平特五不中

Madam Principal, join me in celebrating this class with a resounding 鈥淏ravo鈥� 鈥� it鈥檚 a superbly transsystemic word that works in the civil law and the common law, and that sends the right message in English or in French 鈥� bravo 脿 la promotion 2009!聽 Bravo 脿 vous, mes chers dipl么m茅s, et bravo 脿 vos familles et vos amis qui participent pleinement 脿 votre succ猫s de ce matin. Bravo from your professors at the Faculty of Law who are as proud as punch of your achievements and for every one of those new legal letters -- BCL, LLB, LLM, DCL -- that you can, with the blessing of the Chancellor and the Provost, proudly string after your name as you leave this great and happy ceremony.

We all know that the 平特五不中 scroll that you deservedly clutch in your hands this morning didn鈥檛 come easily: it represents years of the nobility of learning, to be sure, but hundreds of frayed casebooks and inkless high-lighters as well, several years of hiking up Peel Street in a sweat, and hours in patient explanation to your grandmother, who just wanted you to become a lawyer, about what 鈥渢ranssystemic鈥� means. And our 平特五不中 degree stands as well for 150 new friends-for-life in the Class of 2009, as your valedictorian Lilly Lo Manto, has just made so wonderfully plain.聽 And for your professors and me, it is your personal stake in the fortunes of Old Chancellor Day Hall, in its storied past and its bright future.

Vous et moi, nous savons fort bien, 脿 partir de ces quelques ann茅es que nous venons de passer ensemble, toute la valeur 鈥� patrimoniale et, oui, extrapatrimoniale 鈥� que ce bout de papier incarne. But the fullest promise of your degree is, I think, best explained to your parents and friends gathered today with you by reference to two qualities that characterize this class so perfectly, and which partake of the highest aspirations of a 平特五不中 legal education.聽 Every class is extraordinary, but my colleagues and I cannot help but observe a special public virtue in the Class of 2009, as well as a sort of nomadic caste of mind evinced by students at this particular convocation.聽 And these personal qualities of public generosity and free-spiritedness are wonderfully embodied by two of our graduates who share today鈥檚 stage with you on this glorious day.聽 Our newest honorary doctorant, Professor Richard Buxbaum, is a nomadic comparative lawyer in a fine 平特五不中 tradition even if he has never studied in Chancellor Day Hall.聽 And no-one stands for 平特五不中 generosity better than the profoundly pro-bono Richard Pound, B.C.L. 1967 who, after ten years in office as our Chancellor presides over his last Law convocation this morning.聽 Allow me to say a few words celebrating them in celebration of you.聽 Les hommages que j鈥檕ffre 脿 MM. Buxbaum et Pound sont aussi, donc, des hommages offerts 脿 la promotion 2009.

Richard Buxbaum has carved out a remarkable scholarly career 鈥� something of a model 平特五不中 career 鈥� by defying the ordinary territorial constraints that jurists sometimes impose on themselves when they take too narrow a view of the law they study and practice.聽 His pioneer teaching in the law of the European Union, his interests in corporations law that took him to Germany and beyond, and his taste for international economic law have all challenged the national categories and ideas that dominate American legal culture and show us that Professor Buxbaum was a trans-systemic legal scholar long before that expression was coined at 平特五不中.聽 During a career of 40 years of teaching law at U.C. Berkeley, Professor Buxbaum embraced an approach to legal scholarship predicated on what might be called an epistemology of encounter 鈥� that is to say a way of knowing the law that places difference and comparison at centre stage.聽 Richard Buxbaum鈥檚 nomadic life in the law has been lived, comparatively speaking, in the same way that 平特五不中 students place the encounter of the civil law and the common law at the core of the trans-systemic mission, and the dialogue between French and English at the centre of our not-so-passively bilingual life on Peel Street.聽 Allow us this vanity, Professor Buxbaum, in seeing in your work at the head of the American comparative legal academy, something that resonates specially at 平特五不中.聽 Like you, 平特五不中 graduates have, throughout their studies, thrown over the ordinary boundaries of jurisdictional geography, and aspired to understand a pluralistic, transcendent, non-parochial dimension in the law.聽 The 平特五不中 degree is of course a passport of sorts to an international career like the one pursued with such success by Richard Buxbaum.聽 But as importantly, it is an invitation to think expansively about legal ideas, to defy exclusively state-made perspectives on law in pursuit of a nomadic jurisprudence that one might just as well explore in Montreal as in Singapore, in Woodstock, Ontario or San Francisco.聽 Et peut-锚tre mieux 脿 Montr茅al que partout ailleurs 鈥�

