Osgoode Hall Law School

Osgoode Hall Law School’s impressive record of scholarship will be showcased at the 2014 Osgoode Research Celebration on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Lunch will be provided. RSVP by noon on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at . Use the event code: CELEBRATION.

The event, which is part of the Osgoode@125 celebrations marking the 125th anniversary this year of the law school’s founding in 1889, will feature opening remarks by Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin and Robert Haché, vice-president research ���Ի��� innovation, three panel discussions with Osgoode faculty, and the official launch of the , the school’s new open-access institutional repository.

Osgoode has become the first law school in Canada to provide free online access to its legal scholarship. “The Osgoode Digital Commons is part of the law school’s commitment to better preserve, organize and disseminate research — from research articles published by Osgoode faculty to guest lectures, conference proceedings, theses, even videos and photo galleries,” says Osgoode’s Chief Law Librarian Louis Mirando, who has spearheaded the Digital Commons project and will speak at the event.

The Osgoode Research Celebration – organized by the school’s research office under the direction of Professor Carys Craig, associate dean, research and institutional relations – is an annual event that draws attention to Osgoode as a hub of intellectual activity. The theme of this year’s celebration is "Forging a Just and Sustainable World."

“We are extremely proud of our talented and hard-working faculty and graduate students with their ambitious and ground-breaking research agendas,” says Craig. “This is a terrific occasion for us to recognize their efforts and celebrate their accomplishments. It is also a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase and share the results of Osgoode research with colleagues and students across the University and beyond. Our rapid-fire panel presentations will focus on strategies for the dissemination and mobilization of knowledge in furtherance of a just and sustainable world, which reflects Osgoode’s commitment to producing research that makes a difference.”

Haché says the University is “delighted to celebrate Osgoode Hall Law School’s 125th anniversary – an incredible accomplishment and growing testament to its strengths and successes in education, research and training, global outreach and community engagement in the legal profession.”

He notes that the Osgoode Research Celebration’s theme, Forging a Just and Sustainable World, is “one of the six comprehensive research strengths referenced in the Strategic Research Plan. We invite the 91��ɫ community to join us for this celebration.”

The Osgoode Research Celebration will take place on Wednesday from 12:30 to 2:30pm in Room 2027 of Osgoode Hall Law School's Ignat Kaneff Building.

The post Oct. 1 event celebrates research at Osgoode appeared first on Research & Innovation.

"The Top 25 is about a level of respect, the ability to influence public opinion and help shape the laws of this country; contribution to the strength and quality of legal services; and social and political influence and involvement," writes Gail Cohen, editor of Canadian Lawyer magazine, in her introduction to "The Top 25 Most Influential".

For the second year in a row, Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Sossin made the list in the Changemakers category. Sossin was praised for his important role in Canadian legal education with the magazine making a special note of his leadership role in experiential education. "With the Law Society of Upper Canada planning radical changes to legal licensing in Ontario, Sossin's novel and creative approaches to legal education promise to play an important role in the profession in the coming years," noted the magazine.

Justice David Brown, a judge on the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto, was also included in the Changemakers category. Brown was lauded for his colourful delivery and outspoken judgements. Canadian Lawyer magazine noted Brown's criticism of "the motions culture" in which he decried the actions by "lawyers preferring to bring complex motions rather than settle matters through a civil trial".

Making the list as part of the In-house Counsel category, Osgoode grad Norie Campbell, top legal counsel for the Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank, leads a team of more than 60 lawyers. She also appears on the top 40 under 40 list. Canadian Lawyer made special mention of Campbell's important role in the bank "at a time when TD is making serious inroads into the US market". Campbell is also active in the United Way.

In the Corporate-Commercial Law category, University of Ottawa Professor and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, Michael Geist, is marking his third year on the Canadian Lawyer list. His column appears in the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen newspapers, and he is an author and blogs regularly on copyright law. "Through his academic work and public outreach, Geist illuminates issues surround copyright law and the Internet," noted the magazine.

Appearing in the Criminal Law/Human Rights category, Osgoode alumnus Brian Greenspan, a partner in the Toronto firm Greenspan HumphreyLavine, made the list for his continuing leadership in Canadian criminal law. The publication referred to his work to help "redefine the scope of the defence of duress now available to all accused". Greenspan appeared on the magazine's first top 25 list that was published in 2010.

