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 13 ONE BIG Whether it's during school or articling, students can fi nd themselves riding shotgun on some of Canada's biggest cases. LANDING THE A er a few weeks of law school Frances Mahon boldly went to professor Alan Young's offi ce at Osgoode Hall Law School and in her words, "begged him for a job." His response to her plea was dis- appointing yet encouraging at the same time. "He said: 'Come talk to me in the sum- mer when you actually know something and you're not a baby law student,'" recalls Mahon, who would later that year begin a two-year journey working on one of the most pivotal cases in recent Canadian history. She kept Young to his word and he brought her on to his team in April 2010. It was a month or so before dominatrix Ter- ri-Jean Bedford's challenge of Canada's prostitution laws went to the Court of Appeal of Ontario. At that point, she says she was given photocopying and other clerical tasks to do but neverthe- less was part of the team of students working with Young. "It was incredibly exciting for me to be a part of the case and to be a part of the planning and strategy for submissions to court," says Mahon, now a criminal lawyer at Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP in Toronto. "I had been very interested in the legal status of sex workers both with regard to criminal law and in terms of workers rights issues for a long time. Having professor Young was very inspiring from that perspective. I was familiar with his work but it was entirely by accident that I was enrolled in his class so I felt pretty lucky." Over a two-year period that ended last June, Mahon worked as a research assistant for Young, investigating the legal history of sex work and preparing appellate materials for the constitutional challenge to Canada's prostitution laws. She also worked on the Innocence Project as well as on applications under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. She says the biggest mistake most students make when trying to get experience on bigger cases is assuming senior lawyers like Young don't need help. "Alan Young is fairly unique in that he has brought many constitutional challenges of this sort and he does it for free or funded from his own pocket, so of course he needs help," she says. "Don't be shy — if you hear of a case you want to work on call the lawyer up and ask to have coff ee with them and express interest." Young says he picks students who are "enthused" and is willing to take students who are struggling academically. e reality is he usually has more students than he needs. With Bedford v. Canada he had a team of about 25 students assisting over the course of the various stages of the case. "I simply announce I'm going to be working on a case and people come forward. I don't have any particular skill requirements for volunteers because I see it as an opportunity to have them develop skills as lawyers," says Young. " ere never seems to be a shortage of students interested in the various topics dealing with liberty issues." Taking on a case while at school brings additional challenges. While she was working for Young, Mahon was also doing course work and holding down a part-time job at a bike shop. "I was a mature student and had a lot of work experience so doing that real work reminded me why I was there to begin with and en- riched my experience at Osgoode to a huge degree." Mahon says the most challenging time came while doing prep work for Bedford as it was headed to the Supreme Court of Can- ada. She said she grappled with the issues sex workers face in a way she didn't expect. "I know many people who are practising sex workers and the majority are very happy with their profession and they are people who can make choices for themselves — that was the background where I was coming from." As the case went on, she heard from witnesses the government was bringing forward who were either academics or former sex workers advocating for the abolition of sex work in its entirety. e stories were horrifi c and gave her pause for thought. "Even though we were ultimately successful, you know there's the next BY JENNIFER BROWN

• Cover