Canadian Lawyer 4Students

C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4 s t u d e n t s F a l l 2 0 1 4 11 A & Q * A * A & * & A & A * A & A Q * Q * Q * Q A Q A * A Q A & Q & * & Q & A & A Q A & A * A & A Q A & A of justice there and available for them and indeed truly have it available. What are your plans to make sure U of A rises to these challenges? We've got a wonderful foundation on which to build. e faculty is singularly impres- sive in terms of their research, their schol- arship, their recognition across Canada and internationally for what they're doing. e other thing that is quite marvelous about the opportunity is the ways in which the University of Alberta Faculty of Law is so deeply integrated into the profession in Al- berta, and in Western Canada, and indeed nationally. And so through a very dedicat- ed and loyal alumni network I want to have further discussions about what experiential learning needs to be, the ways in which our students can continue to access opportuni- ties that have traditionally been available to them, and to build on what is an excel- lent foundation. It doesn't mean any drop in standards at all — if anything I want to push things in the other direction to have everybody rise to a new and better level. And I think there's a great chance to do that there but it's going to take some work. How do you think your time at the Univer- sity of the Paci c in California in uences your view of law school in Canada? From the time I arrived at Pacifi c to the time that I le , the entering class size shrunk 40 per cent and so wanting to make sure that we're in a position — and the Canadian market is very diff erent — but recognizing that legal education is very closely tied to the economic pressures of the day, not just in the legal profession but more broadly, is something I'll be bringing forward. One of the issues I think faces all Canadian law schools and will face me in Alberta is how to more robustly develop outside funding for activities. Second, to make sure that people know there's a value proposition to invest- ing in your own legal education. I also will be looking very directly at the model from UoP as well as elsewhere for what we called externship placements. Because Sacramen- to is the state capital of California we had a very robust and well-thought-through fi eld placement program where students would have the opportunity to extern in either state government or regulatory agencies or otherwise in what I call the hub-and-spoke model where they would go out into their fi eld placement, come back into a hub, dis- cuss, process, analyze under supervision either the ethical issues they were facing in those environments or other practice is- sues, and I think that helps prepare them for the transition into life beyond law school as well as allowing them to create the opportunities to meet people in those working environments, understand what it meant beyond the law school to be in that working environment, beyond just a kind of summer type of experience. I'm hoping to fi nd out more about what Alberta is al- ready doing as well as ensuring we are able to support and encourage that even more. You've been a litigator, teacher, administra- tor — which has been your favourite role? I have really been so fortunate to have done things I set out to do early in my career. I knew I wanted to combine practice, policy, and teaching and where and in what order or what combination was what remained to be determined. e common feature has been the opportunity to work on policy and strategy in any one of these environments and to bring those ideas into the classroom in a very integrated way. I've been very fortunate to combine things I really liked doing and now being in a position to help others and to lead on an administrative side some of that change moving forward. What do you see as the strongest quali- ties you bring to your new role as dean of the University of Alberta? I'll let others judge that. I'm trying to bring forward the best of what I've had in terms of all of these experiences and I think the one thing that really stands out from my experience is I've been deeply engaged in both the profession and the academy and o en there's been this sense or sensibility that the two are existing miles apart. My own experience is that doesn't have to be the case. One of our researchers in our health law institute was just awarded a very large grant to try and help look at ways in which law or legal policy might be changed to encour- age organ donation. at's a live example of how research in the academy at the inter- section of law and policy will be of direct benefi t not only to legal academics study- ing the problem, to the students working with people on those issues while they're in law school, but to policymakers and to the general public. at is one example of many I could go through where I think the UoA researchers have been doing that, and if I can help communicate the heck out of it, I will. What advice do you have for law students looking to start their careers? Be a sponge. Learn. Experience. Try and take as much in as you can early on. You will not know necessarily what the path will be for you, but if you prepare yourself with an excellent foundation, and you give excel- lence and quality in everything that you're doing, you will fi nd doors open when you least expect them and the kind of path you were hoping to fi nd may not necessarily be the one you walk but it'll be a wonderful journey. [R]emember that you are actually enormously privileged and have a wonder- ful opportunity to train and to be a lawyer and to serve others in that capacity. If you keep that front and centre — sure you're going . . . to worry about grades, you're go- ing to worry about getting a job, you're go- ing to be worried about all this change and transformation — but if you're a sponge and you prepare yourself, things will work well for you. Do you have anything else to add? I think one of the things people need to be prepared to do is invest in themselves, in- vest in their education, and invest in their own future. I think so much of the focus tends to be on the numbers, the dollars, the cents. It's interesting to me that in the U.S. where the opportunities were less, people were, given the opportunity, prepared to make the investment. But it also requires investment from, in the Canadian context, from government, it requires an invest- ment from private philanthropy, and from alumni and students. Quite rightly people ask the question, "What's the value for my investment?" I am more than prepared to demonstrate the value but we have to be prepared to ask the question fi rst. ■ is is an edited version of the interview with Paul Paton.

• Cover