By Zack Silverberg

Much to the dismay of many law students, we are considered Undergraduates in the eyes of the University administration, the

draconian bus pass line creators, and worst of all, the parking pass people who bar us from parking in our very own law school parking lot. As fun as complaining is, this article will not cover the disadvantages of our situation as undergrads but rather will highlight one of the wonderful perks that we have.

Between my time as an undergrad and law school I’ve spent the past seven years at Western. It was only though when I came to Western law that I actually saw what a government could do - how much the USC does affect students’ lives. This year I sit on the USC’s Board of Directors which is the governing body of the corporate side of the USC. The Board has a fiduciary duty to all students in ensuring that their fees are properly used and that the corporation and its subsidiaries function within the law.

The Student Legal Society (SLS) itself, is funded by our student fees paid to the USC. Without those fees (assuming we could not convince a law firm to pony up some cash) the SLS would not be able to run such great programing as bringing study puppies into the school during exams, subsidized intramural sports teams or the hundredth speaker of the year.

The USC functions as a government, however it is legally a not-for-profit corporation. Last year, the USC changed its governance structure, as there were many possible conflicts of interest with regards to the elected President and VPs. As a result of this governance change, an external, undergraduate student-run Board of Directors was

created.

As undergraduate students, who already have degrees and are pursuing a legal education, law students are uniquely positioned to make excellent candidates for the USC’s Board of Directors. Now, I know most law students wouldn’t care about the University Students Council as it doesn’t really affect their lives much beyond the Spoke’s bagel selection and The Wave’s seasonal menu, but there is a great opportunity to be had sitting on the Board of Directors of a $20 million corporation before even graduating with your JD.

The USC’s Board of Directors oversees a multi million dollar budget, is both a commercial landlord and a tenant, runs a restaurant, a pub, a print shop, a daily newspaper delivering 11,000 papers 4 days a week, and thousands of events a year whilst managing a unionized labour force, with scores employees in addition to the USC’s thousands of advocacy, student event, and services volunteers.

In the past few months as a member of the USC’s Board of Directors I have dealt

with issues of risk, overseen audited financial statements, and dealt with contractual issues. As I graduate and move on from Western I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the current 1Ls to consider applying to the USC for a two-year term on the USC’s Board of Directors, this invaluable experience will give you great training and background for the corporate world.

So next time you run into issues with campus life, real life, or are seeking some meaningful educational experiences beyond the classroom consider reaching out to the USC as their mission is “To enhance the educational experience and quality of life for all undergraduates at The University of Western Ontario.” t

Blasts from the Past Page 3

Words of wisdom from Richard Zsolt Page 4

November 2013 Volume V, Issue II

By: Amicus Editorial Board

The end of the year is upon us. We’ve seen great club and committee events, two SLS appreciation days, and the Dennings are a distant drunken memory.

Now it’s time to grind out a few weeks of non-stop studying and paper writing to close out the semester. Have no fear, Amicus is here with some practical tips for how to survive the end of semester blitz and live to see another law school semester

• Take care of yourself in every way. Most importantly, make sure you stay healthy. Eat well, lots of vegetables, and wear a hat when you are outside, no matter how uncool it makes you look. Hit the gym, take a walk, do a crossword puzzle. It is also crucial to try and get a good night’s sleep every day.

• Don’t be fazed by other people. Someone in your small group stayed up for 72 hours to figure out the ultimate formula for devising grants? A friend brags about sleeping in Weldon to maximize their library time? Fuck ‘em. You may not be able to avoid these people but minimize the affect they have on your psyche. If necessary, avoid the law library and other law students so you don’t have to deal with other peoples ridiculousness.

• Schedule your time properly. Know where your weaknesses are and prioritize these areas. If you have essays, get them out of the way and leave lots of time for exam studying.

• Put yourself on lockdown mode. For the next few weeks, you are a studious, library-loving machine. Your significant others, parents, friends and children will see you when you finish articling (just kidding, no they won’t, there’s no such thing as a work/life balance and in this

competitive market you better be prepared to work 80+ hours a week)

• Find a library and stick to it. I know we all pretend that we can work just as well at home, but for most of us, this is not true. Get a good spot and hunker down, bring lots of snacks and caffeinated beverages. You’re in it for the long haul

• Find a way to relieve stress. For example, cigarettes. If that’s not your bag, consider other ways to chill out and make time for these activities. Take a bath, play video games, make a fancy meal. Whatever you need to just relax for a few moments.