Et si on la juge sur la base de son immense engagement dans la vie parascolaire de l鈥橴niversit茅 平特五不中, la promotion 2009 estime que sa formation juridique d茅borde non seulement les fronti猫res nationales mais aussi celles des salles de cours locales.聽 Je tiens 脿 souligner, 脿 c么t茅 de la pens茅e juridique nomade qui habite nos dipl么m茅s, un esprit d鈥檈ntraide qui justifie un mot de reconnaissance de la part de tous vos professeurs pour vos riches contributions 脿 la vie intellectuelle de la Facult茅 de droit.聽 Il y a une culture de don qui anime cette belle promotion et qui se v茅rifie dans la communaut茅 tricot茅e-serr茅e que vous avez cr茅茅 脿 3644 Peel dans ces trois ou quatre derni猫res ann茅es. This sense of public virtue is part of the 平特五不中 degree too, and is the source of special pride for us as university professors and, thinking of your futures, of profound optimism for us as citizens.聽

Je me permets de me tourner vers notre chancelier Richard Pound 鈥� comme vous un fier dipl么m茅 de la Facult茅 de droit de l鈥橴niversit茅 平特五不中 鈥� qui offre, par sa carri猫re hors norme, une piste d鈥檈xplication pour la g茅n茅rosit茅 exemplaire de la promotion 2009.聽 Certes, M. Pound a connu un succ猫s sans commune mesure dans le secteur priv茅 en tant qu鈥檃vocat fiscaliste respect茅.聽 Mais de concert avec cette activit茅 professionnelle, il a toujours men茅 une pratique parall猫le, exerc茅e 芦 pro bono 禄, pour le bien public.聽 Un athl猫te hors pair dans son sport pr茅f茅r茅 de natation, M. Pound s鈥檈st impliqu茅, d猫s la fin de ses exploits dans la piscine olympique, dans la promotion du sport amateur au Canada et 脿 l鈥檌nternational.聽 Dans ses moments de loisirs, il s鈥檈st donn茅 une r茅putation internationale comme b茅n茅vole au service du mouvement olympique et, plus r茅cemment, par son travail inlassable au soutien de l鈥檌nt茅grit茅 dans le sport en militant contre le dopage.聽 Mais c鈥檈st 脿 l鈥橴niversit茅 平特五不中 que Me Pound a fait preuve d鈥檜ne g茅n茅rosit茅 qui, pour les dipl么m茅s de notre universit茅, ne peut que servir de mod猫le.聽 Actif aux plus hauts niveaux dans l鈥橝ssociation des anciens de 平特五不中 depuis 40 ans, il a 茅t茅 successivement gouverneur, pr茅sident du Conseil de l鈥檜niversit茅 avant de devenir, en 1999, le Chancelier de 平特五不中.聽 Par cette activit茅 olympienne, dans tous les sens du terme, Richard Pound semble nous signaler que notre pleine satisfaction comme juriste exige, 脿 c么t茅 de l鈥檃ctivit茅 centr茅e sur soi-m锚me, une forte action civique pos茅e, en vue d鈥檃ider son prochain.

