Faculty of Law News Archive

May 19, 2022 — 
On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 9:30 a.m., David Milgaard was to have taken the stage beside his long-time friend, David Asper, Q.C., at the University of Manitoba’s Convocation ceremony. Together, they were to receive honorary Doctor of Laws degrees that had been announced in January, 2020, but due to the pandemic, could not be officially awarded. The moment would have honored their respective remarkable lifetime achievements. Instead, Asper, former Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law (2020-2021), will stand alone on the stage facing Class of 2022 Juris Doctor students, accept his own - plus his friend’s award posthumously, and pass on Milgaard’s legacy of hope for the wrongfully convicted, to the next generation of lawyers.

May 16, 2022 — 
Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba, has been appointed as a member of the Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments

May 13, 2022 — 
Every year, each faculty at the University of Manitoba nominates an outstanding student who is then invited to recognize two teachers who played an instrumental role in their educational journey, one from their early school years (K to grade 12) and one from university. Both teachers are then honoured at the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning’s Students’ Teacher Recognition Reception. The Faculty of Law’s Outstanding Student for 2022 is Shawn Singh, a third-year law student and a fellow of the President’s Student Leadership Program. As fate would have it, the professor he chose to recognize at last Thursday’s reception was Assistant Professor Brandon Trask, who was also a Faculty of Law Outstanding Student Award recipient when he graduated – in 2012.

May 11, 2022 — 
A course introducing law students to the oral history of Indigenous peoples in relation to legal systems has now been made a part of the permanent curriculum at Robson Hall. Materials used throughout the course have been compiled into a single volume and published as a comprehensive resource for the use of educators, scholars and students. An Indigenous Oral History Reader, edited by Dr. Bryan Schwartz, with assistance from several credited student editors was published March 18, 2022 and is available online through the University of Alberta Libraries and on a not-for-profit basis at amazon.ca.

May 2, 2022 — 
As the academic year ends, Professor Donn Short, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, spoke with Robson Hall regarding the publication of the third book in a series of volumes that concludes 15 years of his research.

April 22, 2022 — 
Beyond tackling an advanced transaction in corporate law that not even lawyers five-years out encounter, law students competing in the Davies Corporate/Securities Moot need to come prepared to argue both sides of the problem. As a testament to the dynamic brilliance and professionalism of this year’s team from Robson Hall, Brandon Gray (2L), who tied for second-place Top Oralist, immediately expressed appreciation for his teammates and coaches for their contributions and assistance during the competition.

April 22, 2022 — 
Thanks to a generous gift from alum L. Kerry Vickar [LL.B./1980], The Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba (UM Law) will finally have a physical space to house its business clinics. Room 113 will now be known as the L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic. Vickar’s gift of $500,000 will help to transform a large former storage room in Robson Hall’s lower level into a modern, practicing clinic complete with board rooms, offices, incubator spaces, private virtual consultation booths and workspace for law students to learn the practice of law in a hands-on environment. Meanwhile, the law school’s expanded clinical learning opportunities will also benefit from the re-invented learning space.

April 8, 2022 — 
The Kawaskimhon Moot (Kawaskimhon being a word of Cree origin that translates as “speaking with knowledge”) incorporates Indigenous legal traditions with federal, provincial and international law. With no winners or losers, mooters take part in roundtable negotiations on a particular topic, representing their assigned party. Team Manitoba was very pleased with their negotiation outcome. “After over 12 hours at the negotiation table, my teammate Katie and I were able to come to a memorandum of agreement with the other parties in the spirit of reconciliation,” said Hasenack. “This experience also allowed us to connect with like-minded law students from across Canada, who share a passion for Indigenous rights.”

April 5, 2022 — 
New Law Makers program combines social justice education with mentorship

April 1, 2022 — 
Coinciding with the regular moot competition season, the Manitoba Law Students Association Clinical Experience Committee once again hosted the annual Robson Hall Mini Moot on March 2 – 3, 2022, in-person at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. This year, 46 students participated. The winning team was Genevieve Smith and Jayden Wlasichuk, both first-year law students, with runner-up team of Ashley Slagerman and Paige Gratton.