During Skit Nite 2013, The Transsymphonics student choir performed a wonderful medley of songs. Left to right: Linda El Halabi, Arielle Corobow, Bertrand Alexandre Stoffel, Jean-Frédéric Hübsch, Andrea Buitrago Carranza, Kadriye Merve Bilgic. Not in photo: Helene Kneale, Christie Bates, and choir director Stephen De Four-Wyre. You can see more in the Facebook album

Our students have been busy this semester, as ever. While mooting, working hard in their classes, writing papers and putting on conferences, they’ve also found time to sing, dance and perform at Skit Nite on March 12 (see the videos on YouTube, and the photo album on Facebook – and no, you don’t need to have a FB profile to view the shots), launch a new publication (see below), and garner important awards. Kudos, all!

Lancement du magazine Contours

Le 5 avril 2013 avait lieu le lancement d’une nouvelle publication étudiante, intitulée Contours. Le magazine a été conçu à l’automne 2012 par Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, étudiante en première année à la Faculté. Contours vise à donner un espace aux femmes de la Faculté de droit pour partager leurs histoires, leur voix et leurs idées. Avec le soutien financier de la Faculté, une équipe de 20 étudiantes, appuyées par les professeures Shauna Van Praagh et Helena Lamed, a travaillé tout au long de l’année universitaire – en cherchant des contributrices, en écrivant, en faisant des entrevues, en faisant la rédaction, en planifiant le lancement – pour réaliser cet important projet. Le lancement a eu lieu en rose, avec une centaine de petits gâteaux faits maison et un punch aux framboises servis dans l’Atrium, en échange de dons pour le Foyer pour femmes autochtones de Montréal.

Le premier numéro du magazine, sur les Femmes et le Droit, est disponible sur le site web: www.contours-mcgill.com. Photo: Les co-fondatrices Charlotte-Anne Malischewski et Erin Moores (Bridget Wayland).

UPDATE:  Canadian Lawyer magazine blog picked up on the story too.

Congrats, Marvin Coleby!

The Faculty was happy to learn that first-year student Marvin H. Coleby, VP external of the Black Law Students Association of McGill (BLSAM), has been elected President of the Black Law Students Association of Canada (BLSAC) for the 2013-2014 Term. Coleby campaigned on a platform of youth empowerment, the refocusing of cultural and racial rights, closer Canada-US ties, and the implications of common and civil jurisdiction mixing for Black jurists.

Coleby came to McGill with a BA in political science and a minor in philosophy from Concordia University, where he won the Best Club Executive Award as president of the Concordia Caribbean Student Union, served as editor-in-chief for the Concordia Pre-Law Society and president of Colors of Concordia. He also received Concordia’s 2012 Outstanding Student Award.

The Black Law Students Association of Canada promotes diversity in the legal profession and provides a forum for unity, encouragement and advancement. It also provides services, activities, publications and facilities that address Black students’ needs and objectives, and promotes increased access for Black students to a legal education.

Scarlet Keys

Two of our students, Sandra Aigbinode and LSA President Graham Splawski, were recently awarded Scarlet Key Awards in recognition of their outstanding extra-curricular contributions to the McGill community. For more than 85 years, the Scarlet Key Award has been one way for McGill to recognize students who have demonstrated indubitable qualities of leadership, unselfishness and perseverance at the university. It has been awarded to more than 1,500 recipients over the years, all of whom are members of the Scarlet Key Society. Aigbinode and Splawski received their Scarlet Key pins from McGill Principal, Heather Munroe-Blum at a pinning ceremony held at McGill’s Faculty Club on March 22, 2013.