Le programme intégré, dans leurs mots

À l’occasion des vingt ans du programme intégré, trois membres de sa cohorte inaugurale partagent de quelle façon ce dernier a joué un rôle dans leurs carrières accomplies.

McGill Law broadened my horizons on many levels and helped me appreciate different perspectives in both law and in life. I was born and raised in Edmonton and returned to practice law there with a greater ability to serve clients from various cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. I often reflect on how fortunate I am to be able to draw on my legal education to help resolve issues.

- THE HON. ANNA LOPARCO, BCL/LLB’02, MBA’03

The Hon. Anna Loparco was appointed to the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta in 2019. She was previously a partner at Dentons (formerly Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP), where she had practiced civil litigation for 15 years. As chair of the Court’s Restorative Justice Committee, she played a central role in launching the Honourable Beverley Browne Wîyasôw Iskweêw Restorative Justice Committee Pilot Project. In 2022, she endowed the Anna Loparco Entrance Scholarship at McGill, an academic achievement award to support Indigenous students from the Prairie provinces entering the BCL/JD program.

Studying law at McGill was one of the best decisions I ever made. In legal practice, whether in Canada or the Netherlands, Tanzania, or Sierra Leone, or now in academia in the USA, McGill’s comparative law training was the legal toolbox that enabled me to step back and analyze problems in a more complex and more creative way.

- PROFESSOR CHARLES C. JALLOH, BCL/LLB’02

Dr. Charles C. Jalloh is Distinguished University Professor at Florida International University. He is a member of the United Nations International Law Commission and chaired its Drafting Committee in 2018. In 2022, he was appointed a Special Rapporteur for the topic Subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law. The founding editor of the African Journal of Legal Studies and the African Journal of International Criminal Justice, he is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law and the Founder of the Center for International Law and Policy in Africa.

“My McGill legal education empowered me to draw on foundational first principles, multiple sources, and different legal tools to craft sound arguments and solutions in those grey zones where no obvious answer exists. The McGill program has not only made me a better and more creative lawyer, it has also helped keep me engaged and passionate about my work in law.”

- MEGAN STEPHENS, BCL/ LLB’02, 2002 recipient of the Aimé Geoffrion Medal

Megan Stephens runs her own law firm where she specializes in constitutional and criminal litigation. She regularly represents complainants in sexual assault proceedings and has a long-standing interest in improving the justice system’s responsiveness to gender-based violence and related concerns about the criminalization of women. She teaches “From Victimization to Criminalization - Gendered Experiences in the Criminal Justice System,” a seminar she developed for Osgoode’s Professional Development LLM in Criminal Law & Procedure. Before starting Megan Stephens Law, Megan was the Executive Director & General Counsel at the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and spent more than a decade as crown counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario’s Crown Law Office – Criminal.