Promoting Outstanding International Scholarship

Transcription

1 Schulich Scholarship Series The MINGO SCHOLARS Promoting Outstanding International Scholarship The J William E Mingo Memorial Scholarship is awarded to outstanding students and recent alumni of the Schulich School of Law going on to do graduate studies in law outside Canada. This one-year scholarship of at least $25,000 has been awarded annually since 2007 to students demonstrating academic excellence, leadership ability, outstanding character, and a rigorous program of study. The Mingo Memorial Scholarship is the result of the generosity of close friends and business associates of the late William Mingo ( ) and honours his distinguished career and many contributions to the community and to the world of business. Mr Mingo, a loyal and generous supporter of the School, graduated from Dalhousie Law School as the Gold Medalist in 1946, went on to complete a Masters of Law at Columbia University, and was called to the Bar in Nova Scotia in He practiced law for over 50 years first in litigation and later in corporate and commercial law. Mr Mingo was instrumental in establishing the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia and was nationally recognized as one of the founders of Legal Aid in Nova Scotia. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dalhousie in 1998, was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2004, and was inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame in 2005.

2 MEET OUR SCHOLARS 2011 Sarah Burton Hometown New Glasgow, Nova Scotia My siblings and I were raised by our mother, who, aside from raising three children on her own, worked full-time as a middle school teacher. Our household valued education, reading, and exploring the world. I attended Dalhousie for my undergrad (Commerce), gravitating towards courses involving legal issues, and later, into law school, where I most enjoyed classes on the public sphere and the State s involvement with individuals. My third year Immigration and Refugee Law course interested and inspired me, and now forms the basis of my Master s program. After law school, I articled with a firm in Halifax, and later worked as a litigation associate in Calgary. While enjoyable work, both my husband and I were interested in further academic work, and we left our firms to go back to school. For financial reasons, we could not pursue our degrees concurrently, so we started with my husband obtaining his Master s degree in Public International Law in The Hague, the Netherlands. Now it s my turn. MY STUDIES Immigration and Refugee Law forms the basis of my Master s degree, and I ve chosen to do The Mingo Selection Committee has, in selecting me, advocated for my abilities and my legal career. this work at the London School of Economics, a world-class university with an outstanding Human Rights Law programme, with courses focused specifically on current issues in immigration and refugee law and policy particularly the development of immigration policies and the reflection of those policies in a regulatory system. This degree of specialization is exactly what I love about studying law. This scholarship means more to me than a source of financial support. First and foremost, it is an opportunity to steer and direct my career towards my true interests in a way not normally open to many junior lawyers. Secondly, the award serves as recognition of the

3 3 hard work and difficult decisions I have had to make to get here. However, the most important result of this award is confidence. The Mingo Selection Committee has, in selecting me, advocated for my abilities and my legal career. I am truly honoured and humbled. As I pursue a career grounded in the education I ve gained with the help of the Mingo Scholarship, I will always remember the opportunity, recognition, and confidence that have come with this award. With this foundation in place, I look forward to many possibilities, whether acting as a legal advisor for government or non-governmental organizations, teaching immigration policy at the university level, or engaging and educating others on these interesting and political issues. As I work hard to achieve these goals, the Mingo Memorial Scholarship is a vote of confidence to directing the course of my career. Thank you Jennifer Morrison Hometown Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia I attended Dalhousie for my undergrad and graduated with a BA in 2005 with Combined Honours in History and Political Science. I wrote a thesis on the Supreme Court of Canada s reference on Quebec secession. I went on to attend Dalhousie Law School (as it then was!) from After graduation, I articled in Toronto with the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario, in the Crown Law Office: Criminal (the office that handles the majority of criminal appeals for the province) and was called to the Bar of Ontario in June 2010.

4 4 I hope that the international perspective gained through my legal studies at Cambridge will be an asset when I return. `` 2009 William Szubielski My studies I recently graduated from the LLM programme at the University of Cambridge. As a member of Trinity Hall (a college founded in 1350 and known for its excellence in law!), I studied civil liberties and human rights; comparative family law and policy; philosophy of criminal law; and criminal justice. Cambridge is a beautiful place to live, and an inspiring place to study, full of interesting lecturers and students with incredibly varied backgrounds. The Mingo Memorial Scholarship made my dream of studying at Cambridge come true. But not only has the Scholarship enabled me to study abroad, it has also kept me connected to my law school and my hometown. I am very committed to the Halifax legal community, and I hope that the international perspective gained through my legal studies at Cambridge will be an asset when I return to clerk at the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in Halifax. After my clerkship, I plan to pursue an academic career in law. Receiving the Mingo Scholarship has definitely helped make these opportunities possible, and I could not be more grateful. Hometown Halifax, Nova Scotia I grew up in Halifax and completed undergraduate studies in Political Science and French at Dalhousie. I then attended Dalhousie Law School and was recipient of the J Gerald Godsoe Memorial Scholarship (recognizing work on current issues of social and public policy facing Canadian society). After graduating from law school in 2007, I articled with Stewart McKelvey in Halifax, and in 2008 I began practicing tax and corporate/ commercial law there. In 2009, I received the Mingo Memorial Scholarship to study at Oxford University. I returned to practice at Stewart McKelvey after my studies at Oxford. I m married to my wife, Angela and we have a baby daughter named Gabriella. I m also an avid golfer and the Rules Director for the Nova Scotia Golf Association. My studies I read for my Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at Lincoln College at Oxford University and graduated with distinction. My studies focused on tax law: I read courses in corporate taxation, personal taxation, corporate insolvency, and comparative and European corporate law. I was awarded the Greys Inn Chambers Prize for the highest standing in personal taxation.