Also appearing in the Criminal Law/Human Rights category is Justice Rosalie Abella, a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. Abella was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1991 by 91��ɫ for her leadership role in human rights law. "Abella was the sole dissenter in the 2012 case of R. v. N.S.," noted the publication, "where she argued that requiring a witness to remove her niqab would effectively force her to choose between her religious beliefs and participating in the justice system."

Full details are available on the  magazine website.

The post Strong showing for Osgoode in Canadian Lawyer's top 25 ranking appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The post Professor Emeritus Jean-Gabriel Castel awarded France's highest honour appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Osgoode and Lassonde will celebrate the research achievements and interests of their Faculties, Feb. 4, starting at 2:15pm at 1014 Osgoode Hall Law School, Keele campus.

“This research celebration provides a forum for members of the 91��ɫ community to learn more about the exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among these Faculties,” said Robert Haché (right), vice-president research & innovation. “All members of the 91��ɫ community are welcome to attend.”

Following the welcome and opening remarks by Haché, Dean Janusz Kozinski of the Lassonde School of Engineering and Dean Lorne Sossin of Osgoode Hall Law School, a panel discussion moderated by Associate Dean of Research Poonam Puri will take place.

 Janusz Kozinski

“The convergence of engineering and law is very exciting area of interdisciplinary collaboration across a whole range of topics, and we hope this will be the first of many joint events as Osgoode and Lassonde work closely together in the months and years ahead,” said Kozinski.

"Osgoode is delighted to be moving forward with the Lassonde School of Engineering on cross-Faculty collaborations that will break new ground in the fields of law and engineering," said Sossin. "This is the first of what we know will be many celebrations of our successful joint research efforts."

Lorne Sossin

From 2:20 to 3:30pm, there will be a panel discussion highlighting the theme, “A Conversation Between Law and Engineering”. The paen will consist of the following: Dean Sossin; Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino of Osgoode Hall Law School and founder & director ofIP Osgoode; Professor  Michael Daly of the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering; Professor Shin Imai of Osgoode Hall Law School; Professor Michael Jenkin of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering; and Professor Regina Lee of the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering.

The panellists will discuss a diverse range of topics, including space law, intellectual property, expert testimony, professional self-regulation, ethics, mining, corporate social responsibility, corporate accountability and more. There will also be research on display in Gowlings Hall at Osgoode Hall Law School and a reception featuring opportunities for networking. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact Jody-Ann Rowe-Butler, research coordinator, Osgoode Hall Law School, at jrowe-butler@osgoode.yorku.ca or ext. 55771, or Gillian Moore, administrative assistant, Lassonde School of Engineering, at gmoore@yorku.ca or ext. 58215.

To RSVP, .

The post Osgoode and Lassonde celebrate research appeared first on Research & Innovation.

"We clearly need to do more on the homelessness front," Heffernan says. "One of my key current interests is the use of a rights-based approach to address homelessness and the lack of adequate housing. This fellowship will allow me to research the right to housing in other countries and to analyze how those strategies might apply in Canada. And I'll work directly with individuals and organizations who may have a role to play."

Tracy Heffernan

Heffernan will study the ways in which the Charter has already been used to advance social and economic rights, and will create a new directed research course for students at Osgoode Hall. Her fellowship will culminate in a symposium next year, at which an international group of experts will consider potential next steps towards establishment of a right to housing in Canada.

Osgoode students participating in the new course will focus on the root causes of homelessness and inadequate housing, and on how the law might be used to address these issues. Heffernan will also provide workshops and guest lectures during her fellowship. Law students will be exposed to issues of poverty and homelessness and will be encouraged to consider what role they can play as lawyers.

Osgoode Hall Dean Lorne Sossin says the law school looks forward to partnering in the advancement of this distinct stream of Charter scholarship. "The Charter has had a profound impact, but its role in developing social rights is in its infancy," he says. "While at Osgoode, Tracy is going to explore the concept of a positive Charter right to adequate housing, one of the most significant social challenges we face."

Heffernan says that improved access-to-justice, which is a central aspect of the LFO's mandate,  is very much among the potential benefits she sees a rights-based approach delivering. "Housing is fundamental to people's ability to work, to raise families, to engage with their communities - as well as to make use of the legal system," she says.

