TRU LAW FACULTY NEWS

By Ryan Gauthier*

Law schools have rhythms. Summer is generally a quiet time, with a relaxed pace. Fall semester is high-energy, focused on the return to the classroom as everyone gets re-acclimated to lectures, exams, student clubs and so forth. Winter semester, meanwhile, is a season of particular engagement with research and events that provide practical learning opportunities. Faculty, students and staff have established their teaching rhythms, and survived the holiday season. And legal scholars and practitioners seem eager to come together to discuss research and practical experience. This is certainly the case at TRU Law.

Research Series Speakers

TRU’s Research Series, established and overseen by Assistant Professor Blair Major, invites speakers, both from within and outside of TRU Law, to speak to the law school community.

The 2023 season started off with Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown. Justice Brown delivered a talk titled “Towards a Canadian Doctrine of Separation of Powers”.

Sam Beswick, an assistant professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, gave a presentation titled “The New Temporal Equitable Remedies”. The presentation outlined how common law jurisdictions are recognizing new remedial doctrines that tailor the temporal scope of judicial decisions. Sam’s presentation focused on how these remedies are evolving in Canada and England, their significance and their controversial development.

TRU Law Assistant Professor Matt Malone also delivered a talk: “Here’s ATIP: A Workshop on Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy Acts”.

Matt’s session discussed how information and privacy laws are notorious for their byzantine nature and operation. He provided some practical advice for navigating these systems, and highlighted how lawyers can use them in their research and their advocacy.

International Law Students Association Chapter Established

TRU Law established a chapter of the International Law Students Association in fall 2022. This was thanks to the initiative of 1L students Nadia Ruscitti and Emily Redekop. In early March, they held their inaugural event, which focused on national security issues. Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies and an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, delivered a timely presentation titled “NORAD, Balloons and Modernization”.

Other Conferences And Events At Tru Law

TRU Society of Law Students Conference

Every February, the TRU Law Society of Law Students holds its annual conference. This year’s conference was held on February 2–3, titled: “Mental Health: The Law and the Impact on Those Who Practice”. The speakers included:

•Judge Lyndsay Smith

•Derek LaCroix, K.C., Executive Director, Lawyers Assistance Program of BC

•Andrea Rayment, Director of Professional Development, Clark Wilson

•Ruby Dhand, Professor, TRU Law

•Randy Bassi, Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

The conference was chaired by TRU Law 2L student Jaya Gill. The other TRU Law students involved in organizing the conference were Dallas Boyer, Amandeep Cheema, Laura Ibsen, Michael McDonald and Pahul Gupta.

A2j Week

During Access to Justice Week, TRU Law held several events to mark the occasion. Speakers included:

•Myrna McCallum, who hosted a session on “Creating Connection in Legal Practice”

•Jeremy Matson, who spoke about the experiences of being a selfrepresented litigant

•Justice Groves and Emily Quinn

•Judge Ogle, who spoke on “Drug Treatment Courts – Innovative Justice for Drug-Driven Crime”

The CBABC also hosted an event at TRU Law titled “Access to Justice: Whose Job Is It Anyways?”

TRU Law students Hannah LeRoy and Matthew Hauzer, co-presidents of the Access to Justice Club, worked alongside Assistant Professor Andrew Pilliar and members of the A2J Club to put the week’s events together.

Moots

Finally, moot season has been underway at TRU Law. For now, we’d like to focus on the moots that TRU Law hosted.

TRU Law hosted the BC Law Schools Competitive Moot on February 11, 2023. The BC Law Schools moot takes place between students of TRU Law, the Peter A. Allard School of Law and the UVic Faculty of Law. A moot is not easy to organize, and we’d like to thank Justice Gomery, the B.C. courts and participating judges for their roles in organizing and adjudicating the moot; Sam Beswick of the Allard School of Law for organizing the moot; and TRU Law Assistant Dean Lana Walker and Special Projects and Events Coordinator Cara Karpluk for their roles in hosting the moot.

Of course, TRU Law also had a team compete in the moot. Norman Atakhanov, Meng Bao, Michael Rouault, Steven Parker and Elliot To represented TRU Law. While they did not come away with the victory, coaches Danielle Ching McNamee and Bradford Smith, K.C., did an outstanding job in preparing the team for the moot.

Finally, TRU Law held the second edition of its Internal Moot Court Competition on February 9. Emma Payne and Erin Pillipow took home the top prize this year. Thanks goes to this year’s competition organizers, TRU Law students and co-presidents of the Oral Advocacy Club, lou beckett and Kendra Hewson.