Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50905
BY ANDI BALLA success Recent Queen's law graduate Morgan Jarvis has his eyes set on the 2012 Olympics. M organ Jarvis has had two goals for most of his life: excel in his chosen career and become an Olympic rower. He achieved the fi rst goal by fi nishing three degrees at Queen's University, including graduating from law school earlier this year and securing an articling contract at Gowling Lafl eur Henderson LLP in Ottawa. But through it all, he rowed toward his second goal, becoming a member of the Canadian national rowing team and now trying to qualify for the Olympics. "People at school are busy doing a lot of things outside their classes, and doing re- ally well in school as well. I'm one of those people. I need to get out and do some- thing," says Jarvis. "For me it's important to get to training, and it gets the blood fl owing and then I come back and I'm so much more focused in work or school." Setting high goals for himself came ear- ly to Jarvis, while he attended high school in New Zealand, where he started to row and decided that he would pursue a ca- reer in medicine or law, which at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., translated into a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's in molecular medicine, before he decided to go to law school and specialize in intellectual property. "I didn't like the lab so much . . . and that led me back to the law angle with the intellectual property side and the pharmaceutical industry," he says. "And it seemed like a great area, working with scientists and pharmaceutical compa- nies in the biotech industry, right on top of what's going on in medical research." Although he lived in New Zealand for 10 years immediately before attending university in Canada, Jarvis is originally from Winnipeg. His family moved across the Pacifi c Ocean when his father be- came Canada's high commissioner to that country. Th e family would be called on to represent Canada again when, despite his busy university schedule, Jarvis qualifi ed to become a member of the Canadian national rowing team. And that's not an easy task considering Canadian rowers don't just show up at the Olympics. Th ey win big. Th e Canadian team has won 17 medals at the last fi ve Olympics. Canada qualifi ed eight crews for the 2008 Games and won four medals, including a gold by the men's eight. And support for Olym- pic sports has grown in Canada in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. (Above): Members of Canada's national rowing team train during the Henley Royal Regatta in England in June. From bow to stern of the boat are Tim Myers, John Sasi, Mike Lewis, and Morgan Jarvis, who com- pete in the lightweight four competition. C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS F ALL 2010 31 KEVIN LIGHT