qn 1 - quid.mcgill.caquid.mcgill.ca/issues/2010-2011/v32no1.pdf · qn •21septembre2010•5 mike...

QN • 21 JANVIER 2010 • 1

Journal des étudia nt-e-s en droit de l’université M c Gill

McGill Law Student’s weekly’s Paper

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WHAT’S INSIDE? QUEL EST LE CONTENU?

WANT TO TALK?

TU VEUX T’EXPRIMER?

ÉDITO 3

Uncovering the Gendered Experience of Law School 4

Criminal Law Exists 5

JSDLP - Call for Applications 6

How to Apply for Graduation 7

Not Rocket Surgery 8

And Now, A Word From Our LSA 9

From the Ombudsman 16

Droit à l’image 18

Message from CDO and SAO 23

QUID NOVI

3661 Peel Street Montreal, Quebec H2A 1X1

514 398-4430

http://quid.mcgill.ca/

EDITORS IN CHIEFCourtney Retter

Chanel Sterie

QUID ONLINE REPORTERS

Charlie Feldman

Katie Webber

STAFF WRITERS

Michael Shortt

Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avantjeudi 5pm a l’adresse : [email protected]

Toute contribution doit indiquer le nom del’auteur, son année d’étude ainsi qu’un titrepour l’article. L’article ne sera publiee qu’a ladiscretion du comite de redaction, qui

basera sa decision sur la politique de redaction.

Contributions should preferably be submitted asa .doc attachment (and not, for instance, a“.docx.”).

The Quid Novi is published weekly by the students of the Faculty of Law at McGill University. Production is made possible through the direct support of students. All contents copyright 2010 Quid Novi.Les opinions exprimees sont propres aux auteurs et ne refletent pas necessairement celles de l’equipe du Quid Novi. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the McGill LawStudents’ Association or of McGill University.

J o u r n a l d e s é t u d i a n t - e - s

e n d r o i t d e l ’u n i v e r s i t é M c G i l l

M c G i l l L a w S t u d e n t ’s

w e e k l y ’s P a p e r

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EDITORIALIt is with both pleasure and great pride that we introduce toyou, fellow members of our illustrious Faculty, the NEW andIMPROVED Quid Novi. For those of you who are picking up yourvery first copy—savour the moment, for we assure you thatyou are about to begin a long and meaningful relationship. TheQuid Novi is a Faculty tradition dating all the way back to the1980s. For over three decades, students and faculty alike haveutilized this venue as an opportunity to share their opinions onthe issues of the day, inform the Faculty of upcoming events,and express themselves in ways perhaps otherwise unapprecia-ted by the legal tradition.

The Quid Novi is your paper. Indeed, it is entirely student-run.The publication comes out every Tuesday morning—consistingof the submitted work of your peers, which has been edited,reviewed and transferred to the Quid layout by Student Asso-ciate Reviewers and Layout Editors. It is a labour of love, andbelieve us, a remarkable amount of both effort and time goesinto every Quid. We urge you to recognize the value inherent inthis publication and seize the opportunity to use it. We oftendescribe the Quid as a “writing free for all.” For there is nothing(well, a qualified nothing) that isn’t appropriate or worth sen-ding to our publication. We are constantly seeking suggestionsand recommendations on what to include or on how to betteruse the Quid. In that regard, please send any and all proposalsto our email address: [email protected].

Si vous désirez faire publier un article dans le Quid Novi, faitesnous le parvenir par courriel, jeudi avant 5h00, pour qu’il soitpublié dans l’édition du mardi suivant. N'oubliez pas d'inclureun titre pour votre article, ainsi que votre année d'étude. Deplus, s'il vous plaît vous assurez que votre article est enregistrécomme document Word et que vos photos sont sous forme de.jpeg ou de .pdf.

Finalement, nous aimerions remercier Morgane Saout, notregraphiste, avec qui nous avons travaillé tout au long de l’étépour produire la nouvelle mise en page du Quid Novi. Nousvoulions donner au Quid un look plus moderne et aéré, afin derendre votre lecture plus agréable. Nous voulons remerciertous les membres de l’équipe de l’an dernier qui nous sont re-venus, ainsi que tous les nouveaux membres pour leur enthou-siasme. Leur participation est indispensable à la publication duQuid.

Nous attendons avec impatience de voir ce que l’année 2010-2011 réserve au Quid Novi! Bonne lecture!!

É D I T O

QN • 21 SEPTEMBRE 2010 • 3

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C o - e d i t o r - i n - c h i e f s

COURTNEYRETTER &CHANELSTERIE

UNCOVERING THE GENDEREDEXPERIENCE OF LAW SCHOOL

As some of you may remember, last semester I undertook a re-search project about the gendered experience of law school. Wi-thin the context of this research, I interviewed 26 female and malestudents and surveyed 127 others about their experiences in theFaculty. As I will elaborate over the coming weeks, gender conti-nues to play a critical role in the way students experience lawschool. Despite the numerical equality enjoyed by McGill Law stu-dents, many female students continue to face subtle yet disturbinginstances of gender discrimination on a regular basis.

I hope this column will not only inform our community about thecontinued reality of gender inequity, but will also create an oppor-tunity for discussion about gender inequities in legal education, atopic which seems to have lost its appeal as-of-late. While my re-sults are troubling and, without a doubt, controversial, talkingabout them openly is an important first step in remedying the ine-quities that continue to exist within these “hallowed halls”.

Before getting into the nitty gritty, I would like to tell you a bit moreabout why I decided to undertake this research and present somebasic findings.

I’ll never forget my first day of law school. While I’m sure our Deandelivered eloquent opening remarks, they’re not what I remember.What I remember is how I felt. Those nervous butterflies in my sto-mach. How impossible it was to hold back my excitement of finallybeing where I had long dreamed of being: McGill University’s Fa-culty of Law. How full of hope and possibility my future seemed. Iwas going to clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada, and then I wasgoing to plead before it in defense of human rights. It didn’t takelong to realize that my idyllic view of the road ahead was misgui-ded.

Before coming to McGill Law, I completed my undergraduate de-gree at in Speech Communication and Peace & Conflict Studies. Ihad spent four years learning how to communicate, and, more im-portantly, how to listen. It was only in my Third Year of law schoolthat I realized I had spent two years unlearning those skills. But inmy second week of law school, my undergraduate education stillfresh in my mind, I began to notice the communication patterns inthe classroom. And the more I watched, the starker it became:women weren’t speaking up.

They did at first. But as the weeks went by, female participationdwindled. My curiosity about “the gendered experience of lawschool” grew out of my observation of this phenomenon. It deepe-ned when feelings of inadequacy replaced my self-confidence, and,for the first time in my life, I worried that I wasn’t smart enough,and convinced myself that my opinions and questions were notworth sharing. It became a passion when I started talking to otherwomen about their experiences in law school, and a pattern of sha-red gendered experiences began to emerge. When I started this re-

search, it became an obsession.

I started with what seemed like a straightforward research ques-tion: do women and men experience law school differently? If so,how, and why? The answer, I soon discovered, was not so straight-forward. People answered differently depending on certain factors:their gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, previous education,work experience... Responses were nuanced and complex, neverperfectly clear or on point, and often slightly uncertain and doubt-ful. Many of the men I asked had never considered the genderedexperience of law school before. Some female participants had, likeme, become obsessed with it since starting law school. But slowly,out of the nuance, complexity, uncertainty and doubt emerged ananswer: Yes. Undeniably yes. Women and men do experience lawschool differently.

Despite the increasing presence of women in legal education andlegal institutions, and the increasing awareness and use of updatedpedagogical practices, law school remains a distinctively genderedexperience. Women bear the emotional and psychological brunt ofan educational system still entrenched in the patriarchal principlesupon which it was originally founded. As a result, as women makethe passage from law school to lawyerdom, they lose their voices,and, ultimately, lose themselves.

This may not come as a surprise. Previous research on gender inlegal education has reached similar conclusions. What did surpriseme was the candor with which students shared their experiences,their vulnerability, their pain; the emotions they expressed – thepassion, the anger, the frustration, the sadness – and the tears thataccompanied their stories; the relief they felt when they realizedthey weren’t alone, that they weren’t the only ones who had feltand experienced what they had. What surprised me the most, ho-wever, was the consistency of the experiences among women, andtheir willingness to share those experiences. It is amazing whattheir voices will say when they are not being silenced.

What will follow in the weeks to come is my analysis of 26 indivi-dual student interviews and 127 survey responses. While I describecertain findings with statistics, there is no regression analysis, nullhypothesis or attempt to present statistically significant multiva-riate differentials; it was not my intention to develop an authorita-tive statistical analysis. I simply wanted to hear and understandhow people experienced law school; I wanted to know how theyfelt. I have done my best to be true to this data and the people whoparticipated. I have also done my best to be true to the voices ofthe women and men who shared their stories and I have consis-tently attempted to remain true to the context in which the wordswere spoken. I wanted to provide a forum where these voices, toooften silenced within the context of legal education, could beheard. So please, over the coming weeks, listen.