• If all else fails, just remember that these exams aren’t that important and won’t affectthe rest of your life. HAHAHAHAHA OF COURSE THEY WILL. EVERYBODY FREAK OUT t

Everything You Need for Exam Season

Why Sitting on the USC’s Board of Directors is Great Law School Experience

Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6

Amicus Curiae Western Law`s Student Newspaper NEWS

2 November 2013 Volume V, Issue II

By: By Kathryn Ball

The Wellness Committee is an SLS sanctioned committee that aims to promote health and wellness within the law school. This year’s wellness committee hopes to build on the success of last year. For those who don’t know, Wellness Committee

was awarded SLS Committee of the year for the 2012-2013 academic year.

This year, we have an enhanced focus of physical fitness. To date we have hosted a campus run and two faculty exclusive spin classes. Next term, we plan to host yoga classes in the upstairs lounge to complement our spin classes. Our hope is that by encouraging group physical fitness we can help alleviate some of the stress that can occur in law school.

On November 12, the Canadian Blood Services “What’s your type?” event was well attended by students at Western Law. Students were able to have their blood sampled in order to determine their type. Heather Gunn, a CBS volunteer, provided students with education regarding their type. Students were also able to sign up for blood donation and contribute to Western Law’s commitment as a “Partner for Life” with the CBS.

Along with physical health, Western Law has committed to improving mental health programs and services in conjunction with other Ontario law schools through the Ontario Law Student Mental Health Initiative. During the initial phase of the project, we will be looking for widespread student input on the sufficiency of existing mental health services and suggestions on how Western Law can improve at addressing any gaps in these services. One of the main goals of the project is to establish a website similar in format to the American site www.lawlifeline.org. Stay tuned for more information next semester on how to get involved and ensure that your voice is heard on this very important issue.

The committee is always looking for feedback from the law school community on event ideas. Please feel free to contact Kathryn Ball at kball9@uwo.ca with any suggestions on how we can expand our health and wellness initiatives within the law school. t

What’s up with Wellness

World-Class, WorldwideAside from being part of a truly

Law around the world

Wellness committee getting ready for a fun run! Photo Courtesy of Western Law.

NEWS Amicus Curiae Western Law`s Student Newspaper

November 2013 Volume V, Issue II 3

From the Archives

Amicus Curiae Western Law`s Student Newspaper PERSPECTIVES

4 November 2013 Volume V, Issue II

By Richard Zsolt

March 31st, 1994: A boy must part with a cherished and somewhat unique pet. For several weeks the boy had tried to make it work. He had taken care of

the animal and the animal had loved him back; at least as much as a non-domesticated animal can. In the end the animal seems to be too much for the boy and too much for his average American town to handle. For the best interests of the boy, the animal, and the family, the animal is given to a nature reserve where it can be properly taken care of.

The family stands and watches as their pet enters into supposedly blissful captivity. Now it can be among its kind and live out its days with more vitality. Unexpectedly, the creature does not seem to integrate well with the other animals. It is aggressive. It is pushy. It does not seem happy. Animals of its kind are more than capable of defending themselves but they are not usually the fighting type. As a result the other animals on the reserve do their best to ignore their new brother, knowing that its unnecessary to fight back. As the family stares perplexed, the mother turns and asks the park ranger “why is [the pet] acting like that?” The park ranger explains that

” … animals are a lot like humans: some act badly because they’ve had a hard life or they’ve been mistreated; but, like humans, some animals are just jerks”.

Of course, this episode of the Simpsons, “Bart Gets an Elephant” concludes with Homer in-explicably and to great comic effect head-butting the park ranger repeatedly (just like their elephant ‘Stampy’ is doing to the other elephants on the reserve). It is a classic episode, one of the best of the semi-moralistic sitcoms of the 90s. However, in terms of a take away lesson, it kind of left me hanging back in 1994. Six year old Richard vaguely wondered: “where is the nature reserve for pushy humans?”

For you first year law students getting ready for your December exams, I want to say on behalf of all of us: Welcome to the reserve.

It is no secret that a profession that attracts a lot of dedicated, independent minded and ambitious people is going to have its own fair share of strong personalities that can easily clash. Given that we’re in a profession based around an adversarial system, the basic amount of civility and friendliness we have all cultivated with each other is something to be proud of. Furthermore, just like those elephants, most of us, while capable of taking care of ourselves instinctively in a confrontation know that needless confrontation is a waste of energy inside our profession. Yet lawyers, like elephants, can sometimes just be jerks.

