Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50901
talk BY ROBERT TODD Osgoode students Vanessa Decker, Nick Van Duyvenbode, and Christine Dank recently doing mediation training at Oakdale Park Middle School in Toronto. Let's H it over Osgoode law students use their book smarts to help teach mediation skills in one of Toronto's most troubled neighbourhoods. ere's a proposition for you, law students: You know those few hours of spare time you have each week, between lectures, studying, writing papers, and all the other tasks that are slowly push- ing you over the edge? Rather than spend- ing it catching up on your favourite TV show, getting some exercise, or enjoying a drink with friends, how would you like to organize a campaign to create an exciting new academic program for your school — one that you won't even get the chance to take part in? You'll probably pass, but luck- ily for you there are people like Radhika Lakhani. Th e 2007 Osgoode Hall Law School grad was the driving force behind the school's new Mediation Intensive Clinical Program, which is allowing law students to better develop mediation skills while help- ing divert confl icts away from the courts in Toronto's rough-and-tumble Jane-Finch community. Lakhani was backed by peers Andrew Magnus, Julia Tomson, and Vera Toppings, as they combined to form Os- goode's ADR Project in 2006. Th eir eff orts led to the establishment of the innovative program in September 2009, years aſt er the group had moved on to other things. Lakhani keyed in on a growing desire among students to learn more about alter- native dispute resolution and mediation, which is now mandatory under Ontario's Rules of Civil Procedure. She had gained knowledge of the area while completing a certifi cate in it before arriving at Osgoode, and her peers were keen to draw on her ex- pertise. Th ey peppered her with questions on things like how to become a mediator or ways to integrate mediation into a legal practice. "I sensed a void in the law school, with respect to a program that focused on the practical side of mediation, as op- posed to the theoretical, which Osgoode had covered well up until that date," recalls Lakhani. "I realized there was really some- thing here that we could do and create." Th at prompted her to draw on the skills and energy of the group of students that made up Th e ADR Project. Th ey started their push by organizing a conference that brought together a range of speakers off ering tips on practical issues surround- ing ADR and legal practice. Th at success- ful event motivated the students to press for the creation of Osgoode's own media- tion clinic. Th ey looked at similar clinics at other law schools, such as the Univer- sity of Windsor's Mediation Services, as C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS SPRING 2011 19 ROBERT TODD