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2 • SEPTEMBER 21ST 2010 • QN

NATAISHELSEN

September 21st: 6:00 p.m. -Thompson House

Jewish Law Students’ Association Meet & Greet

September 29th: 12:00 - Room 312

Bixi Bikes: Urban Promise or Public Health Pit-fall?

October 2nd: Malpractice Cup 2010!

[email protected]

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

CRIMINAL LAW EXISTS, IS AWESOME


MIKELOCKNER

L a w I V Going to McGill law means a lotof big players are vying for yourattention. Firms will go far outof their way to let you knowthey want you, and aren't afraidto lavish you with attention andfree booze to get the messageacross.

All the free stuff is flattering, tobe sure; but all the booze, trin-kets and glossy pamphlets canbe distracting if you're trying tolook at other options – which isof course what they are meantto do. The loud voices of thesefirms (who can afford to beloud) tend to drown out a lot ofthe other opportunities outthere that don't advertise soloudly – and especially thosethat are waiting for you to findthem.

While there are hidden gemsout there in every kind of law,I'd like to talk about a subjectthat I feel rarely gets mentionedin the same breath as "career"at McGill: criminal law.

Practicing criminal law, either asdefence or prosecution, is a via-ble career option for you. In any

province, in any city. And it's alot of fun. No one necessarilytells you this here, but it's true.

Unfortunately, knowing that it'san option and knowing how topursue that option are two dif-ferent things. How do you findwhat kinds of jobs are outthere? What is it actually like?How do you find out if it's foryou? How do you find peoplewho practice it to talk to?

When I came to McGill, I wascompletely lost on this front. Ieventually pieced together en-ough knowledge to followthrough and actually pursue acareer in criminal law, but it wasonly through a lot of grunt workand luck that I even found theright goal to chase. This wasless than ideal.

While the laws of space-timeprevent me from making theprocess of discovering criminallaw easier for myself, JoannieJacob (3L) and I figured thatthere had to be a better way ofmaking sure people get to seewhat criminal law is all aboutoutside of the textbook law –

the live issues, the career op-portunities, the people whopractice it.

To this end, we've started anew student organization: Cri-minal Law McGill / Droit Crimi-nel McGill.

For our first event we organizeda visit to the Municipal Court ofMontreal – the ground-levelcourt that deals with the vastmajority of crimes in the city –on September 15th.

After that, expect 5 à 7s, mockinterviews (criminal law edi-tion), visits to jail, and variousother activities.

You don't have to be absolutelycommitted to criminal law tojoin – if you're interested, oreven just a little curious, I'd en-courage you to sign up forCLM/DCM, and follow our up-dates and events to see if any-thing catches your interest.We're hoping that it will be theintroduction to criminal law wenever had.

Email us at:[email protected]

Have an event? Let [email protected]


HOW TO APPLY FORGRADUATION

SAO

Undergraduate students and non-thesis LL.M. students who expect tograduate in 2010-2011 must apply tograduate via Minerva. In order to en-sure you have met all the require-ments for graduation, please reviewthe following steps:

Review the information posted onthe SAO web site,http://www.mcgill.ca/law-studies/policies/graduation/.

Apply for graduation onMinerva<https://banweb.mcgill.ca/mcgp/twbkwbis.P_WWWLogin> . It isyour responsibility to inform us ofyour intention to graduate.

Deadlines:

* Students who intend to gra-duate at the end of the summer term2010 (courses completed by Augustfor October convocation) mustcontact Nancy Czemmel ASAP.

* Students who intend to gra-duate at the end of the fall 2010 term(courses completed December forJune convocation) must apply on Mi-nerva by the end of November.

* Students who intend to gra-duate at the end of the winter 2011term (courses completed April forJune convocation) must apply on Mi-nerva by February.

* If you are away on exchange,please contact KellyCassidy<mailto:[email protected]> or Nancy Czemmel.

* Review the Graduation and di-ploma information<http://www.mcgill.ca/student-re-cords/graduation/> on the McGill

Student Information site for informa-tion regarding the convocation cere-mony, how to make sure your nameis spelled the way you want on the di-ploma, when to pick up your di-ploma, etc.

* Review your academic record inorder to ensure you have met all thedegree requirements. Students areencouraged to complete a ProgramRequirement Checklist<http://www.mcgill.ca/law-studies/forms/#COURSES>.

* Complete the CDO GraduationSurvey<https://careerlink.mcgill.ca/>.

If you require confirmation from theSAO to attend the École du Barreaudu Québec- Centre de Montréal<http://www.ecoledubarreau.qc.ca/>, please apply to graduate in yourfinal year as soon as possible.

How to apply to graduate:

1. Log into Minerva<https://ban-web.mcgill.ca/mcgp/twbkwbis.P_WWWLogin>, using your McGill ID andPIN. First-time users should consultHow to log in<http://www.mcgill.ca/minerva-stu-dents/login/> for details.

2. Select the Student Menu.

3. Select the Student Records item.

4. Select "Apply for Graduation forYour Primary Curriculum (1st de-gree)". From the instructions that ap-pear on the screen, complete yourapplication by verifying and then sub-mitting the selections shown on yourrecord.

All enquiries may be directed [email protected].

8 • SEPTEMBER 21ST 2010 •

NRS is a column that attempts to deliver the inside scoop onMcGill University and Montreal to those who are newcomers toone or both. Last year’s topicsranged from how to makemoney on campus to the bestpizza places in Montreal. Today’scolumn focuses on the McGill li-brary system, and some of theless obvious things it can do foryou.

1) Personal Print or PDF editionsof classic books: Ever seen abook in the library and wishedyou owned a copy? Well nowyou can - thanks to the Print OnDemand service! For $10 librarystaff will provide you with ahigh-resolution PDF of a book ofyour choice, or for $29 they willprovide both a PDF and a prin-ted and bound paper copy(prices may change for large,fragile or unusual formats). Onthe other hand, if you buy thePDF, you can take it to CopieNova and have them bind it toyour specifications. And CopieNova offers some very fancy op-tions if you feel like paying forhardcover, gold leaf printing.

The one slight catch to all this isthat the book’s copyright musthave expired. Pop quiz – howlong is copyright in Canada? Ifyou said “Author’s life plus fifty years” you’re absolutely right. Thismeans that only books written by authors who died prior to 1960are eligible for the Print On Demand service. To determine the

death date of an author, the most reliable strategy is probably aGoogle/Wikipedia search.

2) Free stuff: We all know that thelibraries provide free book bags(that zip up in to easily portablewallets) if you ask at the loansdesk. What you may not know isthat they will also give you a pairof free headphones if you showthem your student card (limit oneheadset per student). The head-phones are the over-the-ear kind,bright red and feature the McGilllogo. They’re also not the bestheadphones in the world, buthey, they’re free! Keep your eyespeeled for other library give-aways, since last year brought usbags and hand sanitizer in addi-tion to the headsets.

3) Free software: Navigate toELMS at: https://elms04.e-aca-demy.com/mcgill/ or google“McGill elms”. This websitecontains all the free software thatyou are entitled to as a McGillstudent, as well as software youcan purchase at a discount. Theprograms that are available freefor students include: Refman, En-dnote, SAS, and several antivirusprograms. For the scientifically ormathematically inclined, a varietyof specialized software is also

available. Depending on your operating system and internetconnection, you may need to be on campus to access the free soft-ware.

L a w I I

MICHAELSHORTT NOT ROCKET SURGERY

STEFANHOFFMAN

P R E S I D E N T


AND NOW, A WORDFROM OUR LSA...

Welcome back! On behalf of the LSA Executive I hope everyonehad a productive and restful summer. It’s been an exciting periodof renewal for the LSA Executive and I wanted to take some timeto highlight some of the progress that’s already been made. Iwould like to thank the entire Executive, many of whom volun-teered considerable amounts of their time tirelessly throughoutthe summer in an effort to improve the services we provide stu-dents.

Beaucoup de choses se sont produites depuis le mois d'avril.Cette année, l'AÉD n'a pas engagé d'étudiant comme responsa-ble administratif du bureau. Afin d'épargner de l'argent pourd'autres projets, j'ai volontairement donné de mon temps durantl'été pour remplir cette tâche avec l'aide de mes autres exécutifsqui étaient présents à Montréal. Nous avons commencé notremandat avec un grand ménage du printemps! Le local de range-ment de l'AÉD a été complètement nettoyé et réorganisé. Dansl'avenir, ce local ainsi qu'une petite pièce supplémentaire der-rière celui-ci découverte lors du nettoyage deviendront un es-pace utilisable. Des documents datant des années 1940 furentdécouverts et grâce à l'aide du professeur Tina Piper, ils furentefficacement organisés pour les préserver. Nous travaillons pré-sentement avec les Archives de McGill afin de décider si certainsdocuments ont besoin d'être archivés professionnellement etd'être protégés par l'Université pour leur préservation future.

