack among the bungalows of rural Illi-nois. We grilled some meat on theporch and ate outside. As we were eat-ing, I took a good look at Cass, to knowwhat was up. She looked pretty fromthe side, but had this unfortunate facewhen you’d look at her in the eye. Herchin was oddly narrow and led to dis-proportionally full cheeks. Her almond-shaped eyes, too wide apart and slightlyslanted inwards, made her look likesome kind of rodent; a mix between arat and a squirrel, perhaps. Matt couldkeep her. I’d sleep on the couch thatnight.

It started raining and the food wasgone, but Cass had some hash on her.We knifed it on the stove top burners inthe kitchen and collapsed on the couch,the three of us. Then Matt insisted onpicking up the guitar. That kid probablycouldn’t play a single chord if held atgunpoint. The fact that he was high asshit didn’t help; he started bashing vio-lently at the instrument while emittingstrange, chirpy noises.

“What the fuck are you doing man? Put

that down, this is terrible.”

It truly was terrible, and Cass was ofthe same opinion. I knew because shesaid “Yeah shut it, I’m trying to sleep,”or something to that effect.

“Let me play, it’s ‘Wonderwall.’”

It definitely wasn’t. I suggested we fin-ish the flask, hoping it’d shut him up forgood. It didn’t take long for the oil andliquor to start working together. I fellasleep on the couch, Matt and thesquirrel in the bedroom. Poor kid.

I drove him to work on Monday morn-ing and left on the 94 to Fargo, then the29 north all the way to Winnipeg. Therewas a theatre festival in the ExchangeDistrict, so I bought tickets for a coupleof shows, hoping to mingle with the lo-cals and possibly score a couch or, evenbetter, a bed for the night; a futile en-terprise. Instead, I got drunk in thebeer tent listening to some live hippynoise coming from the main stage. No-body would hold a conversation formore than a few seconds; such un-friendly people. Or maybe it was me.Regardless, I parked the car on a quietstreet and got some sleep. I drove outof town a few hours later in the hope offinding a place that served cheap break-fast. What am I doing here? Winnipeg,really? Where am I going? Passed theonramp, on the highway: hitchhikers.

“Can I drive you anywhere?”

There was a girl.

“We’re going to Calgary.”

“Calgary? It’s fourteen hours away.”

“We know.” The girl was doing the talk-ing.

“Alright, put your stuff back there.” Ipopped the trunk open.

Note: Some may have noticed an anomaly in thedialogue of last issue’s Traffic Act. The gas stationclerk didn’t use the word n-asterisk-asterisk-asterisk-asterisk-asterisk-s because it’s not a realword. Unfortunately, until the Quid editorial teamgrows a pair, you won’t see the actual wordprinted on these pages. Oh I know, section 2(b)of the Charter, right? Freedom of expression my

a-asterisk-asterisk.

17

Last week, two of my professors ad-dressed the allegation that they had, tosome degree, abdicated their responsi-bility to prepare us for the bar. In oneinstance, perhaps because it repre-sented a longstanding student griev-ance, the professor cited this as reasonfor having altered the curriculum in thepast and for doing so again presently.Though the complaint is commonplaceto hallway banter, I’ve always had trou-ble situating it and never gave it muchthought. However when it took on cur-riculum altering significance, that’swhen the proverbial shit hit the fan.

The immediate question that comesto bear is whether our classes, or atleast a subset thereof, should adopt themodel of professional development.Those that tend to agree find them-selves in at least a vocal majority andin the company of popular columnistssuch as Malcolm Gladwell. In a NewYorker article entitled “Getting In”, writ-ing on the logic of university admissionpolicies, Gladwell decried the LSAT forfailing to correctly test for a series ofskills necessary for successful “lawyer-ing.” Implicit to his critique was the pre-supposition that law schools simplytrain future practitioners. Does the por-trayal hold true for McGill Law? Very fewhere would dispute that there are thosewho doggedly seek alternative careerpaths – read here not as an alternativelegal career, but as an alternative careerwrit large, necessitating not even a li-cence to practice. These individualshowever remain, in our minds, an ex-ception to the rule.

