The Canadian Law School Blog

Monday, April 26, 2004
Passing the Torch
With the last paper handed in and the move back to Calgary (technically Okotoks for those from Southern Alberta) completed it is time to pass on the blogging torch. I will still continue to post here from time to time through the summer and maybe later into articling (so many forms to fill out...) but to fill in the gaps we are going to be adding another blogger on here.

In the meantime, I hope the sun is shining where you are!

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Posted by Setu @ 3:40 p.m.

Thursday, April 22, 2004
A very fitting end...

As one of my very few last days of being a law student came to a close, (my last paper is handed in, really I'm all done) I got the chance to partake in a truly amazing experience. For those who are not so unfortunate as to receive local BC news, you may not have known, but Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Shirin Ebadi were all present at UBC this past week for a forum and to receive honorary doctorates. The common link all three of these individuals share is they have all won a Nobel Peace Prize.

The most recent of these winners was Ms. Ebadi. A lawyer from Iran who works on women's and children's rights in that country, she is a well deserving recipient. As a lawyer she took the time to hold a brief question and answer period with faculty and a few students, and my work study supervisor was thoughtful enough to get me a seat in the boardroom for the event.

You only get so many chances in life to meet a person like this and was very worth it. She was witty, thoughful and insightful, showing remarkable understanding of the role that Canada and other international involvment can play in improving the lives of citizens of other nations, especially Moslem women.

If you ever get the chance to see her speak, I highly recommend it.

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Posted by Setu @ 4:46 p.m.

Sunday, April 18, 2004
Miscellania
As I am sure many of you have realized, this blog has become a way for me to spend some of my spare time doing something relatively constructive and hopefully useful to somebody else. Some Yale law ph.d. students and their friends also have a blog entitled Jajdejo. The goal of their blog is clearly not so much to inform as to entertain, but in that goal it clearly reaches its expectations. The videos of the cat and the Trojan games are just hysterical for those who think that lawyers have no sense of humour.

Enjoy and have a relaxing Sunday.

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Posted by Setu @ 4:47 p.m.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Whatcha Doing?
Since I don't really have any more exciting news to tell after getting my articling position, I figured I would post an update on what I am working on. First, I have one more paper to write for Law and Economics. My topic is a defence of the regulatory takings rule in NAFTA Chapter 11 based on public choice analysis. It's a bit tricky to fit in 10 pages, but I'll cut back on diagrams. I am also doing some work on recognition of states for work study. A Quebec Superior Court judge decided in October 2003 that Taiwan was a state [the case is in Quicklaw in French its Francois Parent v. Singapore Airlines Ltd. v. Civil Aeronautics Administration (2003). I have a translation but I don't know where it came from] for the purposes of the State Immunity Act. A bit of interesting international law.

Other than that, I am trying to figure out the arcane requirements of the Law Society of Alberta for articling. It's impossible even to find a list of important dates on their website. We're only law students folks. You have to make it simple for us.

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Posted by Setu @ 4:25 p.m.

Thursday, April 08, 2004
Oh, and one more thing...

I put up another poll. It's another one just for fun, but the last response was good so I made another, quintessentially Canadian poll.

Despite the Flames performance tonight (I blame Niemenen) I still think they have a shot!

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Posted by Setu @ 3:14 a.m.

Thanks for the Karma

Apparently my interview on Monday went well as the firm offered me a job today. Needless to say, I accepted and will start articling at some point this summer. I am very excited because I was really impressed with the firm and the people I met. It is also a HUGE load off my mind as I try and finish my last paper and get ready to move back to Calgary.

I am glad that it looks like this blog is going to have a happy ending...at least to this chapter. And like the title says, thanks very much for all the karma...I could really feel it in there.

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Posted by Setu @ 2:02 a.m.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004
The Royal Canadian Brown Shirts

Driving back from Calgary I had a small taste of what it might be like to live in a police state. Along 1000 kilometres of highway we saw no less than 13 police cars, 8 of which had pulled people over. Now, maybe it was an exceptionally bad day for speeding, but the roads were clear and dry and there was probably not that much risk to be associated with a little speeding. (I know the speed limit was acting as more of a suggestion on my own trip). I know I would have traded all those cops in for two Novacams.

Anyway, it was a great weekend, I think my interview went well but I should have more on that this week. Good luck on exams all.

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Posted by Setu @ 3:06 p.m.

Thursday, April 01, 2004
A Future Tort's Case

Watching the news while working on papers this morning I saw what can only end up being a classic tort's case. Southern Living has recalled it's April issue of it's magazine for health and safety reasons. The problem is a recipe for biscuits that causes boiling water and grease to explode from the pot and catch fire on the burner. CBC Newsworld (sorry, can't find a link to the story) showed the recipe in action. It calls for placing a cup of lard in a pot of boiling water and leaving it for 5 minutes. The boiling water gets trapped under the boiling lard though and after 3 minutes and 45 seconds the pressure gets excessive and the whole thing kind of blows up in a volcano of boiling lard and water. It's quite a visual display and if you can see the story on the news sometime today I highly recommend it. If someone gets burned by this, I guarantee you that there will be a negligence case, although unfortunately it will probably get settled. The stuff that lawyer's dreams are made of.

As for the paper's I am working on, they are both in pretty good shape for me. Just a couple of conclusions, fixing citations, some quick editing and they should be good to go to hand in tomorrow. My topics were: Bill C-9 and the Implementation of the WTO August 2003 Implementation Decision on Pharmaceuticals and Public health for Globalization and Law and An Ethical Framework for Debt Relief Decision Makers for Ethics and International Law. I have one paper left after that on economics and law. That paper is going to be on a public choice defence of the regulatory takings rule in international investment agreements. If you have any questions about these timely and illuminating topics feel free to e-mail me.

And I have a job interview in Calgary on Monday. Let's feel that good karma folks...

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Posted by Setu @ 2:15 p.m.