In May I worked with Tara on updating the Sponsorship Packagesent out to firms. By taking into consideration the feedback wereceived from firms at the end of last year we have managed toincrease both the number of firms and the amount of money wehave received. As well, we are working with small- and medium-sized law firms and creating new sponsorship opportunities thatfit their budgets to broaden the scope of firms to which studentsare exposed. We continue to look for ways to increase public andnot-for-profit participation. Over the summer, we formalized ourprevious verbal agreement with Blakes to continue sponsoringSkit Nite for the next two years while negotiating the inclusion ofa third year. As well, we are pleased to announce that Blakes willbe the principal sponsor of Law School of Rock for the next threeyears allowing the Skit Nite Committee to increase their dona-tions to charity.

I would like to take a second to thank the co-chair of the Orienta-tion Committee, Helene. It has a lot of hard work but also a lot offun. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Committee direc-tors, Caitlin, Jean-Philip, Greg, Georgia and Laurence for all their

hard work and commitment. Nearly 170 students signed up toparticipate in Orientation and turnout at all events have surpas-sed our expectations. After four months of careful navigation,Helene has secured our alcohol permit for the upcoming year. Aswell, Helene has held discussions about our concerns with McGillFood and Dining Services. They have indicated some goodwill bypurchasing the new benches outside.

I owe a special thank-you to Laurie (and her Management De-gree) for explaining to me all the technical aspects of the finan-cial operations of the LSA. She has worked tirelessly to ensurethat we have an accurate understanding of the previous years’expenses in order to properly chart our course for the upcomingyear. We are prepared for the Financial Audit of our accountsand look forward to presenting a complete Budget at our upco-ming Town Hall. Maintaining a properly regulated financial sys-tem is one of the most difficult aspects of student government,particularly due to the yearly turnover. As such, we want to be astransparent as possible! Laurie and I prepared the Dean’s Discre-tionary Fund (DDF) report in July and have been approved by theFaculty for the DDF for the upcoming year. Having been appro-ved early will allow us to begin the process of accepting applica-tions and disbursing the funds quicker. Finally, we have updatedthe LSA Financial policies and would encourage all students toread the document. We are continuing to try and eliminate cashtransactions and will be exploring options for reducing the needto use cash.

Je suis heureux de vous annoncer que le Bottin ainsi quel'Agenda seront disponibles pour tous les étudiants en automne.Mason a travaillé ardemment tout l'été à recueillir et mettre àjour les informations pour l'Agenda. Le Bottin pourra facilementêtre mis à jour et nous pourrons éviter toutes les souffrances del'an dernier. En séparant le Bottin de l'Agenda, nous serons enmesure de fournir aux étudiants ces deux outils plus rapidement.Nous avons également créé de nouveaux formulaires pour l'ins-cription des clubs, pour les demandes de coffeehouses ainsi quepour les demandes de fonds. Nous croyons que ces nouveauxformulaires fourniront les informations nécessaires et serviront àaméliorer les relations entre l'AÉD et les Clubs. We have also se-cured an additional $3,000 in club funding by enforcing the LSA-SSMU Memorandum of Agreement, which calls for an equalcontribution of $3,000 from both the LSA and SSMU to a ClubParity Fund for Faculty Clubs.

10 • SEPTEMBER 21ST 2010 •

Tout au long de l'été, j'ai travaillé avec la VP Administration,Farah, afin d'améliorer la qualité et l'organisation des documentsde l'AÉD. Nous continuerons d'utiliser PBWorks comme moyende garder nos documents en ligne, mais nous allons égalementrétablir l'usage de classeurs qui seront passés d'un exécutif à unautre. J'aimerais également prendre le temps de remercier Farahqui a pris de son temps cet été pour traduire les documents del'AÉD afin qu'ils suivent notre nouveau modèle bilingue intégré.Lorsque nous avons commencé notre mandat, de nombreux do-cuments n'étaient pas disponibles dans les deux langues. Au lieud'avoir une version complète en anglais et une autre en français,nous nous sommes mis d'accord pour adopter le modèle utilisépar la Faculté et fournir aux étudiants des documents bilingues.We have also reinstalled the Dish on the roof and the televisionin the Students Lounge is once again functional. Finally, we arecontinuing to improve and brighten up our office so please dostop by!

The summer tends to be a bit quieter for the VP-External, Acade-mic and Athletics but I’d like to highlight some of the work thathas already begun. Both the VP-External and Academic havebegun exploring the evidence concerning the JD issue, which webelieve must be properly explored. As well, Kirk has begun visi-ting with the SSMU. Julien has been organizing the law partnersprogram, which I’m happy to announce, appears be a successonce again. The VP-Athletics Mike Finley has created a new do-cument available on the website detailing the various athleticopportunities around the Faculty and at McGill. Mike has alsobeen working on increasing the number of physical activitiesavailable to students at the faculty by instituting running groupsand we will continue to explore expanding the apparel availableto students.

Finalement, je me sens comme un parent très fier en annonçantl'arrivée du nouveau site Web de l'AÉD. (www.lsa-aed.ca). L'an-cien site Web était sans utilité à la plupart des étudiants, car il nepouvait pas être facilement mis à jour. La nouvelle plateformenous permettra de créer un site dynamique sur lequel on retrou-vera régulièrement (et fréquemment!) des annonces et des évè-nements à venir. Nous avons ajouté une nouvelle pageconcernant l'information sur les clubs, une section photos, unesection contenant les documents les plus demandés, un calen-drier que nous espérons remplir avec des évènements organiséspar les clubs, l'AÉD et la Faculté. The LSA Executive is confident

that students will find this new site to be a much better andmore useful product than its predecessor; however, it remains awork in progress. Pour terminer, j'aimerais encourager tous lesétudiants à partager avec nous leurs questions ou inquiétudesconcernant le nouveau site Web.

For those who made it this far into the article I’d like to thankyou! In the future I’ll try to keep my ramblings a little shorter. Asyou can see it’s been a busy summer. I truly believe that there isa lot more we can accomplish together this year. The LSA Execu-tive certainly has some ideas ranging from constitutional/by-lawreform, the place of French in the faculty, the JD, long-term fi-nancial commitments and working on new flavors of beer. In anupcoming issue I look forward to expanding upon some of ourideas for the coming year. However, in the end as your studentrepresentatives it is your opinions that empower us. So don’t beshy; let us know what you want changed and we will continue tothink of ways to solicit your opinions. I am proud of what the LSAExecutive has already accomplished and look forward to the op-portunity to meet with LSA Council beginning in October andwith the student body as a whole during our Town Halls. In themeantime, don’t hesitate to write, stop by the office, or stop asin the hallways as we look forward to hearing from you all.


Bonjour! I’m Farah Goulam-houssen et je suis votre VPAdministration au sein del’AÉD pour l’année scolaire2010-2011.

In this little article, I am sup-posed to talk to you aboutwhat I did this summer. Let’s

see…. At times, it felt like my job consisted of forwarding your e-mails to the right person! Many of you do not take the time toread the e-mails I send and just automatically press reply, so I(how lucky am I?) receive all your e-mails that are of no interestto me (except making my job annoying!) I thought that I shouldtake some time to explain you something important in this arti-cle (because hopefully people will read this article - as opposedto the e-mails I send). Let’s make it simple and clear: The VP-Ad-ministration has the super privilege of sending e-mails to the Fa-culty. And let me tell you, it is a good thing that I am the onlyone who can do that, or else you would be harassed with tonsand tons of e-mails! How it works is that a VP, a club or someoneelse sends me an e-mail they want to send to all the students ofthe Faculty and I send it from MY account. (Meaning that whenyou receive it, it comes from the VP Admin even though it is si-gned by a club or someone else!) After reading the e-mail, youshould technically have spotted an e-mail address to which youshould respond. DO NOT JUST PRESS REPLY because the e-mailwill be sent to me and I will have to forward it to the right per-son! Now that you are aware that by pressing « Reply » you sendthe e-mail to me, I will take for granted that you understood howit works and will now take the time to e-mail the right person!

Passons aux choses plus sérieuses maintenant. Pourquoi admin?Soyons honnêtes, je suis maniaque d’organisation, de planifica-tion et de gestion. La fille derrière le bureau, devant l’ordinateur,à longueur de journée, qui fait que les autres ont les outils admi-nistratifs pour exécuter leurs tâches, c’est moi! Most of you findthat boring, but I love to plan meetings, write e-mails, and dealwith nitty gritty details - and that’s what I’ll be doing all year asyour VP Administration.