But are they really? Do our pre-sumptions and career expectationsmatch reality? If we were to poll McGillLaw graduates of five years ago, howmany of them would be employed inthe capacity of a licentiate? (Full disclo-sure: for those that don’t know me, Ihave an unhealthy predilection for num-bers/stats and often ascribe to themmore significance than deserved.) I’veheard numbers of anywhere between50% and 90%. The former suggests a

large contingent of non-practicing grad-uates for whom bar-specific trainingwould be of little use in the long run.Those tending to the latter guesstimatecould make a stronger case for curricu-lar adherence to bar-licensed skills. Thefact is there really aren’t any conclusivenumbers nor would they be easily as-certainable. Pinning a number downisn’t necessary in my mind to advancethe argument that a well-structuredMcGill curriculum should contemplate acohort of graduates that will not bepracticing law for the better part of theircareers.

Caveat: Numbers can be misleading.A number such as 50% can be both im-petus to distance our curriculum fromstrict instrumentalism and, at the sametime, the manifestation of our faculty’sfailure to adequately prepare us for thebar. The counter-argument goes some-thing like “but for the shortcomings ofour legal training at McGill, a greaterpercentage of graduates would be prac-tising lawyers.” At the outset, I’m loatheto believe that bar exams present sucha significant obstacle – a prospectiveprofessional from McGill bent on promi-nently displaying her framed licence be-hind her cold tempered glass L-shapedoffice desk can remedy any perceivedinadequacies through specific trainingcourses and bar materials. But hereagain, the dearth of information on barexam success rates tempers intuition.Maybe the bar really is that hard andwe should be better prepared. Maybethe discourse at McGill touting how weall do incredibly well at bar exams onlyserves to silence and further relegateunsuccessful examinees to professionalobscurity and reclusion. Maybe …

It’s a wonder I can think at allI am far more receptive to the idea

that the sum total of our generalist legaleducation – with its conscious framingof law within the context of politics, cul-ture, and society and its emphasis ondrawing knowledge from the case lawrather than forcing it in – can lead usastray, far from the popular media and

peer-driven expectations of the profes-sion. And the effect could be subtle.When a McGill grad fails the bar and thedate for l’examen de reprise creepsclose, he contemplates the manifold al-ternative careers to which he can applyhis law degree. Past McGill classes thatput into question the scope and influ-ence of legal systems nudge him to-wards the unconventional. He decidesto forego the bar and takes the leap. A3-4 year stint at McGill is plenty of timeto build this coercive effect. Building onthis premise, we can reformulate theearlier question. Beyond individualclasses and curriculum then, what arethe pedagogical objectives of the Fac-ulty? What tenets do the Faculty hopeto instil/trephinate in the minds of stu-dents over the course of their entire lawschool experience? What role does theFaculty play in developing our legal ed-ucation and careers? [Now I sound like,if not have entirely become, my firstyear’s Foundations class. I am Mike’scomplete lack of surprise.]

Perhaps it’s best to leave thosebroad, sweeping questions to theKennedy’s, Fuller’s, Arthurs’, and ourcurriculum committee, and return to thespecific complaint: class X does not pre-pare us for the bar. The astute readerwill point out that I’ve skirted the issueof jurisdiction. For ‘which’ bar exactlyare we to be prepared? How could afaculty of international repute betterprepare us for any one bar? I can’t dothe argument justice here. So I’m will-ing to concede, for a moment, thatmarginal improvements in professionaltraining are possible, if mandated. Ipresumed that when my professorabove intimated “more bar“ that shehad in mind more Ontario and QuebecBar. A reasonable solution would be tospend less time on theory and focus onthe pertinent provincial statutes, cases,and the Code – a solution friends ofmine have proposed numerous times.Beyond ON and QC, a syllabus could bedistilled down to the ‘good-in-all-time-zones’ -type rules with provincial/USstate digressions highlighted. Some

23 MARS 2010

When I think back on all the crap I learnedin law school …

by Mike Huynh (Law III)

QUID NOVIMcGill Law classes could then approxi-mate a generalized bar school session.Now taking that assumption as true, dowe McGill students want to move in thatdirection?

Recap: we don’t know whether weourselves or how many of our class-mates will be licensed practitioners fiveyears post graduation; if we are prac-ticing, we’re certainly not all practicingin the same jurisdiction; and the legalintelligencia are in constant deliberationover what role the law faculty can orshould play in framing both our legaleducation and future careers.