5 5 The experience studying abroad was wonderful for both me and my wife. We had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe; our favourite experience was a trip to Northern Italy, although the Greek Islands are a close second! In my free time, I played on the Oxford University golf team. I am very grateful to have received the Mingo Memorial Scholarship. Without it, I wouldn t have been able to pursue the unique opportunity of studying for the BCL at Oxford, which is quite unlike most Master s programmes in law as it is taught through tutorials, as well as seminars and lectures. I particularly recall studying under Professors Judith Freedman (tax) and John Armour (corporate law). Both are global experts in their respective fields, and helped me gain a broader theoretical understanding of the subjects. While I was able to research a variety of areas in tax and corporate law, my most rewarding area of study was the taxation of corporate groups in the United Kingdom and in Europe. This particular issue is currently being debated in tax circles in Canada, and if legislation is finally enacted, my comparative experience will prove very useful in practice. Overall, I believe the most significant and lasting impact that the scholarship has had for me is the opportunity to connect with an impressive and diverse network of colleagues around the globe ` Jonathan Coady Hometown Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island I have a BSc from the University of Prince Edward Island, and graduated with an LLB from Dalhousie Law School in During law school, I was a recipient of the Smith Shield Award for Oral Advocacy and a student law clerk to the Judges of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. After graduation, I clerked with the Honourable Madam Justice Eleanor R Dawson at the Federal Court of Canada and was called to the Bars of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia in The most significant and lasting impact that the scholarship has had for me is the opportunity to connect with an impressive and diverse network of colleagues around the globe.

6 6 I am currently practicing with Stewart McKelvey in Charlottetown in the areas of administrative law and government relations. My studies I spent a year at the University of Cambridge as a member of St Edmund s College and completed my LLM in 2009 in the area of public law. Under the supervision of David Feldman, Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, I researched the constitutional requirements for preventively controlling terror suspects in the United Kingdom and Canada. An edited version of my thesis was recently published in the Queen s Law Journal: Jonathan M Coady, Conditional Release of Terror Suspects in Canada: Lessons from the United Kingdom (2010) 36 Queen s LJ 36. When not wandering the historic halls of St Edmund s College, I served as the assistant captain of the University of Cambridge varsity hockey team. The Mingo Memorial Scholarship provided me with the privileged opportunity to spend a year studying exclusively in my area of interest. The Mingo Memorial Scholarship provided me with the privileged opportunity to spend a year studying exclusively in my area of interest Devon Peavoy Hometown Peterborough, Ontario I have a BA in English Literature and graduated with an LLB from Dalhousie Law School in I articled at a labour and human rights litigation boutique in Toronto, then spent a year working in the Pacific Islands (Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Cook Islands) with the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation. I returned to Halifax in 2006, and taught Public Law at Dalhousie and started working for the Department of Justice. I still teach Health Law on a part-time basis for the Faculty of Health Professions at Dalhousie. I have recently been on assignment with the Human Rights Law Section of the Department of Justice in Ottawa (HRLS), and completed the Advanced Protection of International Human Rights course at Åbo Akademi University in Turkü, Finland.

7 7 I cannot speak highly enough of going abroad to study or travel... it really does change you in ways that are both subtle and life altering. My studies When I returned from the Pacific Islands, I was very much trying to make sense of my time there and what I had learned about human rights advocacy in a cross-cultural and developing country context. For my LLM, I chose to return to the region to study at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. My plan was to focus on law and development. Instead, I ended up focusing more on the theoretical ways of thinking about law and human rights. I took some wonderful courses including Human Rights and Terrorism with Martin Scheinen, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism and former Human Rights Committee member; Interpreting International Human Rights with Susan Marks, formerly of Kings College London now of the London School of Economics; Law and Development with Dr Sundhya Pahuja and Jenny Beard of the University of Melbourne; Comparative Law with Pierre Legrand, of the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France; and Theories of Adjudication with Justice Dennis Davis of the High Court of South Africa, South Africa. On top of a really exciting curriculum, I had the opportunity to get to know Melbourne, meet other international students, and to travel extensively around parts of Australia and South East Asia. Receiving the Mingo Memorial Scholarship was probably the difference between doing my LLM and not doing my LLM at least at that time. I would like to think that I would have gone by now, and I probably would have, but I was able to take a risk, leave my job, and go much sooner than I was expecting. The scholarship gave me the option of going abroad, an essential part of my learning experience, exposing me to new ideas and perspectives.

8 8 Most importantly, the scholarship offered me academic freedom, without worrying too much about what my chosen course of study would do for me career-wise. Every experience leads to the next one, and I am hoping that in the next few years, once I am ready to give up practicing law, I will return to academia to do my PhD. I allowed myself time to read and explore new ways of thinking about law and human rights, which is the whole reason I wanted to do my LLM in the first place. I cannot speak highly enough of going abroad to study or travel. It may sound cliché or trite, but it really does change you in ways that are both subtle and life altering. The experience continues to influence how I approach the human rights problems I encounter in my work, and is an important part of my academic future. law.dal.ca 6061 University Avenue PO Box Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2 MMA The experience continues to influence how I approach the human rights problems I encounter in my work, and is an important part of my academic future.