OKT Congratulates Osgoode for Combining Academic and Practical Legal Education in Aboriginal Law

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This year, Osgoode Hall Law School marks the 40th anniversary of its clinical legal education programs, including its partnerships to establish the first community legal clinics in Ontario.

Olthuis Kleer Townshend congratulates Osgoode on the success of the clinical education programs, including the Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources and Government. OKT has benefitted from the special legal training provided by the program. Five of OKT’s lawyers are alumni of Osgoode’s Aboriginal Intensive Program.

University of Victoria professor and aboriginal-law expert John Borrows comments that, “I think that this is currently the best program in North America for encouraging knowledge of indigenous legal issues. It brings together the academic with the practical in a way that’s sophisticated and makes a difference to communities and makes a difference in the lives of students who participate in it.”

OKT’s alumni of the Aboriginal Intensive Program are:

·        Lorraine Land, a partner at OKT, did her intensive program placement in Nunavut, where she later returned to serve as Legal Counsel and Acting Director of Legal Services for the Government of Nunavut from 2007 – 2009.

·        Cathy Guirguis, an OKT associate, did her intensive program placement at the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) in Winnipeg, working on projects dealing with the duty to consult and accommodate, and indigenous environmental laws.

·        Senwung Luk is an associate at OKT. Senwung did his intensive program placement in Inuvik, N.W.T., where he worked with the self-government negotiating teams of the Gwich’in and the Inuvialuit.

·        Michael McClurg is joining OKT in October 2011, as an associate. Michael did his intensive program placement with the government of Nunavut, where he worked on Aboriginal consultation issues.

·        Rolando Aguilera is an articling student at OKT for the 2011/2012 articling period. Rolando did his intensive program placement at Ratcliff & Co. in Vancouver, where he worked on the implementation of the Maa-nulth Final Agreement signed between Canada, British Columbia and five Maa-nulth First Nations.

OKT congratulates Osgoode on the success of the Aboriginal Intensive Program and other clinical legal education programs that train lawyers with practical skills to match their passion for fields of law which promote social justice.

By Lorraine Land