Kodachrome, give us those nicebright colours

Against this backdrop of uncertainty,I’m reticent to suggest we go in one di-rection or another. If forced, I’d resortto using our present intentions as aguide, asking colleagues today, “Whatdo you hope your degree will do for youtomorrow?” Regrettably, too often atMcGill we content ourselves with thedefault presumption that another in-tends to get a “law job with [firm X] in[field Y]”. Each of us peddle the linethat McGill Law is a bastion of diversitybut simply neglect or are unwilling toprobe further and see if the diversity isany more than skin deep.

There are exceptions however. Atsocial events well-attended by L1s, the

conversation inevitably turns to thetopic of what others had studied/donebefore law school. The small circleforms. We brace our drinks a littletighter. And each takes a turn runningthrough the formulaic, where, when,and what of their degree. The shortnarratives of arts and humanities stud-ies take on a rhythm of indifference,disrupted only by the occasional odd-ball. “Science?” The crowd’s interest issuddenly piqued. “Really Mike? Whatmade you switch? What on earth doyou hope to do with your law degree?”With the attention squarely focused onme, my otherwise wallflower-like de-meanour is shunted into that of verita-ble social butterfly. And undeservedlyso. Each person wishes to hear my fullstory and so I recount, with the audi-ence hanging at my every sentence, thejustifications from my less-than-whelming personal statement.

If only this were to happen witheveryone at the circle. Gathering fromlast week’s Skit Nite performance of“Personal Statement Stew”, I recognizethere’s a certain discomfort to outlining,in excruciating detail, our personalstatements. In certain cases they trulyare personal. Others encapsulate pre-law naïveté. Then there are, of course,those that are disingenuous, intendedto appease the proclivities of admis-sions committee members. Each can bethe source of ridicule and no one wishes

to subject themselves to a piercing in-quest of motives in this highly chargedlaw school atmosphere. This I find trulyunfortunate. Nearly every time I’vetaken the time to speak to a McGill stu-dent and investigate their intentionsand long term goals, I heard a story tentimes more interesting than my ownand which easily cast the default pre-sumption aside. I was able to “revealthe rich tapestry that is McGill Law’s in-tellectual diversity” (thank-you fellow L3for that Personal Statement tidbit). I’llconclude with two recommendations forthose requisitioning changes to our cur-riculum: do continue to speak to yourprofessors as legal education is dynamicand should respond not only to how youlearn, but also why; and, when yousuggest that “we need to be better pre-pared for X”, please make sure youknow for whom you’re speaking.

*Kodachrome (1935-2009) is a regis-tered trademark of Kodak* I had said there was no quick fix togetting numbers on post graduation ca-reers. The long term fix would be tokeep tabs on fellow graduates throughonline networks such as LinkedIn.McGill Law Alumni already have a groupon LinkedIn.

THREEQUIDSLEFTTHISSEMESTER!!

Submission Deadlines:

Thursday, March 25th for publication March 30th

Thursday, April 1st for publication April 6th

Thursday, April 8th for publication April 13th

Submissions must be received by 5pm on the due date.

18

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Dear Abby,I may or may not have had an inappropriate relationship with someone at the firm I worked at last summer, and now I’mgoing back there full time, what do I do!?Thanks,Summer Associate with Benefits

Dear Summer Associate with Benefits,This story makes me sad. Just when you think you’re going to leave the small law school pool of potential mates and diveinto the giant “real life” sea filled with lots of non-law fishies, you realize the life in a law firm is just like law school, excepteveryone is in suits and you don’t get to sleep-in. You still find yourself um...how can I say this delicately...defecating andeating in the same place. And really, there’s no way that food tastes good.

There are a lot of details I would really need to know about this tryst (was there and on-going romance or a one night stand,was this person in another relationship, was it another summer associate or someone senior to you?), but suffice it to say,you probably should call it quits with your law firm lover. When you go back to this firm just play it cool, convince yourselfthat nothing actually happened. If you are still at this firm in a couple years and it becomes clear that there is no one elseyou want to be with, then I suppose you can revisit the issue.

In the meantime, for the love of single people everywhere, get a hobby! It is waaayyyy less awkward to sample the goodson your marathon training team than on your deal team.

Yours Truly,Abby

Dear Abby,During recruitment I told my interviewers that I had a boyfriend in the city in which their firm was located (in order for it tolook like I really did want to settle down there). He was an awesome boyfriend- he totally got me the job! But unfortunately,he never actually existed. What do I do if said “boyfriend” comes up in conversation this summer?-Secretly Single Stagiere

Dear Secretly Single Stagiere,Ok, you and Summer Associate with Benefits have something in common- you should have been asking me these questionsbefore you did anything! All I can say is “oy!” (I’m not even Jewish, but situations like this just make me want to start speak-ing Yiddish!)

