Canadian Lawyer 4Students

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES MANAGER, RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD. terloo, he worked as a developer for six years. He enrolled at Osgoode Hall Law School because he wanted to get to the "boardroom phase of technology analysis," which he figured he could achieve through getting a law degree. Seaman was convinced he did not want to become a C "MOST PEOPLE GO IN AND SAY THEY WANT TO BECOME A LAWYER. I WENT IN AND SAID I DIDN'T, AND CAME OUT THE OTHER SIDE SAYING MAYBE I WOULD." lawyer, but things quickly changed. "i went into the system with a different idea than i think most people go in," he says. "Most people go in and say they want to become a lawyer. i went in and said i didn't, and came out the other side saying maybe i would. "it's part of [on-campus interviews], it's part of seeing the success of let's say 30 or 40 per cent of your class who are getting these 'amazing jobs,' and there's a huge prestige thing attached to it — which i fundamentally disagree with — which is that lawyers hold power and skill and ability be- cause of their title as a lawyer. So you see all of that happen- ing and you're like, 'Well if i'm putting in these three years why wouldn't i follow through and become a lawyer?'" at that point, Seaman decided to complete an articling term in order to become a patent agent or lawyer. But his articling term really did reaffirm that he did not want to prac- tise. "i think 90 per cent of lawyers are really great people. i think there's 10 per cent that are old school, and i'll go back to the notion that attached to a law degree is prestige and power, and they use that mechanism to abuse other people," says Seaman. "there were three or four partners who i felt didn't give me any due respect and it didn't matter who i was, they treated everybody without respect and that's a crappy environment to work in." although Seaman didn't enjoy articling, he acknowledges it was still worthwhile. "i generally counsel people to article if they can. i tell them don't feel bad if you can't find an articling position . . . [but] one of the reasons i have my job is because i was called to the bar. it wasn't just that i had a law degree, it was that i actually attempted to practise and there's the ability for me within my job to go back to practis- ing if i needed to, like if our legal department needed my skills." after completing his articles, Seaman landed his current position at riM where he says he's much happier and has been employed at the company for nearly two years. onrad Seaman works on mergers and acquisitions, licensing, and investments as it relates to research in Motion Ltd.'s mobile devices. after completing a computer science degree at the University of Wa- 14 SPRING 2 0 1 2 C ANADIAN Lawy er 4STUDENTS CONRAD SEAMAN

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