This past summer I attended a motion hearing with a family lawyer from my firm. He thought I was a good luck charm and refused to leave the office without me. He ended up going through the negotiation with an opposing council who, like a thrashing barracuda, had decided he absolutely hated the lawyer I was shadowing and was going to make it as uncomfortable as possible for everyone involved. Whatever the reason for his dislike, the situation was fascinating to watch. While the lawyer I was with just normally went about his job of negotiating, there was comical, eye-bulging, vein popping aggression radiating off the opposing lawyer. I was afraid he was going to have a stroke. Of course, most difficult people do not

become such a personification of ‘hard rock meets immovable object’. For most of us, we encounter difficult people who in their own civil way, seem to make our lives a little bit harder. What they do to us at any particular time is not important; we just don’t always get along with everyone. Welcome to adulthood.

The hard thing about encountering someone like Stampy the Elephant is not dealing with the head-butts and other annoyances. Most people who enter the legal profession can handle a bit of confrontation. The hard thing is deciding what is the right way to respond to such behavior? This is particularly interesting when you consider that we are in a profession that both extolls the power of the adversarial system while placing high value on constant and rigorous professionalism. From both our disposition and our training we have an urge to stick up for ourselves while always remaining somehow reasonable and polite. We are pulled two ways. Someone is grating on you, do you (a) fight back like only an elephant can, or (b) in extreme tranquility move on and ignore it, again, like only an elephant can?

It’s pretty easy to choose on an intellectual level. For the sake of our own career, our own self esteem as adults, unless there is some serious moral transgression, its best to move on. Yet the ‘adult’ solution can result in challenges of its own. Is the person offended by your own professional dispassion? Do they interpret it as some sort of disapproval of them and their behavior? No matter what, humans are excellent at sustaining conflict. This is a powerful human trait. It keeps us lawyers in business.

I’ve discussed the Simpsons. I’ve discussed the jerks of the world. I’ve discussed the nature of the profession, told some anecdotes and shared my own musings on professional conflict. Realizing I probably have not improved your life in any measurable fashion during the last few hundred words, I can close this article in one of two ways. My first option is that I could point out the first half of the quote by the park

ranger about Stampy. The park Ranger notes that a good portion of the people who get under our skin are just doing so from their unique life position, that it’s tough to be them. This would easily turn into a plea for greater understanding, in hopes of strengthening the community of lawyers, human beings and elephants everywhere. While this may prove potentially valuable to future litigators out there who can turn such understanding into some sort of new, deeper ammunition on how to attack the confrontations of their daily work, it really feels like low hanging fruit. So I won’t close like that. The second way I can end this article, is I can try and squeeze every last drop out of this Simpsons analogy. So we’re the lawyers, who are really just the Elephants. This means we live in this special world, ‘the reserve’, where we can live out our lives with more people like us. We get an environment catered to our needs as high achieving individuals with low risk tolerances. If you are built for this environment, you get to live a more vital life. The problem is that occasionally there are going to be people like Stampy. Now for those who remember the ending of the original 1994 episode, they’ll remember that ‘the boy’, i.e. Bart Simpson, shamelessly and joyfully cheers on Stampy as he head-butts and shoves his way into his new elephant tribe. It turns out, lawyers are to most people in the world, like emotionally malformed elephants are to sociopathic little boy; there is some sort of excitement and appeal, especially when things are at their worst. Think of the nonsensical confrontation and heavy handed litigation to be found on legal TV dramas. The law, as some sort of slow motion train wreck of human nature simply fascinates people. That’s probably why some of us wanted to become lawyers. So the next time you are in some confrontation, especially with some slimy or annoying other member of the legal profession, think of Bart Simpsons’s cheers of “Go get him Stampy”, and remember that your living a confrontation wet-dream. t

Pulp Legal Morality of Confrontation

Editor-in-Chief: James HirshLayout Designer: Kevin SuttonLogo Designer: Jesse StrongContributors: James Hirsh, Anthony-George D’Andrea, Zach Silverberg, Richard Zsolt, Kathryn Ball, Michael Slattery, Pam Glatt

WE ARE LOOKING FOR EDITORS for 2013-2014! Contact amicuscuriaeuwo@gmail.com

AMICUS CURIAE is a self-funded student publication run by and for the law students of Western University. Any article published within it is solely the opinion of its author and not Western University nor the Faculty of Law.

The unsigned editorial in the Opinion Section of Amicus Curiae represents the opinion of the Amicus Curiae Editorial Board. The views published in other sections of the newspaper are those of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. Amicus Curiae welcomes submissions to the Editor but reserves the right to refuse to run any letters and edit submissions for the purpose of brevity.

Any comments on the paper or letters to the editor can be directed to amicuscuriaeuwo@gmail.com. New contributors and volunteers are always welcome.