The only thing you can do at this point is start back peddling at break-neck speed. Refrain from saying anything more aboutthe non-existent boyfriend. If he comes up, just kind of throw your hands up, do a little cut-across- the-throat motion, andact reeeally awkward. Lying to an employer in any way is alwaystrouble. If you cannot be convincing enough about wanting to livein the city that you’re interviewing for, maybe you should recon-sider applying there in the first place.

If you really need to exaggerate a bit to give a hard sell for your-self, say that you sleep with a Habs jersey on every night, or thatyou dream of getting proposed to on top of the CN Tower, or thatyour goal in life in to get through all of the restaurants in the NYCZagat’s guide (which will never happen, so you’ll have to live in NYCfor the rest of your life and will have to work at their law firm inorder to afford it). But please, please, pleeeease, don’t make up astory that you can’t back up!

Sincerely Yours,Abby

Dear Abbyby Abigail Becraft (Law III)

MARCH 23RD, 2010

Mercredi le 10 mars dernier, l’Atriums’est vu animé d’une manière peu ha-bituelle. Pour la première fois, uncours de danse traditionnelle québé-coise a été offert à la faculté. Une oc-casion parfaite de bouger un peu, derire, de rencontrer de nouvelles per-sonnes à la faculté, de découvrir unenouvelle facette de la culture québé-coise et de se découvrir des talents endanse!

En plus des plusieurs curieux qui sesont arrêtés pour jeter un coup d’œil àcet évènement hors de l’ordinaire, l’ac-tivité à attiré en tout environ une quin-zaine d’étudiants. Tout le monde étaitinvité, et d’ailleurs le professeur Frédé-ric Mégret, à la surprise et au plaisirde tous, s’est joint au groupe.

Les participants à l’activité ont pu ap-prendre deux danses, le brandy et le

sept carré, le tout sur les mélodies en-joués d’un guitariste et d’une accor-déoniste, Carmen et Patrice. Le« calleur », Pierre, était d’une énergieet d’une patiente incroyable, et nous aguidé dans l’apprentissage de cesdeux danses. Belle surprise : enquelques minutes, même ceux quiprétendaient ne pas pouvoir danserétaient capables de se joindre à ladanse (même Charlie!). Je doisavouer, il y avait un peu d’appréhen-sion au début; après tout, tousn’avaient pas de l’expérience endanse, et il s’agit de danses peu ty-piques. Mais je crois ne pas me trom-per en disant que tout le monde aapprécié leur expérience, et certainsont même parut retomber en enfance(oui, je parle bien de Joël Lightbound).

Le trio sympathique qui a enseigné le

cours vient de l’école Espace Trad(www.espacetrad.org) qui offre aussides soirées de danse, les Veillées duplateau. La prochaine aura lieu le 17avril, avec un cours d’initiation à20h00. Cela aura lieu au 2275, boul.St-Joseph, et le prix d’entrée est de12$ pour les étudiants. Une bonnefaçon de se changer les idées pendantla session d’examens!

Cette activité a été financée par l’AEDet a été planifiée par moins mêmedans le cadre du Comité pour le bien-être étudiant, et par la VP-Interne, Ca-therine Coursol.

Somme toute, une première fort réus-sie! Nous espérons que cette activitéaura lieu dans les années a venir etque de plus en plus d’étudiants, deprofesseurs et personnel de la facultéy prendront part.

Un petit sept carré pour déstresser!par Joannie Jacob (Law II)

This week marks La Semaine de la nu-trition here on the good ole’ Fac home-stead.

Joannie Jacob has planned a week ofactivities on behalf of the Student Well-Being Committee, and has been in ac-tion for weeks with a cookbook project,a cooking class, and various pedagogi-cal activities.

For a variety of reasons, I happen toknow an inordinate amount of stuffabout food, eating, nutrition, policy, andregulation. I don’t always practice whatI preach, but since some of you appearto have the degree of moral fortituderequired to lay off the third smokedmeat at Coffeehouse, Joannie hasasked me to dish out some unsolicitedadvice.

