Osgoode Hall Law School Interim Dean Jinyan Li presented Dean’s Gold Key Awards to 10 graduating LLB students on March 10. The students received the awards in recognition of their exceptional leadership, commitment and enthusiasm through their participation in various activities on behalf of the law school and York University.
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| Nine of the 2010 Dean’s Gold Key Award recipients with three faculty members. First row, from left, Mohamad Ziad Reslan, Tamara Maurer, Sarah Robicheau, Osgoode Hall Law School Interim Dean Jinyan Li, Gloria Song, Shaneka Shaw and Osgoode Associate Dean Janet Mosher. Second row, from left, Osgoode Assistant Dean, First Year Bruce Ryder, Sanford Murray, Donald McClean, Daniel Hohnstein and Chad Aboud. |
Chad Aboud
Throughout his four years at Osgoode, Aboud has made outstanding contributions to the life of the law school, both to the academic program and to activities integral to the community. Aboud is currently serving as the co-president of the Juris Doctor (JD)-MBA Students’ Association. In the past, he has served as co-conference chair for the Annual JD-MBA Conference. Aboud has also contributed his skills to two other important Osgoode programs: the International Legal Partnership, where he was fundraising director, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Project, where he was co-president and executive member. Furthermore, Aboud was the co-founder and president of Osgoode Community Outreach, which started off as a means for first-year students to network across sections and has expanded to a community outreach role.
Daniel Hohnstein
Hohnstein has played a very active role in both the serious and less serious sides of community life at Osgoode Hall Law School. This year, he was involved in the operation of the student governing body as vice-president, internal, of the Legal & Literary Society and as a member of the Student Caucus. He contributes to numerous committees at Osgoode, including the Faculty Recruitment Committee and the Osgoode Community Enhancement Forum, on which he serves as co-chair. Hohnstein is also the senior style editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal and has served on the journal’s summer editorial board for the past two years. He has participated in several moot competitions including the Lerners Cup Moot and the Torys Moot Cup and he represented Osgoode in the Willem C. Vis Internationial Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria, last year. He was also a memorable participant in the law school’s annual Mock Trial.
Tamara Maurer
Throughout her four years as a JD/MBA student, Maurer has shown exceptional commitment, enthusiasm and leadership in a variety of extracurricular activities. For the past three years, Maurer has served as the producer of Osgoode’s Mock Trial, including stints as both a writer and director of several sketches. Maurer has also worked on the Obiter Dicta throughout her four years at the law school and has served as the publication’s features editor for three of those four years. She has participated in the Osgoode Orientation Committee, Osgoode Community Outreach, the Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) and the Baby Jessup Moot.
Donald McClean
When McClean started his studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, he continued to work as the fire chief for the community of Markham, Ont. He has successfully combined his academic pursuits with his working life and extracurricular activities. His involvement in the Osgoode Hall Athletics Association over the past three years includes leading the law school’s ‘A’ ice hockey team to two intramural championships and three regular season first-place finishes as either captain or assistant captain in all three years. In his first year, McClean was awarded the Bruce Lokash Memorial Prize as Osgoode Hall’s male athlete of the year. In his second year, he added the Steven R. Huta Memorial Prize for academic and athletic achievement. McClean has also participated in the Lerners Cup Moot and the International Law School Mediation Tournament held in Chicago by the International Academy of Dispute Resolution (IADR). He serves as an executive member of Osgoode’s Mature Students Association.
Sanford Murray
Over the course of his three years at Osgoode, Murray has served the law school as president of the Legal & Literary Society. He has worked on many initiatives on behalf of the students, including negotiating with the Graduate Students’ Association to recover overcharged student levies from previous years and establishing and running the Legal & Lit Coffee Service during the fall term. Murray also served on the Decanal Search Committee as a student representative. He has served as the vice-chair of the Osgoode Hall Law School Orientation Committee where he used his creativity to plan orientation events. He has actively participated in several Osgoode traditions, including the Mock Trial and the Osgoode Touch Football League.
Mohamad Ziad Reslan
Reslan is a leader in student government, a successful mooter and an engaged citizen in the wider Osgoode community. As a first-year representative for his incoming class on the Legal & Literary Society, Reslan founded – and was first chair of – the First Year Joint Committee of the Legal & Literary Society and Student Caucus. During his second year, he became the vice-president, internal, of the Legal & Literary Society. Reslan represents the law school at the York University Senate, where he has been a senator since first year and a member of the Senate Academic Appeals Committee. He has participated in the Vis Moot (at which he won a Distinguished Oralist Award last year), the Fasken Martineau First-Year International Law Moot and the Torys Moot Cup competition.
Sarah Robicheau
As a member of the International Legal Partnership executive, Robicheau has contributed to the expansion of the fellowship program and its institutionalization as a permanent fixture of the Osgoode landscape. She has taken on the difficult task of stage manager at Mock Trial for each of her four years at the law school. Robicheau is a member of the Osgoode Hall Law Union, the Environmental Law Society and the Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Law Moot team. Most recently, she was a caseworker in the Social Assistance, Violence & Health Division of Parkdale Community Legal Services where she is also involved in community legal work.
Samantha Scott
Scott started off as duty counsel for CLASP in her first year and was appointed division leader in her second year, when she received the CLASP Prize for Social Justice for her dedication to the clinic. Among her many other activities, Scott is the coordinator of internal relations for Just Law, a student organization dedicated to connecting students with social justice issues, and a founding member of the Osgoode Mental Health Law Association. She also helped organize this year’s SPINLAW (Student Public Interest Network Legal Action Workshop) Conference. She is a contributing editor to the Osgoode Hall Review of Law & Policy and the vice-president of communications for the Osgoode Labour & Employment Law Society.
Shaneka Shaw
From serving as chair of Student Caucus to her involvement in the Parkdale Community Legal Services Program and the Osgoode yearbook, Shaw has managed to make the most of her law school experience. She has served on the Black Law Students’ Association in various executive positions for the past three years. She also served on the Decanal Search Committee as a student representative.
Gloria Song
In her first year, Song helped plan the conference for the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers. She was also a junior editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal. In her second year, she was involved with setting the direction for the Osgoode Women’s Caucus as a member of the executive. Song also served as co-president of the Korean Law Students Association and established a mentorship program between first-year students and alumni to assist in the transition to law school. She is also the band director for Mock Trial.