Community Leadership in Justice Fellowships are one of several LFO granting programs, and one or more have been awarded annually since 2006. They harness the potential of community-academia links to advance justice-related and educational objectives. Fellows are typically leading experts and innovators. Joint applications from public interest groups and prospective host academic institutions are invited each spring.

For more University news, photos and videos, visit the homepage.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post New Osgoode Fellow will explore ways to eradicate homelessness appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The post From prof to publisher of award-winning public policy book appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Laughing at the Gods (Cambridge University Press) is meant to be a companion to his popular 2011 book,  Is Eating People Wrong? Great Legal Cases and How They Shaped the World.

As Hutchinson told a gathering of mostly lawyers, law students and legal scholars at a recent launch of his new book, “Greatness, in anything, is not just about meeting the standards, or exceeding the standards, but changing them.” And that is the criteria he used in choosing which judges to showcase in Laughing at the Gods.

Even though Hutchinson, a Distinguished Research Professor at 91��ɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School, refers to these eight judges as “great”, he says that interpretation is open to debate, as is the nature of their influence, good or bad. “The influence of these great judges has been, for good and bad, enormous,” he says.

“As such, this book is intended to open a conversation about some judges and their supposed greatness,” he writes in the book’s preface. It looks at some of the “main characters who have stood out among the judicial ranks,” those judges who have “helped to shape the world”. In this way the book is intended to spark conversation about certain judges and whether they are great.

Allan Hutchinson

Included in the book are England's Lord Mansfield laid the still-standing foundations of private law; America's John Marshall established the institutional importance of judicial review of legislative and executive action; Canada's Bertha Wilson opened up the judiciary to different and excluded viewpoints; and South Africa's Albie Sachs helped to turn a revolutionary movement into a democratic government.

“Great judges are nation-builders as well as game changers,” says Hutchinson.

But the book is “not intended as a hymn of praise for these memorable figures or the judicial function generally,” writes Hutchinson. Instead, it is an examination of “the common law enterprise and seeks to identify what it is that makes some of its judicial practitioners leaders in their field.”

A legal theorist, Hutchinson was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and received a University-Wide Teaching Award in 2007. He is interested in law and politics, legal theory, the legal profession, constitutional law, torts, jurisprudence, civil procedure and racism. Much of his work has been devoted to examining the failure of law to live up to its democratic promise.

He is also the author of Evolution and the Common Law (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and The Companies We Keep: Corporate Governance for a Democratic Society (Irwin Law, 2005), among others.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post New book, Laughing at the Gods, looks at eight great judges appeared first on Research & Innovation.

That was the consensus of leading thinkers, academics, engineers and students who gathered at 91��ɫ's Keele campus on April 21 for "Envisioning the Renaissance Engineer", a day-long workshop to outline the academic promise for the University's expanded School of Engineering.

“This shall be a school of unique and new design,” said Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and host of the workshop. "Once completed," he said, "the School of Engineering will have an enormous impact on the field of engineering in Canada and beyond.

Janusz Kozinski

“How do we see engineering in the future?” said 91��ɫ’s President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, in his welcoming remarks. “Our vision is the creation of problem solvers who are broadly educated and socially responsible. We want to build a faculty that is inclusive in every respect.”

Underpinning this vision for the School of Engineering will be academic partnerships with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business and 91��ɫ's other faculties.

For philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation, whose generous donation of $25 million to 91��ɫ has made possible the expansion of the engineering school, attending the event one day after celebrating his birthday, along with the anticipated discussion of the concept of the renaissance engineer, were gifts worthy of 65 candles.

In his welcome to the workshop participants, Lassonde described his vision for the engineer of the future. The renaissance engineer, he said, must be like Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. Renaissance engineers would be able to create their own masterpieces, dream and design innovative technical solutions to problems, be entrepreneurial in business and understand the romance of lifelong learning.

Pierre Lassonde

“It is a momentous time. I find myself looking forward and backward,” he said. “Our engineers, our graduates must be fully equipped, fully ready for any situation they encounter. Builders, creative people, developers of solutions – they must not be harnessed by the stiffness of earlier generations. In the future, new approaches, new fixes, flexible men and women are what will be required.”