It seems more pertinent than ever. Inthe throes of the much hyped memo,fake-yet-potentially-shameful-mooting,a Foundations paper, a Torts paper, andwhatever reading people are still doingfor 6 (or 7) courses, most first-years

have made sure to have enough cleanunderwear to make it through the nextmonth (and everyone else apparentlyhas this on lock, and won’t be stakingout la bibliothèque until mid-April.)

In crucial times, we all have to keepfeeding ourselves. As law students- asstressed out, pedal-to-the-metal, over-achieving neurotics- we tend to put ourpersonal lives, sanity, and health onhold. We tend to put ourselves last.That’s the biggest mistake we canmake.

Figuring out how to eat as law students(both for peak performance in this en-deavour, and in terms of any social/eth-ical/moral imperative), is a hugechallenge in that whole realm of per-sonal priorities. It’s an even biggerchallenge to put that knowledge intopractice.

People in this Faculty seem to fall intothree food camps:

1. The pathological gourmets, who

wouldn’t even dream of patronizingMatteo’s or Subway unless an apoca-lypse shut down every IGA and Metroin the city. These people cook fromscratch every night and are generally ona 12-16 hour Faculty stakeout, withthree multi-course meals, snacks, juiceboxes, utensils, and a tablecloth stuffedinto their MEC backpacks. They havefantastic Tupperware.

2. The “I’ve lived in my apartmentfor three years but still don’t ownplates” clan, with an intimate knowl-edge of the Pizza Pizza website, a col-lection of take-out chopsticks in theutensil drawer, and, if they are CarrieBradshaw, shoe storage in the oven.

On practical grounds (more aptly, lackthereof), law students who still getcalled down from their bedrooms fordinner by their mommies fall into a sub-set of this category.

This article is covered in melted chocolatepar Anonymous (Law I)

QUID NOVI

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3. And then there’s the “somehowI got drunk last night, so I didn’tmake that stir-fry, and now I haveuse my line of credit to buy a Mat-teo’s sandwich” crew. Into this cat-egory falls the “I haven’t done mygroceries in two weeks and suspect Imight be getting metal poisoning fromliving on cans of Campbell’s ChickenNoodle.” This breed generally keepsproduce in the fridge, has basic knowl-edge regarding appliance functions, andcan be counted on to whip up some-thing fancy when they’re trying to getsomeone in the sack.

An independent survey of most of myfriends and acquaintances reveals nocorrelation between membership ingroups 1, 2, or 3 and the maintenanceof a regular exercise routine. Some peo-ple haven’t seen the inside of a gymsince the CEGEPers were born, but stillmanaged to make a great salad forlunch on a daily basis. Other peoplehave been spotted wolfing down party-sized bags of Ruffles despite beingknown to go on gruelling runs.

Where people fall on the food spectrumseems thus to depend on sentimentaland practical reasons, and their individ-ual (and often complicated) relationshipwith food.

And it is precisely this kind of compli-cated relationship gives me some li-cense to say what I’m going to say. Forme to expose that history here is a de-cision I’ve wrestled with for weeks, andI’m only doing so in hopes that it cansome lend credence to my advice.Whatever concerns I have about myown privacy are mitigated by the po-tential educational value of the storyand the fact I am publishing it anony-mously. (Also, I would ask those of youwho figure out who I am to use discre-tion in respecting that privacy and thedifficult choice I made to publish in thefirst place.)

My mother is a proud and self-pro-fessed control freak and a bona fidegastronome, and because my fatherhas trouble with the standard operationof the toaster, she long ago extended afamily-wide ban to all kitchen activities.And, bless her heart, she is also ahealth nut, and used to put homemade,

well-balanced gourmet meals on thetable every single night. She also rou-tinely booted us from the kitchen be-tween mealtimes and would yell atanyone attempting to “ruin their dinner,”which would have been difficult consid-ering the dearth of chocolate in thehouse. This may resonate with some ofyour own childhood stories.

My brother and I were engaged in high-level athletics as teenagers, and shewas determined to feed both of us forpeak performance, lest the family hon-our be tainted. And, as a 15 year-oldrunner, I was not incredibly receptive tomy mother telling me to lay off the sec-onds when I could have been broken inhalf like a toothpick. It took years tosee that she only meant well, and thatshe was doing it because she loves medeeply.