Une bonne administration est le fondement de tout bon comitéet je prendrai à coeur cette tâche qui m’est donnée. Cette année,mon objectif sera d’améliorer la communication autant entre lesmembres de l’association eux-mêmes, qu’entre vous, les étu-diants de la faculté et les membres de l’association. Also, I’ll beworking on the LSA’s administration and I’ll be making sure thatit is under good management so for future years, so it will beeasy to keep track of everything that has been done before. Howam I qualified? Well, I’m patient, I’m persistent, I’m organizedand I’m ready to take on the challenge! Cet engagement, je crois,sera ma force en tant que VP admin.

Si vous avez passé devant le bureau de l’AÉD récemment, vousavez probablement remarqué que beaucoup de changements yont été apportés! Cet été, j’ai nettoyé, peinturé et décoré l’AÉDafin qu’il soit un endroit plus attirant et vivable! Alors, si vousavez questions, commentaires, suggestions (ou si vous voulezsimplement admirer le chef d’oeuvre sur les murs du bureau del’AÉD), n’hésitez pas à m’aborder dans les couloirs ou simple-ment venir me voir à l’AÉD, I’m ready to listen to everything youhave to say and improve our lifestyle at the faculty! (And also, Iwill admit that being behind a computer all day long can be bo-ring, so please do come and have a chat with me while I’m wor-king in the LSA Office.) Passez une belle année scolaire et auplaisir de tous vous rencontrer!

V P A d m i n i s t r a t i o n

FARAH GOULAHOUSSEN


Salut!

Mon nom est Laurie Birbilas et ce sera unplaisir pour moi de vous représenter surl’exécutif de l’AÉD pendant l’année scolaire2010-2011. En tant que vice-présidenteaux finances, mon rôle est de m’assurer

que vos fonds sont bien gérés. C’est à dire que je mets à jour lebudget de l’AÉD, j’aide à répartir le financement pour les clubs etje m’assure que tous les membres de l’AÉD, les clubs et les comi-tés ont accès à l’information financière dont ils ont besoin pouravoir du succès dans leurs initiatives dans l’immédiat et à longterme.

Over the summer, my main task consisted of setting up the 2010-2011 LSA Master Budget. Budget preparation is a useful tool, asit allows the LSA to evaluate the revenue and expenses from pre-vious periods with a view to creating a clear roadmap of our fi-nances for the year to come. I also spent some time helping ourbookkeeper gather the information needed to prepare our finan-cial statements, so that our Chartered Accountant could conductour yearly audit. In July, we reinvested some of our matured sa-vings into Guaranteed Savings Investments (GIC’s) so that we cancontinue to earn secured interest on funds before they are allo-cated to initiatives that benefit our Faculty. Lastly, I assisted themembers of the Orientation Committee in preparing the 2010Orientation Budget, so that they could maximize our available re-sources and hold another amazing Orientation this year.

Je crois que les caractéristiques les plus importantes du porte-feuille financier sont la tenue de comptabilité organisée ainsi quela transparence. Puisque l’AÉD représente le corps étudiant, jeveux m’assurer que les fonds de l’AÉD sont dépensés correcte-ment pour que vous puissiez bénéficier au maximum de votreexpérience à la faculté de droit.

If you want to talk about our legal tender, I’m your gal! Don’t he-sitate to contact me at [email protected].

See you around!

Laurie

LAURIEBIRBILAS

V P - F I N A N C E

Hi Everybody! My name is Mike Finley andI will be your VP Athletics for the year. A bitabout myself: I’m from Toronto, did my un-dergrad in the UK at Cambridge Universityand am looking forward to getting my se-cond year underway here at McGill Law. Iam very excited to be doing this job, sports

have always been an important part of my life and I’m pleased tohave the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for them with you.This year I hope that athletic activities gauged to all levels of abi-lity and experience will provide the opportunity to meet and so-cialize, and to make all of our lives a little bit healthier. With themultitude of charity athletic events that have been established,sport can also be an opportunity to give back to the communityand I will be encouraging students from the law faculty to joinme in getting involved in events like these.

C’est important que vous réalisiez qu’il y a plusieurs occasions devous impliquer dans les activités sportives de McGill même sivous n’avez pas beaucoup d’expérience. Un document intitulé «Information sur l’Athlétisme à McGill - McGill Athletics Summary» disponible sur le site Web de l’AÉD décrit les différentes op-tions qui s’offrent à vous. Je vous encourage tous à trouver uneactivité physique à faire pendant vos études; la lecture, les courset les examens peuvent être stressants et l’athlétisme est unebonne méthode pour vous défouler et relaxer.

Throughout the summer I have been researching athletics atMcGill, organizing schedules and preparing various events tomake getting involved in sports easy, fun and undaunting. Eachweek there will be organized running groups (while the weatherlasts), a squash ladder and occasional trips to try out new thingslike rockclimbing, cross- country skiing and curling.

De plus, il y aura des événements annuels de plus grande enver-gure comme la Coupe MalPractice (contre les étudiants en mé-decine) et les JeuxRidiques. Si vous me voyez à la Faculté, venezde me parler! J’ai hâte de rencontrer les nouveaux étudiants etde revoir ceux qui reviennent pour leur deuxième, troisième ouquatrième année en droit. I hope to see many you for a run and,if not, for a beer!

MIKEFINLEY

V P - AT H L E T I C S


Hi! My name is Mason Gordon and I will beworking towards enhancing student ser-vices and faculty activities as your LSA VicePresident - Clubs and Services for 2010-2011.

As the link between various student groupsand the LSA, I will be helping these groups find members and or-ganize events. Additionally, I will be on the committees that de-termine the allocation of the funds dedicated towards studentclubs as well as the Dean’s Discretionary Fund (DDF).

Finally, I will also be managing the production of the Law Fa-culty’s Agenda and of the Online Student Directory (the “bot-tin”), organizing and coordinating the Clubs’ Day fair that justook place, and working to bring you various other activities.Please don’t ever hesitate to give me suggestions, share yourideas, ask me anything or just chat. I look forward to an enjoya-ble and eventful year with all of you.

À la fin du mois d’avril, j’ai commencé monrôle de VP Interne à l’AÉD. J’ai pris connais-sance des dossiers et j’ai désiré en ouvrirde nouveau. Voici un résumé des opéra-tions:

Food and Dining Services at the Faculty

My new duty as VP Internal is to communicate to Aramark (ournew food provider) student preoccupations and ideas concer-ning the food and dining services offered at the Faculty. If youdon’t see me in the hallways or in the LSA office, just drop a notein my LSA mailbox and I will meet or speak with an Aramark re-presentative about your concern(s).

Organizing Orientation 2010

Cet été fut dédié à l’organisation de l’Orientation 2010; loind’être une mince tâche, je me suis assurer d’avoir une équipe so-lide pour m’aider à construire ces deux semaines de découvertescaractérisées par un brin de décadence. Un gros merci à Lau-rence, Caitlin, Georgia, Jean -Philippe, Stefan et Greg! Résumé denos rencontres: brainstorming, délégations des tâches, re-cherches des meilleurs ratios qualités/prix, téléphones/fax/courriels/textos (une tendinite du pouce ça existe?), rencon-tres avec Aisha Topsakal, communication avec Marie-Pier Clou-tier qui travaillait pour le SAO cet été, signature des contrats,parler du bal et reparler du bal, achat de décorations pour le bal,adaptation de l’horaire selon un certain remaniement ministé-riel, production des éléments promotionnels, recherche debouffe, course au permis d’alcool!...Le comité d’orientation s’estrassemblé religieusement chez moi au courant de cet été pour laconstruction d’une, on l’espère, belle et mémorable Orientation2010!

The year to come

Aside from Orientation we have lots to look forward to! Coffee-houses are on their way, the LSA office is looking better everyday (e.g. painting of logo on the wall, waxing of floors by ourvery helpful Constanzo, rearrangement of the furniture…), etc.You are welcome to stop by the LSA Office (we have a great sofa)whenever the President or a VP is there!

I have tons of ideas for the year to come: guest speakers, trips,parties and more parties, theme inspired coffeehouses, restau-rant outings, hockey nights, sports activities (Mike and I areconcocting these…). Watch out for posters and emails announ-cing our events!

HÉLÈNEVALLÉE

V P - I N T E R N A L

MASONGORDON

V P - C LU B S & S E R V I C E S


Hailto you my friend!

I’m pretty sure that lastnight, before gettinginto bed, you askedyourself about the roleof the LSA VP-Acade-mic. Well, dear col-league, those momentsof anxiety will be an-cient history if you takea minute to read thisarticle.

Mon rôle au sein du comité exécutif de l’AÉD peut sembler com-plexe mais en réalité il est très simple, celui de représenter vosintérêts auprès de la Faculté, tout en m’assurant que vos droitssoient respectés en tout temps. Avec un peu de temps et de per-sévérance, il est souvent possible de faire bouger les choses.

This year, I will be working on three main projects. The first oneis the well-known debate surrounding the JD. I will be workingclosely with the board and its conclusion, but also with the stu-dents who would like to give their input on the subject. Secondly,I would like to follow the work of my predecessor on the secondyear reform.

