Five students from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School have been selected to participate in an innovative new three-week training boot camp in Chicago this month, followed by paid internships this summer, as part of the Institute for the Future of Law Practice (IFLP). The IFLP is a collaboration with three United States law schools and numerous legal employers, designed to help modernize legal education.
IFLP boot camp training programs were launched May 14 at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago and the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder, Colo., with the support of sponsors Cisco, Chapman and Cutler LLP, and Elevate Services. A total of 43 students will participate in this year’s boot camps.
The boot camps are designed to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for 21st-century law practice. Topics include: basic accounting and business principles; professional communication and teamwork; exposure to core elements of mergers and acquisitions; litigation management; IP strategy; high-volume commercial contracting; and basic principles of project management, process improvement and data analytics. Use of technology for more efficient delivery of legal services is also a focus of the program.
From left: Raffaele Virdo, Fanqi Wang, Cameron McMaster, Yonida Koukio, Omar Alsayyed
Students will put their new skills into practice following the boot camps via paid internships. The following Osgoode students will be employed by these employers:
- JD/MBA student Omar Alsayyed – Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
- Professional LLM student Yonida Koukio – Bennett Jones LLP
- JD student Cameron McMaster – Kira Systems Inc.
- JD/MBA student Raffaele Virdo – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
- JD student Fanqi Wang – McCarthy Tétrault LLP
“Osgoode is delighted to be one of the four founding member schools, along with the law faculties of the University of Indiana, University of Colorado and Northwestern University, participating in the first-year IFLP,” said Victoria Watkins, assistant dean and executive director, Osgoode Professional Development. “Capitalizing on new ways of thinking and preparing the next cohort of lawyers to meet a changing legal world is critically important. This program is teaching skills in legal services delivery that haven’t traditionally been taught by law schools and are rapidly becoming essential. Although IFLP is geared toward corporate practice, the skills and approaches can be applied in other areas of legal services delivery.”
And while Osgoode is evolving its offerings at home, “IFLP is a unique opportunity for cross-border collaboration with American law schools, and to build networks among legal service providers who are innovating,” Watkins said.
“IFLP is a partnership between all members of the legal ecosystem – corporate law departments, law firms, alternative legal service providers and legal academics – to help modernize legal education and dramatically upgrade the skills of the next generation of legal professionals,” said Bill Mooz, IFLP interim executive director and founder of the Colorado Tech Lawyer Accelerator.