At the same time, my track and crosscountry coach in high school, a crew-cut from Maine named Mr. Clegg whoseidea of “fun” was training for Ironmantriathlons with unbridled enthusiasm,only reinforced whatever animosity Ifelt towards “healthy eating.” The Cleg-gster had us in the school pool at 6:30AM doing Aquajogging, and used to callhome on Friday nights before meets tomake sure we weren’t out on the town.He spent four years spewing off infor-mation about “macronutrient ratios”and “glycogen storage” that fell largelyon deaf ears.

Thus, when I left home for university, Ihad gleefully quit running, and was alsono longer being fed by my mother. Ilived in a dorm. I had a meal plan.Three times a day, I swiped a card andhad unlimited access to anything Iwanted to eat. I was literally the kid inthe candy shop.

And, were it not for the fact that I hadto walk to class, I would have turnedinto even more of a whale. My Fresh-man 15 was more like the Freshman 65.

It was kind of a delicate situation. Onthe one hand, I was staunch in my re-bellion, and what happened to me sig-nalled a palpable and very visible breakwith my mother’s authority. On theother hand, I looked like a Teletubby,and was keen on one day exploring thepossibility of marriage.

Thus, upon returning home for that firstsummer, I went to see a doctor.

I was put on a medically-supervised dietplan, started eating 6 small meals a day,and got down to an acceptable weightby the time I had to go back to schoolin August. With advice from said doc-tor, and fuelled by the hours I spentworking in a bookstore, I spent thesummer reading everything I couldabout nutrition and health, and was list-ing chemical ingredients and caloriecounts from food labels with my eyesclosed.

Back for year two, I moved into my firstapartment, learned how to boil water(somehow I had picked this up throughosmosis), and was entirely in charge offeeding myself. I was a regular JuliaChild compared to one of my room-mates, who routinely almost set fire toour apartment by microwaving LeanCuisines in the cardboard box.

Unfortunately I was also armed with anunhealthy degree of knowledge in ad-dition to full authority over what wentin my mouth. I felt powerful. In con-trol. This intoxicating feeling, due toother events in my life, quickly trans-lated into a disorder. 1

I was in deep, deep, denial. It took memonths to realize what I had done tomyself, and it wasn’t until I went to Eu-rope that second summer that I figuredout that there was something wrong.

In the land of baguettes and Brie andwine, utterly alone for the first time, Ilet go of the calorie charts, the neuro-sis, and the hunger. I discovered foodfor what it was-a simple, sensory pleas-ure. Eating lost its stigma. It became,dare I say…fun. Thus I set off to learneverything I could about wine and mel-ons and Italian cheeses, travelled ex-tensively, and wrote about theself-discovery that bloomed every timeI put something new into my mouth.

And, back home 14 months later, I wasvested with a body image that hadnothing to do with the body I had. I hadhealed myself.

I started exercising again because Iwanted to. A road bike entered my life,as did the workout saavy of Jillian

23 MARS 2010

21

Michaels (anyone looking for a doseself-torture should try her 30 DayShred.) I started boxing. In the kitchen,Alice Waters and Michael Pollan ruledthe roost, and the farmer’s market be-came my favourite excursion.

So I did what I wanted, and what Iwanted to do was (mostly) healthy. Itwas all very cathartic. Very Zen.

And then, law school threw a wrench inmy well-balanced, leisurely regimen. Ihad to adapt.

It took me a couple of months to real-ize that I wasn’t going to be able to goon a bike ride every morning, and thateating poutine in the middle of the nightwas an occasional but necessary de-mand imposed by my liver. What Iwanted to do wasn’t nearly always onthe balance of healthy.

And instead of doing a tailspin, I took adeep breath, and adopted the followingmantra:

Enjoying the actual experience oflaw school-and maintaining amodicum of sanity-requires ac-cepting that the various expecta-tions we impose upon ourselvescan’t and won’t always extend toour health routine.

Nor should they.

Most of us have, in principle, pretty rigiddaily lives. There’s a lot of work to bedone. Many sacrifices are made for thistedium.

And that’s why the best advice I cangive is to allow yourself the freedom tocelebrate the little victories, and to cutyourself a break once in a while.

Yes, workout gurus and health maga-zines and specialists say that youshould be getting at least 4-5 hours ofmoderate-intensity exercise a week, 8hours of sleep a night, laying off thebooze, and eating three balanced mealsa day. Some exceptional people in theFaculty are able to do that. It works forthem.