Finalement, j’aimerais mettre de l’avant un dossier qui me tient àcoeur, celui de la place du français au sein de la Faculté.

Your input is greatly important to us because as an Associationwe have the power to make your voice heard and taken intoconsideration. Therefore, I believe it is essential as your studentrepresentative that we work together and this is why I stronglyencourage you to contact me.

Que ce soit pour un conseil, une plainte, une questionsur votre expérience à la faculté, un four à réparer, unou encore commentaire, je serai toujours là pourvous écouter.

Improving your academic experience at the faculty ismy job - never forget it.

Frankly yours,

-Julien Grenier

JULIENGRENIER

V P - A C A D E M I C

À titre de VP Externe, je représente vos in-térêts avec fierté dans tous les enjeux ex-ternes à l’Association des étudiants endroit de McGill (l’AÉD) et à la faculté dedroit. En somme, je travail avec l’ensembledes facultés, des associations étudiantes,

et des corps administratifs de l’Université McGill. Je suis aussi lavoix des étudiants en droit au sein du conseil de l’Associationétudiante de l’Université McGill (l’AÉUM). À l’extérieur du cam-pus, je représente l’AÉD lorsque nous devons faire affaire avecdes groupes de pressions ou le gouvernement.

My portfolio has a few main objectives. One is to apply a littletender loving care to the LSA’s relationship with the SSMU. In re-cent years, the two groups have drifted apart. While some lawstudents have become dissatisfied with the SSMU, others haveexpressed an interest in severing our ties with the SSMU altoge-ther. I will work to improve this situation for law students. Mystrategy involves representing the LSA in biweekly meetings withthe SSMU and representatives from other faculties. Also, Stefanand I will renegotiate the LSA’s Memorandum of Agreement withthe SSMU, ensuring that the terms of the contract fit the LSA’smandate of furthering your interests. Another important part ofmy portfolio is the LSA’s role in an ongoing project aimed at im-proving access to justice in Québec by pressuring the govern-ment of Québec to make it easier for low‐income earners to getfree legal representation on the government’s dime. Myself andthe other student representatives of civil law schools will do soby recommending to the Québec Minister of Justice that legalaid’s basic minimum be raised. I would like to offer thanks to theLSA’s previous VP‐Externals, Joel Lightbound and Alex Shee, forhelping to bring this project to fruition.

As the VP‐External, my job is to stand for the LSA when interac-ting with organizations outside of our faculty. One way that lawstudents are perceived from the outside is by their degrees. Thisbrings us to the JD‐LLB debate. In recent years, about a quarterof Canada’s law schools have followed Harvard’s lead and chan-

ged the name of their common law de-grees from LLB to JD (Juris Doctor). Thischange is designed to raise the value ofthe common law degree in the mindsof others and to signify its status as aprofessional degree. With the LSA andother student volunteers, I will explorewhether or not McGill Law shouldchange the name of its common lawdegree to JD, and make a recommenda-tion to that end.

The final objective within my portfoliois not unique. Like all members of theLSA, I will be available to students tohelp address their concerns, and I willhelp make law students feel at home inthe LSA and the McGill Faculty of Law.

KIRKEMERY

V P - E X T E R N A L


For those who didn’t get the chance tomeet me yet, I am Tara Mandjee, VP PublicRelations for the upcoming year. Par la pré-sente, je tenterai de vous éclairer sur lesfonctions de mon poste et les mystérieusestâches que je réalise en votre nom. Depuisma prise de fonctions, le 1er Mai 2010, j’ai

pris conscience des procédures qui prennent place « derrière lerideau » et précèdent toute décision ou projet, et c’est ce quej’aimerais partager avec vous.

More specifically related to my position, I think it’s a pity thatstudents only get to see the tip of the iceberg: they attend theevent but they have no idea why and how it was organized andon what terms with a firm. This information could be really rele-vant and interesting, as it tells us more about what firms canoffer and which ones are more compatible with our ambitions.My hope is to share this information with you throughout theyear.

Tout commence par la transition, qui suppose informer les cabi-nets que je « reprends le flambeau » ; pour reprendre les motsde ma prédécesseur ; et qui permet d’établir un premier contact.Ensuite, avant de faire parvenir le plan de commandites, j’aidonné la priorité aux cabinets ayant participés à des comman-dites exclusives l’année dernière de les renouveler, ce qu’ils fi-rent tous.

Anytime you use your agenda, be grateful to Ogilvy Renault asthey again sponsored the printing and are willing to make a long-term agreement with the LSA! As well, the Bottin is sponsored byWoods , just as last year. Also, thanks to Stikeman Elliot, you hadthe opportunity to have lunch while you meet your law partner.

The closing event of Orientation, the Welcome Ball has become atradition with a Cocktail sponsored by McCarthy Tetrault.. Thelast, but not least, is Blakes’ sponsorship - an informal agreementwas already made with Blakes in the previous years but this year,a new three-year contract has been signed with Blakes designa-ting it as sponsorship, not only of Skit Nite, but also of LawSchool of Rock as well. The tremendous generosity of Blakesshould be kept in mind by the students and will hopefully inspireother partners.

Before sending the package to the firms on June 23th, Stefanand I went through the 2009-2010 sponsorship package and,based on our predecessors’ experiences, we modified it: thingswhich didn’t work have been taken off the package or theirprices have been adjusted and some items were added. I have toadmit that having the previous VP Public Relations’ reports, butespecially having an old member of the Executive as Presidentwas really useful.

Nous avons adapté le plan de commandites dans l’optique d’élar-gir l’éventail des commanditaires. En effet, le plan a été envoyénon seulement aux cabinets montréalais, mais aussi à des cabi-nets de New York et de Toronto. De plus, nous avons pris l’initia-tive d’offrir une gamme d’opportunités de tailles et de coûtsdifférents, soient des opportunités plus adaptées aux besoins etaux budgets des commanditaires, ce qui s’est traduit par la parti-cipation de quatre nouveaux partenaires.

I hope all this information I have shared will turn out to be usefulfor you. Again, don’t hesitate to talk to me – I love to talk! I willbe happy to help as a VP, to chat as a friend, and to be advised asa person seeking progress.

V P - P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S

TARAMANDJEE


FROM THE OMBUDSMAN

Howdy tout le monde and welcome back!

I wear many hats here at the Quid, one ofwhich is that of Ombudsman. What doesthis mean? While the final Quid decisionsrest with Courtney and Chanel (the Editors-in-Chief), I seek to advise them on variousQuid-related matters, and serve as a liaisonbetween the publication and students (andoccasionally Faculty). Mainly, I deal with is-sues related to content in the Quid.

Believe it or not, we do have standards atthe Quid (har-dee-har-har) and our Policiesand Operating Guidelines require publica-tion of the rules in the first issue of every se-mester. As such, below please find ourguidlines and policies.

If you have a question/complaint/com-ment/concern about anything Quid Novi,feel free to shoot me an e-mail: [email protected]

Looking forward to a great year of Quidding,

-Charlie

QUID NOVI POLICIES AND OPERATING GUI-DELINES

The Quid belongs to students enrolled in theFaculty of Law at McGill University. It is es-sential that it maintains transparent policiesand guidelines that take into considerationvalues such as the freedom of expression aswell as interests such as those of studentsand faculty. The policies and operating gui-delines are set forth below. Questions andcomments may be directed to:[email protected]. This policy is updated atthe sole discretion of the Editors-in-Chiefsprovided notice of update has been publi-shed in the Quid.

This version of the policy is enacted as of2010.

This document has five sections:

1) General Guidelines

2) Submission and Revocation Policy

3) Anonymous Submission Policy

4) Editing Guidelines

5) Content Review Policy

6) Notice and Amendment Process

1) GENERAL GUIDELINES

Every item appearing in the Quid Novi is anopinion piece that reflects only the views ofthe person(s) submitting the item. Neitherthe Quid Novi, the LSA, nor the Faculty ofLaw endorse any of the material or viewscontained therein. Given the nature of thepublication and its limited resources, theQuid will not undertake to evaluate the fac-tual accuracy of submissions. Submissionsare presumptively publishable unless theydo not conform to the guidelines containedherein.

2) SUBMISSION AND REVOCATION POLICY

The Quid is a submission-driven publication.The deadline for submission shall appear inevery issue. Articles submitted must includethe author's name and year of study. If theauthor is writing in a particular capacity (i.e.'LSA President'; 'Head of Student Club') thisis to be indicated by the author.

No material submitted after the deadlineshall be published without the expressconsent of the Editors-in-Chief. Late submis-sions will be slated for publication in thesubsequent edition.

Articles submitted for publication may be re-voked by the author. The Quid will honourall such requests provided they are made atleast two days prior to publication. The Quidwill do its best to honour a late revocationrequest but will not stop the printing of anissue that has already gone to press.

