Canadian Lawyer 4Students

Fall 2013

Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training

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coming in and we're permanently in that world created by Google or some other social media company. . . . Normally constitutional obligations are not the responsibility of a corporation; they're the responsibility of a government. But when governments and corporations begin to look the same in the sense that we're living in a world created by this corporation, it seems that corporations should begin to have some constitutional obligations, such as providing freedom of speech rights to people living in these worlds that they've created. How do you incorporate social media into the course? I set up a Facebook discussion group for the students, which has the highest available privacy settings on Facebook. [It] is secret and closed, which means that students can comment within the group and make posts without worrying that somebody can search their name on the Internet and find something that they said in this Facebook discussion group. . . . Students can post between classes and during classes. I find that some students are more reticent than others to participate in a verbal discussion in class; some are more comfortable with posting in the Facebook group rather than raising their hands in class because some people are just not comfortable speaking in front of other people, particularly firstyear students who may not have developed that skill yet. . . . It also enables the students to continue the discussion between classes, but also to comment on something which was said in the class. own. A lot of businesses and institutions are going to have to develop policies on the wearing of these devices. I think that would be quite a valuable exercise to do and the students would love it. How will students be evaluated? The major portion of the evaluation is a scholarly paper, which is 75 per cent of the grade, then there is 15 per cent devoted to a class presentation that they give, and 10 per cent is based on overall participation, which includes both class participation verbally and participation in the Facebook group. Are there any prerequisites for the course? No prerequisites. The only requirement is that people must have a Facebook account. [If you are] concerned about privacy issues . . . just make sure you don't post much at all on it, it can be a very skeletal account for purposes of participating in the group. What do you hope students will take away from the course? One is that the Internet never forgets. It never hurts to re-emphasize this. Be really careful what you post on Facebook, it's just going to follow you around potentially for the rest of your life. . . . Just assume that there is no privacy. The second is a broader issue extending beyond that, which is that with things like Google Glass, we're all going to be starting to live inside these virtual worlds created by these social media companies and it's going to fundamentally alter the balance of power between governments and corporations and the balance of responsibility between them. Eventually people will be looking to corporations for their constitutional rights at some point in time. This will fundamentally restructure the way we think about constitutional law generally in society. ■ LEADERS WANTED We're young, progressive, innovative and growing. And we've been named one of Canadian Lawyer's Top 10 Labour & Employment Boutiques for 2012/2013. Is there a practical component of the course? [I'm] developing a proposal for a practicum that would involve Google Glass. If I can actually get a couple of pairs of Google Glass by January of next year what I'm proposing is to have some students wear a Google Glass at the law school and out in the community and document the reactions and the issues, whether of a personal or legal nature, and have that as a bit of a practical subcomponent of the course or actually maybe as a separate course on its ARE YOU IN? www.sherrardkuzz.com | 416.603.0700 | 24Hour 416.420.0738 C A N A D I A N Law yer 4 students herrardKuzz_4st_Spring_13.indd 1 Fall 2013 13 13-02-04 3:20 PM

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