But when you’ve been in the library allweek and your friends are going for abeer, and you’re scheduled for a jog,

sometimes the right decision is to putthe running shoes away.

And whether you’re a group 1, 2, or 3foodie, trying to fuel yourself with thebest quality, local ingredients you can-most of the time-within the constraintsof your budget, is the single most im-portant step you can take to stayhealthy and productive and to live sus-tainably. Unless you can afford it,there’s no need to go organic if you’reeating in Québec’s very localized foodchain (if you’re in the U.S, this tunechanges significantly.) There is, how-ever, no excuse for leaving yourreusable bags at home when you go tothe grocery store.

Whether or not you go to the grocerystore, it goes without saying thatprocessed food (particularly, anythingcontaining high fructose corn syrup) isunder very limited circumstances agood food choice. Save the Kraft Dinnerand Oreos for those sparing instancesof emotional trauma (ie: breakups, Cs,maxing out of the line of credit.) And ifyou have a McMuffin for breakfast, yourbody will probably love you more forsteering clear of the Golden Archescome dinnertime.

Try to get some good sleep when youcan, keep abreast of your favourite TVshows, have regular contact with theoutside world, stick with exercise a fewtimes a week, and be generally mindfulof most of what goes in your mouth.Use your head.

Yeah, I could give you a detailed planof calorie-and-macronutrient-calibrated recipes for an optimizedweekly meal plan. I could tell you to eatmore blueberries because antioxidantsare found to improve brain function, orthat limiting your meat intake is the sin-gle most important thing you can do ifyou care about the Earth.

But a commitment to health isn’t sup-posed to complicate your life. It’s notsomething you can do perfectly.

And that’s why a commitment to your-self is a commitment to be healthy,most of the time, within the context ofthe myriad of other expectations loadedupon you. It’s your own personal en-richment of you, for you, determined

only by you.

Based on personal history, I can safelysay that you can ultimately expect nomore or no less of yourself.

That being said, if the commitment youwant to make requires you to comefrom a place of knowledge, the follow-ing resources are quite interesting, andhighly recommended:

Reading List :

Marion Nestle, Food Politics : How theFood Industry Influence Nutrition andHealth

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’sDilemma

Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food : AnEater’s Manifesto

Hank Cardello, Stuffed : An Insider’sLook at Who’s Really Making AmericaFat

Raj Patel , Stuffed and Starved : TheHidden Battle for the World Food Sys-tem

Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food :Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a De-licious Revolution

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food Nation

Neal Fortin, Food Regulation : Law, Sci-ence, Policy, and Practice

Web Resources :www.slowfood.ca // www.codex-alimentarius.net // www.food-law.org // agandfoodlaw.com //http://www.who.int/topics/food_safety/ http://www.fao.org/http://www.ifpri.org/

1 On a serious note, if you suspect thatyou or someone you know has a prob-lem, PLEASE seek out help, and don’thesitate to get in touch with the Quidto be put in touch with me.

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Match quotes on the left with the appropriate legal issue on the right – and yes, there’s only one“most important legal issue”.

Kramer: Is that a Titleist?Jackie: So we got an attractive woman, wearing a bra, no top, walkin' around in broad daylight. She'sflouting society's conventions!Jerry: Well if it isn't Shakey the Mohel! [...]Mohel: You flinched!Kramer: No, no, no. Give it to her. I'd rather it belonged to another than see it destroyed. Newman,give it to her, I beg you.Kramer: It's like they chopped off your arms and legs, dipped you in plastic, and screwed you back alltogether, and stuck you on a pedestal. It's really quite exquisite.Kramer: It’s killing me, I can't eat, I can't sleep, all I can see is that giant red sun in the shape of achicken.Elaine: That's not really a meal Jerry. I mean if he had gotten Chicken Gumbo, or Matzah Ball, orMushroom Barley. Then I would agree with you. Those are very hearty soups.Jerry: So when somebody has B.O., the "O" usually stays with the "B". Once the "B" leaves, the "O"goes with it.“As far as I can tell your entire enterprise is no more than a solitary man with a messy apartmentwhich may or may not contain a chicken.”Jerry: They get out of the way of our cars, we look the other way on the statue defecation.Lloyd Braun: Serenity now. Insanity later.Kramer: But it’s Festivus! … You know you’re infringing on my right to celebrate new holidays.“For sixteen years I pursued him, only to see him give me the slip time and time again. I never got aclean look at his face, but he's become my 'white whale'.”“… yadda yadda yadda … ”

a) Obiterb) Res ipsa loquiturc) Contempt of courtd) Transfer of ownership/Filiation e) Ambiguity – non-concurrence of parties’ internal willsf) Right to collective bargainingg) Gross negligence on the part of the baileeh) One’s image as the object of property?i) Considerationj) Capacity to contractk) Causa sine qua non l) Sole proprietorshipm) Nuisancen) Contributory negligence

Questions and concerns should be directed to Rob, accolades to Mike.You can send your answers to [email protected].