3) ANONYMOUS SUBMISSION POLICY

The Quid will publish anonymous articlesprovided they conform to the Quid Policyand Operating Guidelines. Anonymous arti-cles present a challenge for content reviewfor they do not allow the Editors-in-Chief toconsult with the author. As such, if an ano-nymous article is rejected for publication,

notification of rejection must be publishedin the Quid.

4) EDITING GUIDELINES

Every item submitted to the Quid shall bereviewed. The Quid reserves the right tomake grammatical edits to improve the rea-dability or suitability for publication of an ar-ticle. Editors may also correct spellingmistakes. If a submission requires significantediting - in the view of the first person revie-wing the article - this shall be indicated tothe Editors-in-Chief. The Editors may refuseto publish the article for lack of suitability ormay conduct significant edits and publishthe submission. Minor edits need not becommunicated to the author prior to publi-cation.

5) CONTENT REVIEW POLICY

All submissions made to the Quid shall bereviewed for content. There is a four-step re-view process:

1) Review by Editor

The Editor assigned to review the article (oran Editor-in-Chief) individually reviews thesubmission for content they believe to bequestionable. Questionable content iscontent that, in the appreciation of that res-pective Editor, is either potentially offensiveor potentially not suitable for publication.The following factors will be consideredwhen assessing potential offensiveness: theoverall tone of the submission, the specificword(s) used, the context in which they areused, coupled with an individual apprecia-tion of the potential reaction to said mate-rial by the student body, professors, alumni,and the Montreal legal community. If, on ba-lance, any individual Editor or an Editor-in-Chief believes there is questionable content,this is communicated to the Editors-in-Chief.

Items that are potentially not suitable forpublication include, but are not limited to:submissions that are too long or too short;submissions that have the potential tocreate a hostile environment for faculty or

Q u i d O m b u d s m a n

CHARLIEFELDMAN


students; and submissions that are defama-tory in nature.

2) Discussion

At the second stage of review, the Editors-in-Chief and Editor who did the initial review dis-cuss their specific findings with one another inrelation to the submission. If there is a findingof questionable content that is agreed to by amajority (i.e. at least two-out-of-three bet-ween the reviewing editor and the Editors-inChief), the article goes for consultation. Ifthere is no agreed finding of questionablecontent, the article is published as is or withedits at the discretion of the Editors-in-Chief.

3) Consultation

At the Consultation stage, the Editors-in-Chiefmust advise the author that there is a contentconcern. The Editors-in-Chief may consultothers about the submission, provided thereis no information given identifying the au-thor(s). The Editors-in-Chief may consult withany individuals mentioned in the article, fel-

low students, faculty members, and/oralumni, at the discretion of the Editors-in-Chief. Consultation is not a question of how-many-for vs. how-many-against; rather, giventhe nature and role of the Quid, consultationis premised on whether the specific content issuitable for publication. The author may beconsulted numerous times if the Editors-in-Chief feel this is necessary.

4) Decision

The Editors-in-Chief will discuss the results oftheir consultations and will render a decisionto: [a] accept the submission as is; [b] acceptthe submission with minor edit(s) to be com-pleted by the Editors-in-Chief; [c] return thesubmission to the author for modificationwith suggestions provided at the discretion ofthe Editors-in-Chief, or, alternatively, [d] rejectpublication without modification suggestions.The decision of the Editors-in-Chief is final andbinding. The Editors-in-Chief, at their discre-tion, may publish a notice of rejection in the

Quid with their reasons, indicating, at theirdiscretion, the name(s) of the author(s). Alter-natively, the author(s) may request that sucha notice appear, in which case the notice willbear the format: AUTHOR -- YEAR -- TITLE OFSUBMISSION “was submitted for publicationbut will not be printed in accordance with theQuid Policy and Operation Guidelines.”

6) NOTICE AND AMENDMENT PROCESS

The Editors-in-Chief shall publish these guide-lines in the Quid in the first issue of every se-mester. Changes may only be proposed byQuid staff. If there is a proposed change, it willbe indicated in the next issue of the Quid withthe opportunity for students to make submis-sions for a period of at least one week.Changes must be approved by a majority ofactive Quid staff. The Editors-in-Chief mustpublish notice of any change or change at-tempt in the Quid.

Effective: April, 2010

CARTOON - ERDAL GOK (LAW II)


DROIT A L’IMAGE

I n - H o u s e D i v a

CHARLIEFELDMAN

What is droit a l’image? Well, in preparation

for my future career as tabloid fodder, I’ve

decided to create my own tabloid right here

within the Faculty rag! It started off as sim-

ply a week-in-review in pictures (if you ha-

ven’t met me, I’m the kid always taking

pictures…). This week, there are no pictures

in order to make room for other things, but

we’ll be back with the snapshots next week.

If you have anything to submit or ideas forthis section: [email protected]

... Disons ...

(overheard @ the fac)

Many thanks to my spies around the Fa-culty! PROFS: If you don’t want quotes fromyour class used, do let me know (as some ofyou have). My apologies for any mis-quotes.I will be more than happy to publish correc-tions or explanatory notes upon request!([email protected])

Prof. [REDACTED]: Mais enfants ne m'écoute

pas. Donc quand j'ai une publique captive je

m'en profite. [laughter] Non, non sérieuse-

ment, c'est une forme de thérapie…

Prof. [REDACTED]: If there’s one thing McGillis known for – it’s for conveying to you justhow ambiguous the rules are.

Prof. Klein: I showed the class list to my col-leagues, and they assured me it was a goodgroup. [light laughter] No, seriously, wespent hours going name-by-name…

Prof. Moyse: Vous n'êtes pas intéresséesdans la théorie de Hohfeld? Bien, je vois quej'ai aucune audience aujourd'hui. On parled'autre choses.

Prof. [REDACTED]: It’s racist and sexist. Butit’s funny racist and funny sexist, you know?

Prof. Gold: My goal is in part to destroy anyconcept of property that you have. Every-thing you know is wrong.

Prof. Sheppard: Life … is often more compli-cated than legislative provisions.

Prof. [REDACTED]: Is anyone not going to behere next week for the holiday? You know,one thing I like to do around Jewish Holidaysis show movies.

Me. Mitchell: I know many on the waitlistwant to get into the class – I don’t take thatnecessarily as an endorsement of my tea-ching…

Prof. Klein: We’ve moved out of our roomoverlooking the lovely garage, and nowwe’re in the ugly cave of doom…

Prof. [REDACTED]: You're forced to be here.You can't leave law school without takingthe best class in law school - common lawproperty... It's sad that you come in to herehaving taken civil law property, which is themost boring class in law school.

(Droit a l’image: Clearly someone never took

it with Prof. Emerich!!)

Prof. [Redacted]: Quand j'ai terminé mesétudes, ou plutôt quand mes études m'ontachevés...

Prof. Gold: All families have a decision-ma-king mechanism. It may be mother knowsbest, it may be father knows best. And if youbelieve in that show... Super Nanny? Ithink… then the kids should make decisions.

Prof. Klein: You can't just be running aroundwith a large amount of crack rock on you.(Droit a l’image: Someone please pass this

memo to Whitney Houston).

Prof. Klein: I’ve talked to other profs - thequality of the exam doesn’t change depen-ding if the exam is a 6, 12, 24, or 48 hourtake-home – all that changes is how muchstress students experience while taking theexam.

Me. Mitchell: The REAL skill of a trial lawyeris knowing when to stand up and when toshut up.

(Droit a l’image: By contrast, the REAL skill

of a law student is knowing when to show

up and when to sleep in…)

Prof. [REDACTED]: The next class is extre-mely boring, I’m letting you know now.

(Droit a l’image: We really appreciate ad-

vance warning like this. Plus 10 points for

professorial honesty!)

Prof. [REDACTED]: Yeah, so, long story shortthey were married for immigration reasons.

Prof. [REDACTED]: This guy, who dressed asa woman, had something going on with Ce-sar’s wife… through legal maneuverings, hebecame the master of Rome for a number ofyears… until he is beaten up to death duringa brawl.

Me. Mitchell: I don’t know if you know this,but judges can turn what’s black and whiteinto orange.

Prof. [REDACTED]: Let’s recall the prime rule:THE LAW IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE AN ASS!

Me. Mitchell: That’s the way it really works:Courts make up rules – and then give themfancy Latin names!

Prof. Moyse: L'occupation colonial des Euro-péens, c'était un peu comme le Risk. Onplantait le drapeau et puis le tout apparten-nait à soi. Risk... je suis nul en ce jeu. Maispourtant il n'y a pas trops de stratégies...c'est que de la chance.

Prof. Moyse: Tu connais le format actor-stu-dio? On invite un comedien puis les étu-diants lui pose les questions. J'avais l'idée defaire la même chose dans la domaine depropriété intellectuel. C'est moins sexy, maiscela peut être utile.

Prof. Moyse: Que l'on lit dans les journauxdans une langage tres vulgaire. Je veux direvulgaire, pas *vulgaire*... En fait, pas vul-gaire-prejoratif, mais vulgaire-vulgaire. C'estclair?

