Going Swedish

Jessica Duhn (3L)

Having recently returned from an exchange in Uppsala Sweden, I now consider myself an expert on the Swedish culture. Here are the top 5 things I learned about the Swedes while on exchange:
Read more

Study Abroad in Copenhagen

Deanna Matchett (3L)

If you’re considering doing an exchange during law school, I urge you: DO IT! During my undergrad I always contemplated going on exchange, but somehow never got around to it. Well, as we all know, law school gives you a second chance to redeem yourself from previous (educational) mistakes and omissions. So here I am, one month in to my exchange at the University of Copenhagen and, so far, it’s been fantastic. But I know what you’re thinking: where the heck is Copenhagen?
Read more

Beyond the Iron Curtain

Scott Nicol, 3L
This Spring I had the pleasure of attending the University of Alberta’s spring course in Granada. Planned conveniently after Winter semester exams and before articling week, I finished my last exam, filed my tax return, submitted articling position applications, and hopped on a plane to travel through London (as William and Kate were saying “I do”) to Eastern Europe.
Read more

My semester “abroad”… in Calgary

Greg Lane (3L)

When I first thought about doing an exchange semester in law school, my mind immediately drifted to places like, Hong Kong, Oslo, Australia or other exotic locales, yet for my semester “abroad” so to speak, I actually ended up in Calgary as a visiting student during this past semester. My reasons were just as mundane as my choice of locale, considering I went in order to maximize the number of natural resources classes in my degree. When I had started law school, I’d never considered doing a visiting semester at another Canadian school and actually didn’t even know you could. So, in this short piece I hope to provide at least a few hastily put together pointers based on my experiences.
Read more

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Jeff O’Brien 2L

I spent it in Rome! Temple University in Philadelphia has a campus near the Piazza del Popolo, right in the heart of Rome, Italy. Temple’s Beasley School of Law runs summer classes in international law out of that location.
Read more

My Winter Exchange – A Journey to the East

Ky Kvisle (3L)

Ask anyone who has participated in an academic exchange what the single most memorable, eye opening, intellectually stimulating and entertaining experience of their academic career was, the answer is going to be the exchange. I can certainly attest to that fact after spending the last semester studying at the University of Hong Kong.
Read more

Kiwi , Please

Jake Tynan (2L)

The choice to go to law school was a difficult one for me. I applied to schools seeking a continuation of education…or an avoidance of real life in the form of education… to both law and a masters program. I got into both. The master’s program would fully fund my stay…but would be almost completely irrelevant in the real world. I chose law school. But that was not the end. I was backpacking in Indonesia and then was faced with another decision: go to law school, or go to the island of Komodo to see some bad ass dragons. After that I would hop on a ferry to Borneo and end up in Africa…. But I didn’t do that. I chose the path of order and preparation and quietly lamented the quiet death of escapades abroad. Turns out, with a little diligent effort, you can do both.

The Faculty of Law in Edmonton is fantastic in recognizing adventurous souls who seek to taste the foreign flavours. For all those A-type students out there, the day or two of diligence that is required to set up your excursion abroad is a pittance for what you receive.

Law school has been a pretty fantastic experience. It is intellectually stimulating, you are surrounded by a myriad of highly sophisticated, charismatic and knowledgeable individuals. This is not true in just our law school, but the law schools in other provinces and other countries.

Law school requires you to be a bright individual. And bright individuals don’t just come in gray and black but rather a plethora of radiant colours. The law school here at the University of Alberta is front and center at promoting student life. There are a number of very good opportunities to get out and meet your peers both in and outside the faculty. Take one of the many opportunities to go abroad.

On the North Island of New Zealand there is a wondrous place. With white sandy beaches, rolling surf and a smattering of palm trees it would be the picture of paradise, right? Yes, but Waihi, New Zealand goes one step further. You can make your own hot tub. Now let’s take this apart. What precisely do you mean by make your own hot tub? I humbly suggest to you that it is possible to take a shovel or your own two hands, and dig. The water table under this beach is fed by hot springs. With a little effort, a bottle or two of the best local wine, and you are ready to learn New Zealand’s unique system of tort. I would humbly use similar words of Lord Denning and say that the poor industrious cubical in the law library put its ablelest efforts to sustain the imaginations of law students before being conceptually crushed by the study tub study machine in New Zealand.

There are a number of decisions that influenced my choice to head to New Zealand for my last semester abroad. How many do you have?

Studying Abroad? Some Things to Consider

Brandon Mewhort (3L)