The Second Instalment of the Seinfeld Quizby Rob Whillans and Mike Huynh (Law III)

MARCH 23RD, 2010

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2.0 Il y aura deux Présidents de classepar année (par promotion).

3.0 Les Présidents de classe :…5.0 Chaque représentant de classepubliera durant le mois de mars un rap-port annueldans le journal étudiant, faisant le détaildes projets entrepris durant l’annéescolaire et des recommendations faitesconcernant leurs projets.

Year-End Report to the tune of CélineDion (because she was absent from theOlympics) to the tune of That’s the WayIt Is (song picked by Seth).

Our year is doneAnd we had lots of funBeing your presidents (yeah)We planned eventsAnd sometimes you showed up

But we love you nonetheless!

So don’t you worryCause here it isOur year-end reportttt

We had karaoke - at Thompson HouseWe played bo-ard games and watchedsome hockey tooWe served on the Council, but it didn’talways meetAnd that’s the way it is!

We did fundraise, fundraise for HaitiAnd gave you noses for JourNez(sourirez!)And at finals time, we did Secret SantasAnd we’ll do it again real soon!

So don’t you worryBecause we’re not doneWith our year-end reportttttttttttt(ttttttt)

We had a picnic to start, and we wantone to endMaybe the last day of class? You shouldgo tell a friendCause we’ll see you outside, and bringa delicious treatttttttCause it’s true we all love to eat!… and that’s the way it issssss!

--Le vendredi 12 mars nous avons tenuune assemblée de classe. Il y avait deuxpersonnes (autre que nous) présentes.On a discuté l’AED et les idées pour l’an-née prochaine ainsi que d’autres sujets(course-aux-stages, par example). Onvous souhaite tous une bonne périoded’examens et un bon été (soonenough…)!!!

End of Year Report - Class President IIby Charlie Feldman and Seth Abbey (Law II)

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Charlie - Viviane - Seth Present: 2L FINALEXAMSECRETSANTAS!!

If you are a 2L who would like to participate in Final Exam Secret Santas (or, umm, Final Exam Lapinde Pâques) you should let us know :-) The deadline is April 1st.

Gift Exchange day is the last day of classes - April 14th.

Si vous ne serez pas présent le 14 avril, ne vous inquitez pas! On peut faire des autres arrange-ments. Make something small and mettre un sourire sur le visage de quelqu'un!

JD-LLB: Where is it now?Charlie Feldman (Law II)

In response to an article that ap-peared recently in the Quid and nu-merous student comments, I’d like toprovide an update on the JD-LLBfront. As many of you are aware, thereis chatter about possibly changing ourdegree from LLB to JD. Last year, theLSA formed a Research Committeethat looked into the two degrees, and,while its report was informative, itlacked clear recommendations toCouncil as how best to proceed. Last Monday, the LSA Council voted

down a motion that would reconstitutethe JD-LLB Research Committee tocontinue its work from last year andmake recommendations. Council haddebated a motion to reconstitute thiscommittee several times this year, but,in the most recent vote, the motion fi-nally failed - 3 in favour, 9 against, 2abstentions.

The debate on the motion was cer-tainly interesting. Some felt having acommittee essentially gave the JD astamp of LSA approval. Others felt themovement should come from studentsinstead of the LSA. Given where weare in the school year, there were

questions about the timeline for theproposed committee’s work.

Ultimately, as a result of the recentvote, any progress on the JD-LLB frontwill have to come from students sub-mitting a recommendation to the LSA,unless next year’s LSACouncil votes tore-start the process by forming its owncommittee.

Personally, I believe the Committeeshould be reconstituted, as I don’tthink having more infomration outthere is a bad thing and Council couldeasily vote later to accept or rejectany recomendations made.