Marc Kruse News Archive
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Law expands clinical options for experiential learning
August 5, 2022 —
Starting this fall, third-year law students at Robson Hall have their pick of an expanded number of experiential learning, or clinical courses. Out of approximately 100 students coming into their final year of the University of Manitoba’s Juris Doctor program, over half applied for an externship opportunity to get a chance to roll up their sleeves and do some work helping clients with legal matters or seeing first-hand how law works in practice.
Faculty of Law
Close-knit Class of 1980 creates bursary for Indigenous law students
July 15, 2022 —
Thanks to the efforts of a close-knit group of Faculty of Law alumni, Indigenous law students at Robson Hall will have access to another source of much-needed bursary funds, starting in the fall of 2023.
Faculty of Law
Setting Precedents: Three law students receive 2022 Emerging Leader Awards
June 24, 2022 —
No less than three law students have been named recipients of the University of Manitoba’s 2022 Emerging Leader Awards. These remarkable students include Class of 2022’s Michael Badejo, President of the Manitoba Law Students’ Association (2021-2022), Shawn Singh, an active member of the MLSA and participant in the Presidents’ Student Leadership Program cohort (2021), and Class of 2023’s Adam Kowal, who served as co-president of the Manitoba Indigenous Law Students’ Association during his second year of law.
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Law co-hosts SSHRC-funded Indigenous E-Conference with Lakehead, UNB
June 17, 2022 —
On July 7, 2022, Robson Hall’s Common Room will be the site of a SSHRC-funded in-person and online workshop focussed on identifying ways to end the phenomenon of police killing Indigenous people in need of assistance.
Faculty of Law
An Indigenous Oral History Reader moves law student training towards reconciliation
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.
Faculty of Law
Vickar gift to transform clinical space at Robson Hall
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.
Faculty of Law
Achieving reconciliation: Kawaskimhon Moot trains law students to advocate for Indigenous rights
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.”
Faculty of Law
Reflecting on a year of change, Faculty of Law looks towards bright future
December 23, 2021 —
Another year of virtual teaching and learning has passed, another Spring graduating class of law students endured final exams, convocation ceremonies, grad celebrations and commencement of articles in front of a screen at home. Another cohort of 1L students were introduced to law school virtually. Professors spent another year recording and uploading lectures, staring at boxes on screens hoping students were behind them, heeding the lessons. At some point, everyone wondered where the community was and what was happening at Robson Hall?
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Law takes major steps to answer Call to Action 28
December 13, 2021 —
Change can take a while to happen, but when the impact is finally felt, the results are rewarding. The amount of change between what third-year law student Katie Rothwell and first-year Melinda Moch have seen at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law in terms of Indigenization of the law school curriculum, is significant. This year alone, changes law students like Rothwell and Moch have witnessed include the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Action Team, the hiring of an Indigenous Student Support Coordinator, and an increase of Indigenous content in mandatory first-year law courses.
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Law introduces new Indigenous Student Support Coordinator
September 29, 2021 —
This fall, the Faculty of Law welcomed back alumnus Marc Kruse [JD/2015] to fill the role of Indigenous Student Support Coordinator, recently vacated by the retirement of long-time instructor, Wendy Whitecloud. In addition to providing programming and supports for Indigenous students at Robson Hall, he will be responsible for supplying the Faculty with opportunities and initiatives in Indigenizing the curriculum.