The workshop began with a keynote address by Diane Freeman, an engineering consultant, Waterloo city councillor and the past president of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. The day continued with morning and afternoon discussions. Technical presentations on entrepreneurship and project-based learning rounded out the day.

Diane Freeman

“The word ‘renaissance’ speaks of revival and of rebirth,” Freeman said. “Aptly, it refers to seasons of transition and to change makers. This is what engineers are, not just automobile designers.”

She spoke about the need for creative solutions by engineers to solve deeply rooted problems. Freeman called for engineers to become involved in public policy and stressed the need for collaboration between engineers, citizens and public policy makers.

Highlights of the day's panel discussions

The Future Engineers Session that followed featured Marisa Sterling of the Professional Engineers of Ontario; Tom Lee, chief education officer, Quanser Inc.; and Sal Alajeck, global engineering team lead, Engineers Without Borders.

Sterling said three characteristics should be encouraged in the engineers of the future��– flexibility, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. “Engineers would need to continually evolve, adopt a strategic mindset and look for future gaps, opportunities and cycles.”

In addition to current trends in engineering, Freeman highlighted that there would be a need for new kinds of engineers in areas such as seismic engineering and entrepreneurial engineering.

Lee said that future engineers should be equipped to handle global challenges ���Ի���issues such as climate change and renewable energy. He noted that elementary students are making robots and engineering fundamentals are now being taught in some Ontario high schools, something he said was not being recognized by universities.

Alajeck suggested engineering programs consider the big picture, including teaching engineers to be better communicators ���Ի���offering interdisciplinary studies in creative problem solving ���Ի���system thinking. "Can they be a loving engineer with the ability to transcend relationships and build communities? Can they change the givens? Would the approach to the renaissance engineer be additive or holistic?" asked Alajeck. "Can 91��ɫ's School of Engineering challenge the existing framework of engineering education or go against the will of industry?"

From left, Sal Alajeck, Tom Lee and Marisa Sterling

The afternoon Renaissance Engineer Session featured 91��ɫ natural science Professors Richard Jarrell and Edward Jones-Imhotep speaking about trends that they think would affect the renaissance engineer. 

Jarrell said he was worried about the text and e-mail heavy world of non-present communications, which he called socially bleak.

"We need to be citizens first. Citizens have adaptability and are present in the world. They are taught to move about and seek a broader education," he said."Flexibility, adaptability ���Ի���broad-based education are important. There is a need to be nimble and move into a variety of careers because the broader the education, the more useful the engineer, and the better the citizen, the better the communicator and the more visionary the human being."

"Renaissance has an element of rebirth, but also of recovering what has been lost," said Jones-Imhotep. He cited Galileo Galilei and other renaissance scientists of the 1600s. Many, he noted, were in essence "renaissance engineers". They were also musicians and they actively explored and embraced other domains, including art, music and languages.

Following the discussion, engineering Professor John Orr of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass., explored project-based learning.

Orr's presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Troy d'Ambrosio, director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah, and Gabriel Chan of the peer-to-peer learning platform NoteWagon.

Troy d'Ambrosio

They discussed how entrepreneurial engineers develop solutions to everyday problems. Both d'Ambrosio and Chan highlighted the importance of universities in encouraging and incubating business and engineering start ups. They highlighted that business planning is a fundamental and integral skill for renaissance engineers. d'Ambrosio described the experience of the University of Utah and its engineering school's effort to marry business with engineering, which resulted in creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah.

The day ended with a thoughtful observation from Lassonde. "Aspire to inspire, before you expire."

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Workshop gives vision to the renaissance engineer appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The film by Osgoode grad Chris Hope (JD ’04) offers a moving account of Japanese Canadian detention during the Second World War, as seen through the eyes of his grandmother, Nancy Okura.  Hope spent more than ten years working on the film, which he also produced. Osgoode alumnus Anwar Deeb (JD ’04) composed the film’s original music.

Right: Osgoode Hall Law School grad Chris Hope with his grandmother, Nancy Okura.

"Most people my age have the beginning of a pension," said Hope, whose day job is as director of business and legal affairs for Alliance Films Inc.  "I have a film; a massive debt, and, thankfully, a very patient wife."

Hope was able to attract community support to raise about 25 per cent of the overall budget, which allowed him to complete the film by the April 1 gala date.  The film is now ready for distribution and broadcast.