Prof. Moyse: [expliquant une théorie de lapropriété intellectuelle]: On invente et hop,un bonbon. C'est la théorie du bonbon.


Prof. Gold: We [lawyers] are the cost of in-ternalizing externalies. That's why no onelikes us.

... and on a personal front ...

Me: Hey! I’m taking your __________ class!

Prof. [REDCATED]: No you’re not! I checkthat list like hourly just to make sure. Andbesides that, I should have a veto – at leastonce – over who is taking my courses.

(at the SAO, talking to a transfer studentabout courses – Prof. Jukier walks by…)

Me: … I’m just telling him what sections totake, you know, giving him the inside scoop.

Prof. Jukier (to the transfer student): Youcan take my section, but DON’T BECOMEONE OF HIS SPIES FOR THE QUID!

STUDENT OVERHEARDS!

Please indicate the year of study (or SNAIL)and send to [email protected] or hitme up on Facebook.

4L: I have waited THREE LONG YEARS only tohave a locker that’s so small I CAN’T EVENSTORE F*****G TIC-TACS IN IT!!!! I HATETHIS PLACE!!

(Note: There were too many locker freak-

outs to include, but this was my favourite so

it wins the prize lol)

2L: Was there a point to last year? I mean,other than shooting down my ego and GPA?

3L: It’s now the Student Annoyance Office –let everyone know that’s what SAO standsfor.

4L: Oh! Someone is going to get an angry e-mail of DEATH about this!

3L: Who are these people? No, seriously, Idon’t recognize anyone.

(downstairs)

1L: I love my locker.

3L (nearby): HEY $%^& YOU, BUDDY!

(at the Law Partner Lunch)

1L: Everyone here is so nice!!! 2L: Just wait.

(at the Welcome Ball)

3L: These 1Ls are so much cooler than lastyear’s 1Ls! I was worried our year was ananomaly.

4L: Why am I still here?

4L: How did you get a spot in that class!?!?

3L: Oh, I ****ed some ****s.

(We’ll leave that one edited. If it makes you

feel better, you can complete it with ‘I wai-

ted some lists’, which is the only accepta-

ble/acknowledged way to get a spot in a

course, though we’re guessing it was some-

thing else...).

3L: It’s not that I don’t want to take coursesin French, it’s just that the ones offered noware either early as hell or boring as f**k… orboth.

2L: Why, out of all the required courses, isCommon Law Property only offered in En-glish? So, whereas we’re saying Civil LawProperty is practiced in English two-sec-tions-to-one nobody practices [CML prop] inFrench?

?L: [Talks about how jeans aren't made forpeople with athletic lower body propor-tions]

?L: Poor man - it must be hard to be a livingGreek statute and to walk among the lastmen...

3L: Welcome Ball… I don’t know if I want togo. Sixty bucks is a lot – and I mean, it is all-you-can-drink... but, you know, there’s achance of taking a 1L home, so I guess I’mgame.

2L: If I get another damn notification aboutthat group changing name…. swear to G-Dsomeone’s gonna get a hurt real bad! (last

part said with an accent)

3L: I was smart about it – no morningclasses. I need my hangover recovery timebuilt-in to my course schedule.

(at Welcome Ball)

2L: If you have a gun up in your waist pleasedon’t shoot up the place.

Droit a l’image: Why?

2L: ‘Cause I see some ladies tonight whoshould be having my baby, babyyyyyyy

(I just love a good sing-a-long!)

3L: That’s like dating someone with basicallythe same name as you. I don’t get it.

3L: This class is going to be a bull$%&#-festworse than Foundations. DROP!

(at Clubs Day)

1L: Is it bad to sign up for everything? I can’tdecide just yet…

Droit a l’image: Well, you’ll probably get alot of e-mails if you do that.

1L: Well, I never check my McGill mail any-way.

Droit a l’image: You might want to startdoing that…

(at coffeehouse)

EXCHANGE: Wait, so this happens everyThursday?

Droit a l’image: Just about…

EXCHANGE: North America is wonderful!

(in class)

2L: ‘Cause I know a judge…. A senior one.

(Droit a l’image: I got sent this by a few peo-ple so I’m pretty sure it was funny in theway it was said but sadly that doesn’t al-ways translate in print…)

1L: How much should I study for legal meth?

3L: All I have to do is make it to May withoutgetting locked up, knocked up, or shot up!


DROIT A L’IMAGE - SUITE


CHARLIEFELDMAN

Welcome to 1L?

It being the first Quid of the year, I decidedto do good and provide some insight/adviceto the new 1Ls. I quickly realized that my ad-vice (bring crayons to class and sing often ...in class) is probably not that valuable, so Isolicited advice to share. What follows issome of what was said/e-mailed to me.Take everything as you will and with a grainof salt, and I more than encourage anyupper-year to write an article ‘What I wish Iknew in 1L’ for a future Quid.

The questions asked: What do you knownow that you wish you knew as a 1L? OR, ifyou could offer one piece of advice to new1Ls, what would it be?

2L: Professors actually want you to comeand talk to them. As in, they WANT you tocome talk to them. Not that they don'tmind, but as in they ENJOY students comingto speak to them.

3L: You'll have to learn stuff - not just regur-gitate, comment, and critique. If you havean undergrad coming from something likepolitical science, by the end of your degreeyou get really good at BSing and really badat learning - in law you actually have tolearn.

4L: That no matter how much you study andknow any law or legal text, at McGill theygrade you better for your philosophic, femi-nist, hermeneutic, libertarian, liberal, etc.approach.

4L: Ninety-nine percent of the professorsreally care and pour their hearts into theirteaching, but be polite to them - just onerude grade-grubbing student can really turna professor off an entire class. Professorshave feelings too!

3L: Never listen to what anyone says abouta professor. Make up your own mind. Peo-ple have different tastes and I would havemissed out on some excellent classes if I hadlistened to ‘The word on the street’

4L: Get to know the people around you.Your classmates are the best thing aboutyour education. The professors are alsoworth getting to know; go to office hoursand help yourself stand out (in a good way).

3L: Speak from your heart (not your sum-mary- everyone will talk about you if you dothat) but not too much, and make annota-ted syllabi for exams.

4L: Buying things for legal meth is a waste ofmoney.

3L: Apply for everything - there is so muchcool stuff you can do in law school!

2L: Don’t let exam time sneak up on you.MUCH easier said than done.

2L: Nothing in first year is as bad as youthink it is in that moment/going to turn outlater. It’s basic, but tremendously easy toforget.

4L: Sometimes using your time wisely meansnot going to class.

2L: There are no assertions in law school-anything you put down on an exam must beproperly sourced with an authority - the restis just fluff, so make sure your notes aredesigned accordingly.

2L: Sometimes, less is more - you CAN getlost in the details if you dive too much into

cases, and unless you have a steel trap me-mory really having detailed recall of themore subtle points of any case you read ismost likely going to be irrelevant or lost onthe prof in the exam.

2L: Always give yourself five minutes on anexam for a final read-through.

2L: Don't study for Civil Law Property like it'sa common law course. Know the CCQ andthe doctrine.

2L: Be mentally prepared to bust out theblue book if your computer breaks down.

2L: Appreciate what you are learning asmuch as the grades you are getting - in thelong-term that is what is more valuable.

3L: Know now that the grades you’ll get maynot be the ones you want, or even the onesyou feel you deserve. Learn for learning’ssake and learn that your GPA does not de-fine you.

2L: Don’t take yourself too seriously!

3L: I wish they told us how to study for lawschool exams and what they would be like.They are different, and it’s hard sometimesto conceptualize just what you’re beingasked. Basically, my advice is to read a sum-mary at the start of a semester, know wherethe course is going, and structure yourselfand your notes accordingly. Don’t go case-by-case, thing about how it all fits togetherand you’re doing it – it will be majorly help-ful come exam time, as you’re not simplyasked to go case-by-case, but rather, to il-lustrate how it all fits together.


3L: USE YOUR PRIORITY CREDITS ON EVI-DENCE (CIVIL MATTERS)!!!!!!

3L: There’s nothing to be gained by compa-ring grades/offers, etc. Don’t talk about it.

3L: My advice would be to look at upper-years. Obviously, some are smarter than youbut a lot are just as smart or dumber. I don’tsay that to be mean, but it would have beenhelpful as a 1L if I had looked around andrealized ‘These people can do it’ so clearly Ican to – there is not some sort of specialmagical thing you need to do well here.

3L: First-year grades DO matter for recruit-ment; don’t just brush it off entirely.

4L: Find the area of the law you like andthen specialize in it through courses or acti-vities, don’t immediately jump in to whatyou think you’ll like – give everything achance.

2L: Make sure the summary you use itselfdoesn’t have errors…

4L: Don’t sign up for everything just becauseit looks good – people can see through that.

2L: Take archery classes!

Droit a l’image: Just that?

