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CROSS EXAMINED Marla Morry's passion for fairness and justice has taken her to hot spots such as Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. BY MYRON LOVE Globetrotter specializes in election monitoring her. That journey has included tours of duty in many of the world's political hot spots, such as Kosovo, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She has worked on assignment for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Norwegian Refugee Council, NATO, and, most recently, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe — Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. "I took both private and public M interest law courses at [the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Law] and found the arla Morry credits a lifelong passion for fairness and justice for the path her legal career has taken public interest courses more appealing," she says. "Among the courses I took were classes on refugee, labour, and aboriginal law issues, and international public law." Her appetite for public interest law was whetted further through two summers of work with a Manitoba tribal council before and during law school. After earning her LLB in Winnipeg in 1992, she went to Ottawa to clerk at the Federal Court. "After I finished articling, I was contemplating going into a masters program," she says. "While considering that option, I contacted the office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ottawa and asked if they needed a lawyer. I was 18 NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com told that the office didn't have money to pay for another lawyer but I was welcome to volunteer. The office did find money to pay me." It was during that time with the UNHCR that Morry became aware of the opportunities to work in international human rights. In 1994, she moved to Vancouver where she spent several years working with the Department of Justice on aboriginal treaty negotiations. "That served as good preparation for my work overseas," she says. Her international work with refugees began 11 years ago when she was first assigned by the UNHCR to Kyrgyzstan for six months. Subsequent assignments included stints in Turkey, Indonesia,