His goal is to screen the film in schools across Canada. "The Japanese Canadian Internment story is one in which Canadians are painfully under-versed,” he said. “Hopefully, by presenting it in the first person with my grandmother, it will resonate on a more personal level than the few paragraphs in a history textbook that most of us experienced, and probably quickly forgot."

Hope says the universal message contained in his film is that everyone needs to take the time to learn the history of those closest to them, and not hesitate in the sharing that history.

“By openly discussing such stories, we may collectively learn from our past, regardless of racial, cultural, religious or political boundaries,” he said. “Knowledge and familiarity with ‘the other’ is the enemy of discrimination, so it is critical that that knowledge is constantly nurtured and encouraged."

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Osgoode grad's film offers insight into a dark period in Canada's history appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation, and Lorne Sossin, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, are co-hosting the event, which takes place from 12 to 2pm in Room 1014, Ignat Kaneff Building, Osgoode Hall Law School, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend the free celebration, but an RSVP is requested. You can RSVP or call Lia Cavaliere at ext. 33782. Light refreshments will be provided.

The panel features Osgoode Hall Law Professors Trevor Farrow, Giuseppina D’Agostino, Dayna Scott and Stepan Wood. Each professor will deliver a short presentation on the panel theme “Celebrating Community Engagement”.

Farrow will discuss the dilemma faced by low income Canadians who find themselves unable to access the justice system. His presentation will discuss the various research initiatives that are designed to look at the complex problems associated with accessing justice and access to legal services, as well as the related problem of not providing meaningful access to legal services in today's complex and pluralistic societies.

Trevor Farrow

 Many low income Canadians find themselves unable to access the justice system, says Farrow. Courtrooms are filled with litigants who struggle to navigate the complex demands of law and procedure – often without representation by counsel. Early and effective resolution is central to avoiding the clustering and escalation of legal problems.  However, Farrow posits, a lack of knowledge about how to seek help, coupled with a pervasive sense of powerlessness, limits meaningful action for those who need it most. The most advanced justice system in the world is a failure if it does not ultimately assist in providing justice to the people it is meant to serve, he says. A number of stakeholders have a direct or indirect connection to the issue of access to legal services, including the bench, the bar, the academy, governments, NGOs, the private sector and the public. 

Speaking in her capacity as founder and director of IP Osgoode, Osgoode Hall Law School’s flagship Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology Program, D’Agostino will outline three initiatives she spearheaded through IP Osgoode, along with their promises and challenges, to assist the University in playing a more active role in the complex IP and technology research communities in Canada and around the world.  

Giuseppina D’Agostino

She will discuss the IP & Technology Intensive Program piloted in the Fall of 2011, which provides students with on-site research opportunities in government, industry and expert organizations in IP and technology; the Ontario Centres of Excellence and IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic, a needs-based innovation-to-market legal clinic staffed by volunteer law students piloted in 2011-2012; and the first blog of its kind, the IPilogue, promoting evidence-based research and showcasing new and unexplored viewpoints to public policy discussions.

Engaged scholarship implies a different set of relationships and expectations as between a community and a university researcher. For legal scholars, these can be even more complicated dynamics. In this short presentation, Scott will share some of the tensions encountered in a four-year research partnership with the Health and Environment Community of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. The project explored questions of environmental justice stemming from the Band's experience of chronic pollution emanating from Sarnia's nearby Chemical Valley. Scott and the research team employed participatory action research techniques and arts-based methods such as PhotoVoice, to learn from and with community members, including youth.

Dayna Scott

Wood will focus on the challenges and opportunities surrounding community-engaged research in relation to various research projects affiliated with 91��ɫ's Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS). His presentation will look at research on local community empowerment in water governance in developing world megacities, community members' perceptions of international corporate social responsibility standards in Colombia and Canada, and University-community collaboration on sustainable furniture design for the new Centre for Green Change in the Jane-Finch community.

Stepan Wood

Following the presentations, visitors will have an opportunity to engage with the panelists. Osgoode Hall’s research celebration is part of an ongoing series of events that highlight interesting and innovative research underway at 91��ɫ. For more information on each of the presenters and other research underway at the law school, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Osgoode law profs examine community engagement at Research Celebration appeared first on Research & Innovation.