2L: Well, more broadly, do something non-law related that you enjoy. There are thingsother than NCDH and the Gelber.

3L: Don’t get mono in your first semester. Itreally sucks.

ALUM: Go to everything, and I mean every-thing – every coffeehouse, every Law Schoolof Rock, every Skit Nite – it goes by fasterthan you think.

ALUM: The difference between a B and anA- can be pretty slight, and a lot of it comesdown to using keywords and formattingyour answer correctly. Write clean, direct

answers that use key terms properly. Iden-tify the tensions that arise from cases andlegislation that have been covered to deathin class. If the professor has leaned on a par-ticular analytical lens, use it. The point is notto be original or creative or particularly inte-resting: it is to concisely replicate what youhave been taught. To do so artfully means toadd a tiny bit of flair to your answer, whilesticking to the blueprint. Think Joschka Fi-sher walking into the Bundestag in runningshoes, not Johnny Rotten sticking a pinthrough his nose. Incidentally, the blueprintcan often be acquired from a summary.There is nothing dishonest about using sum-maries, you will be using them for the rest ofyour career.

As a side note, if you want enriching, stimu-lating classes, take seminars that get awayfrom the casebook model. Professors Antakiand Fox-Decent both teach wonderful philo-sophy courses where a much more personalkind of learning is encouraged, while addinga rigor that is not present in undergrad.There you have to give more of yourself toget something out of it. These are twocourses I can't recommend enough if youwant to grow intellectually. But there's justno reason to treat Civil Evidence or Sale likeit's Shakespeare or Plato. It's just not.

Finally, keep in mind that most of your pro-fessors were gold medalists or otherwisevery successful law students. Then theywent to one of a handful of approved gra-duate schools. They didn't get there by de-viating too much from the script. Diligenceand conformity, in a very earnest sense, iswhat they know and they recognize and re-ward it when they see it. It's just how itworks. If you let that make you cynical you'llwaste a lot of time pouting about nothing.

So remember that your learning is not res-tricted to what is covered in class, and ifyou're not animated by the material itdoesn't mean there's something wrong withyou. Work out a schedule for yourself thatyou can live with, leave yourself plenty oftime for things you like, and don't let the ba-stards grind you down.

Oh, and every case can be summarized intwo sentences. That's about all the spaceyou've got on an exam, usually. If you can'tsummarize it in two sentences...think aboutit until you can.

Prof. [Redacted]: I didn’t go to law school soI’m probably not the best person to ask…

Prof. Narain: Take time to know what youwant to do. Take time to know what’saround you. You just got here – enjoy it!

Prof. [Redacted]: If you’re going to drop out,do it before you’re eight months in!

Prof. [Redacted]: If you’re feeling lonesomeafter Coffeehouse, don’t go home with aclassmate, head over to St. Laurent.

Prof. Leckey: Proceed with caution on alsosocial fronts at first - life is long in a smallcommunity.

Prof. [Redacted]: Talk to your Prof if youdon’t understand. Well, at first, read it again,ask around, but if you really don’t get some-thing, come to office hours. Don’t let some-thing fester and then become problematicfor you come exams.

Merci à tous et toutes qui m’ont parlé !

Stuff I want to see in the Quid…

As a final comment for this first week, thereare a few items that should be in the Quidthat people don’t think to write, but I thinkthey should. First, if you play on an intramu-ral team, please think about writing a recap(it can be short) so the Faculty can hear ofour athletic prowess! Second, if you go tosomething (a show, a movie, a restaurant)think about writing a review to keep folks inthe loop. In this regard, I’m preparing a re-view (to be published next week, I hope) ofLegally Blonde: The Musical. In addition, IFYOU WROTE A TERM PAPER, think aboutsending us a little abstract for a new sectionto be called either ‘Stop asking about myterm paper!’ or simply ‘In abstraction…’. Youspent time researching and writing, let eve-ryone know what you found! And, as always,if you are in a club or planning an activityand want it publicized, send it in:[email protected].

Have a great week everyone!


ON AIME MANGER CHEZ ???


CHARLIEFELDMAN

Okay, so, QUID CONTEST TIME!!!! Now that the cafeteria is nolonger Matteo’s (RIP...), it needs a new student name. Let’s be ho-nest, we can do better than the McGill official name ‘Law Café’.So, here we go – COMPLETELY UNOFFICIAL – send your sugges-tions to [email protected] OR, if you want to be anony-mous, put something in the Class President III box in the LSAoffice. I WILL TAKE SUGGESTIONS UNTIL FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER24th. Next week I will publish the nomination list, and we’ll havea ballot to vote on the name. Come up with something fun!!

Some of the suggestions so far:

4L: The Lawferteria

4L: The Barrister’s Club

3L: The Oakes Test Café

3L: The Course-Pack Cafe!

2L: Basterache’s!

2L: Legal meals – like legal meth!

2L: Call it ‘Church’ – that way I can tell my mom I’m going often!

3L: Call it ‘The Tabernacle’ – and have everyone call it ‘Tabarnac’for short.

3L: Who cares? Everyone’s gonna call it ‘The Caf’ no matter whatyou do. (Thanks, Debbie Downer!)

4L: That’s what she said!

2L: Snacks and s%?t!

3L: ESCARGOT!!!!!! (Because it’s the only place other than the li-brary where you see SNAILs)

Prof. Narain: After Matteo

Prof. Leckey: Step Down

Prof. [Redacted]: The Imposition

Prof. Sheppard: I haven’t tried it yet.

Some professional person on the 4th floor: The Crap-o-teria!

Okay folks… honestly…. I expected better from my initial survey.What I want you to do is think about using the name in a sen-tence. One of the suggestions, for example, was ‘Herpes’. Thiswould lead to phrases such as:

Do you want to go downstairs and get Herpes? Yo, I paid

way too much to get Herpes. That Herpes is tasting so good in my

mouth right now. DO WE REALLY WANT THIS?

A similar suggestion was ‘The Grundle’.

I humbly ask that you all think of a name that works in both offi-cial languages. And no, we’re not calling it McLachlin’s Munchies,though I did appreciate that suggestion.

ALL NAME SUGGESTIONS: [email protected]

As a side note, I must give credit wherecredit is due and shout-out the applepie sold downstairs. I was skeptical atfirst, but it was actually quite good! It isgetting the Droit à l’image stamp of ap-proval.

Also, I am looking for anyone who wants

to see the new movie ‘Easy A’, or, as I call

it ‘The McGill Law Grading Story’. I be-

lieve our publication should have a re-

view of it.

I, __________ (NAME OPTIONAL) BELIEVE THE CAFETERIADOWNSTAIRS SHOULD BE KNOWN INFORMALLY AS:

E-mail [email protected] or return thebelow to the Class President III box at the LSA


All eligible students in Law who are interested in pursuing GRA-DUATE STUDIES in 2011 are urged to apply for SSHRC, FQR orother Canadian government research funds this fall.

So that financial support for graduate studies does not become afactor for admission, all students are encouraged to apply for allscholarships and fellowships for which they are eligible.

For Canadian citizens and landed immigrants, grants from theSocial Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) are aprime source of aid. For more information, see Social Science &Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) information on the McGillResearch Grants Office site or go directly to thehttp://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/site/apply-demande/apply-de-mande-eng.aspx.

Quebec Residents can also apply for a fellowship from the Fondsquébécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture.

For law students applying for either SSHRC or FQRSC funding thisfall, a 3.4 minimum CGPA in Law is required. Upcoming dead-lines may be found at http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/students/fel-lowships/information/.

The Graduate Programs Office will be setting an information ses-sion with past Law winners of these fellowships shortly - an an-nouncement is forthcoming.

Please visit the SAO - LAW WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST INFORMA-TION http://www.mcgill.ca/law-studies/

PURSUING GRADUATESTUDIES? CDO

Wednesday, October 6, 201011:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Univer-sity Centre, Ballroom

http://www.mcgill.ca/students/international/studyabroad/

Meet students from partner universities who are currently atMcGill on exchange and McGill students who have been on ex-change.

Do you want an education with a difference? Are you ready totravel and discover other cultures as you work towards yourMcGill degree?

The McGill Study Abroad Fair is your best entry into the world ofstudy abroad! Find out about the numerous exchange optionsopen to McGill students.

Meet exchange students from McGill’s global bilateral partner

universities. They’ll be ready to answer your questions abouttheir home universities, the cities and countries you can visit,and the whole exchange experience.

Learn more about what McGill has to offer, inside and outsidethe classroom!

LAW STUDENTS: Do not miss the Faculty of Law’s Exchange In-formation Session on Monday, October 18th at 1PM in theMoot Court (http://www.mcgill.ca/law-studies/information/exchange/)

McGILL UNIVERSITY STUDYABROAD FAIR 2010

SAO

qn 1 - quid.mcgill.caquid.mcgill.ca/issues/2010-2011/v32no1.pdf · qn •21septembre2010•5 mike...

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