Heads up! The deadline to submit an application to study abroad tuition free is fast approaching.
On the application you may have noticed you must choose your preference for where you want to study. So if you want to avoid randomly choosing a semester and a school and country two hours before the deadline (even though this did work well in my case), there are some things you should consider.
First decision: which semester to go? You will be missing some fun back at home regardless of which semester you choose. In the fall you’ll miss First Friday Back, the softball tournament, the rugby season and the general fun had before the reality of being back in class sinks in. In the winter you’ll miss Carbolic, ski trip, law show and, for 3Ls, grad (however, you’ll also get to miss some -30 degree weather). Recently, it seems that the fall semester has been overwhelmingly popular.
Second decision: which school or country to go to? I know people last year who chose their school preferences based on everything from academic reputation to the average height and typical hair color of the destination country’s opposite sex. First, do a bit of research. This avoids the embarrassment of your second choice not having a law school, or not having semesters that coincide with the U of A’s. (I didn’t really want to go to England anyways). Talking to people currently on exchange would be useful for this. They can give you the low down on the school they are at. Also, remember to consider the cost of traveling in the region you choose, because you will be doing a lot of it. It is cheaper to fly around Europe, but cheaper to travel in Asia. That being said, it is also nice to be in a city where there is a lot to do.
Thirdly, once you are accepted, how should you arrange your schedule? Most people try to cram their schedules into two or three days to maximize traveling time. You should do this. Not only can you do short weekend trips, but your bigger trips can be extended. Yes, nine hours of class on Wednesdays might be painful. But believe me, it is worth it.
Whether you choose courses that have papers or exams is very much personal preference. If you have more papers, the last month of your exchange will be less busy and there’ll be more time to travel. However, from my experience, paper courses are more work, which is the type of thing you want to avoid while on exchange. Also remember that CANs are not as easily come by, so, for exam courses, this might mean having to attend class and taking decent notes. Again, this is the type of thing you want to avoid while on exchange. I chose mostly paper courses and I am currently regretting it. But then again, talk to me when I am on a beach in December and I might have a different opinion.
Now, go down to HUB Mall and apply!

AUSTRALIA

JENNA HESKA (2L)

Australia, the country and not the movie, is great. This year, 7 intrepid UofA law students spent the summer “down under” at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
As I am sitting here in our green and purple camper van parked beside the strangling fig tree in the middle of the heckling jungle – which by the way is extremely scary, as everything here not only makes strange noises, it also seems to be poisonous – and using the battery powered light to write this article, it is hard not to think of all the good times we had while we were in Australia. In addition to the seven of us, both Professor Harrington and Professor Hutchison, or the Hutch as he likes to be called, represented the UofA. Both professors appreciated our keenness.

And if you find this hard to believe, you must know that we were at least keen in taking in the Ozzie ‘culture’, if not our readings.
In addition to the UofA people, we were joined by several Aussies, as well as a lone representative of the University of Saskatchewan (which confirms that it does in fact have a Law School). We kicked off the experience with a legendary Canada Day celebration…and it all got fuzzy from there.

There were many highlights, many taken down in a tiny little leather bound book. As I can’t think of what more to write, I am now turning to this little book for inspiration. Flipping a few pages back the first quote that popped out was ‘Greg’s a b***h’ – which is highly untrue. Although, when the whole UofA delegation said it with such gusto and synchrony, it was rather amusing.

Hmm, what else do we have? Did you know that 80% of the Koala population has been lost and all koalas inherently have Chlamydia, but much like humans they are often asymptomatic. There is also something else about cottages on that page, but that is a whole different article which our resident ‘Toronto Snobs’ might find offensive. There were also many inappropriate conversations, conversations that I will save you all from having to read. I wish that I didn’t have to hear some of them, but when you mix copious amounts of wine and a group of people living together 24/7 in a classy hotel, life becomes something akin to a reality TV show or a poorly written knockoff of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Between Adam buying boxes of wine, Kat’s lowered standards, Katie’s tapeworms, Dave’s ventriloquist act, my natural ability to tackle large men(Editors note: She was offered a position with a local rugby squad, but nobody ever saw her tackle any large man), one would think we might be a dysfunctional group – but we took to Wollongong like Koalas take to eucalyptus.

LA DOLCE VITA…IN GRANADA

PAUL SAVARD (2L)

Like many of my fellow law students, on the afternoon of my last exam I was ready for summer to begin and to give the books a break. However, for myself and the nine other U of A students, we elected to postpone summer for three more weeks by registering in Law 599. Why would we do this? (Hint: The course name is Comparative and European Union Law in Spain).

The City of Granada is located in the southern most autonomous community of Spain, known as Andalusia. The city itself has a population of about 250,000 and is well known throughout Europe for its historical importance and famous architecture; most notably the Moorish palace, the Alhambra, and the surrounding old Moorish neighborhood. In addition, the University of Granada is a well-respected institution, making Granada a popular destination for international exchange students.

The Faculty of Law building in the University of Granada is itself a historical landmark. It started out in the 17th century as a Jesuit college and has been well preserved throughout the centuries. We were fortunate enough to be given a detailed tour of the building. It was impressive visiting the various offices and halls and not only observing the building but the centuries-old artwork and furniture that have been preserved as well. To sum the building up, I don’t think I have ever noticed tourists wandering around the law building in Edmonton…

City life required some adjustment. Although life in Canada is well under way by 9:00 am, Granada was barely awake at that time. Breakfasts took some adjusting to as well. The coffee was fantastic; however, most of us agreed we needed a little more than a piece of bread with tomato spread to carry us through the morning. Three aspects of Granada lifestyle everyone did agree with were the mid-day siestas, late-night tapas, and the café culture.

As for the course itself, the lectures given by Professor Reif and Professor Renke, provided a broad overview of the sources of law and various levels of court employed by the civil law systems in Germany, France, and particularly Spain. We then explored the administrative structure and legal mechanisms within the European Union. Lastly, there was a comparison of the criminal codes between these civil law nations and the criminal codes of common law countries. Many of our lecture topics were supplemented by field trips. We were able to attend a criminal trial and tour a courthouse, as well as tour a federal penitentiary and a probation/halfway house facility.

I would highly recommend Law 599 to U of A law students. The course provided valuable insight into the civil legal systems in Spain and the European Union while allowing us to compare and contrast this with our knowledge of common law systems. What added to the classroom experience was the learning we did outside the classroom during field trips, travelling to nearby cities and beaches, and overall just taking in all that Spain’s rich and vibrant culture had to offer.

Next Page »