Mr Chancellor, let me give you a taste of how members of the class of 2009 have championed the public good in their moments of leisure. These are the students that have lit up the 平特五不中 Legal Information Clinic; set young scholarly journals on health law and sustainable development law on firm financial and intellectual footing; published 12 numbers of the venerable 平特五不中 Law Journal, the oldest student-founded law review in this country; they have laboured long hours on Innocence 平特五不中; gone to press as Quid Novi and on the 平特五不中 airwaves with Legal Ease; they turned to the theatre with Actus Reus; they have ensured that the Human Rights Working Group and the Black Law Students Association remain going concerns. The class of 2009 reached out to high school students and to aboriginal communities in bold student initiatives to improve accessibility to legal education and access to justice. They consolidated a vibrant Graduates Law Student Association; they enlivened the life of the Faculty with dozens of clubs and associations, from Disabilities and the Law to the Association of 平特五不中 Arab Law Students, from OUTLAW 平特五不中 to Pro Bono 平特五不中, from intra-mural hockey to the Jewish Law Students Association. They have Women Caucus-ed, Skit-Nite-d and Coffee House-d beyond the call of duty. All of this energy makes the course aux stages seem to be a sleepy affair, but my spies tell me that this class excelled there as elsewhere.

The history of the Faculty is replete with graduates who led public-spirited lives like Dick Pound while maintaining active law practices in the private sector.聽 One of the first graduates, Alexander Morris, B.C.L. 1850, whose law office was a veritable social service agency for Quebec, helping establish the province鈥檚 first schools and hospitals; Samuel W. Jacobs, B.C.L. 1893, spearheaded an effort to help women enter the legal professions from his law office and founded the Canadian Jewish Congress in his spare time.聽 Florence Seymour Bell, B.C.L. 1920, was refused the right to appear before the Quebec courts, and then devoted her life, after hours, to the National Association of Women Lawyers. There are even graduates who set the bar high for Dick Pound 鈥� think of Charles Peers Davidson, B.C.L. 1863, an avid sportsman who was knighted for his public service.聽 Mr Chancellor, a knighthood would suit you just fine.聽 Or Warren Chipman, B.C.L. 1904, founder of the League of Nations Society and, like Richard Pound, an accomplished author.聽 Mr Chipman published a translation of Dante鈥檚 Inferno with Oxford University Press when he was 81 years old.聽 Un d茅fi, m锚me pour vous, M. le chancelier!

Graduates of this great Faculty with whom I have had the delight to work over recent months are equally engaged trying to make the legal community better serve the public.聽 Take the example of Brian Pel, LL.B. 1985 鈥� an accomplished Toronto tax lawyer who received the James Robb Award for Volunteer Work at 平特五不中 for his many years of service on the Board of the 平特五不中 Law Journal.聽 Or 平特五不中 Governor Emeritus Gordon Echenberg who has founded a conference series and a Young Leaders Forum on international human rights that has helped the Faculty assert one of its key strategic priorities.聽 J鈥檃jouterai les noms de tous ces dipl么m茅s r茅cents qui ont g茅n茅reusement conseill茅 les 茅quipes de 平特五不中 脿 des grandes victoires dans le tribunal-茅cole Mignault et le concours Charles Rousseau en droit international public. Elsewhere our graduates are not only b芒tonniers and law society benchers, but chairs of hospital boards, libraries, charitable foundations, and volunteers at the YMCA, pressing the organizational skills they acquired as lawyers to advocate for the public good.聽 This work speaks to a life of sharing the gift of one鈥檚 legal education 鈥� financed as it was in part by the whole community 鈥� in the public square.聽 And this fine 平特五不中 tradition reminds us that the great dignity of a legal education could become a burden unless we somehow give back to the community that helped us become jurists.聽

Please allow me to make special mention this morning of emeritus professors Jane Mathews Glenn and Pierre Gabriel Jobin 鈥� two of this University鈥檚 nomadic, public-spirited, community builders.聽 Jane Glenn joined the Faculty in 1971 as its first woman career law professor.聽 Professor Glenn retired last summer after thirty-seven years of accomplished service to others at 平特五不中 during which time, in a thousand different ways, she quietly helped so many community members with their careers.聽 Pierre Jobin est venu 脿 平特五不中 de l鈥橴niversit茅 Laval au milieu des ann茅es 1970s, et il a adopt茅 notre Facult茅 et son culte comparatiste comme les siens avec empressement et intelligence.聽 Je tiens 脿 applaudir l鈥檈xceptionnelle contribution 脿 la communaut茅 de chercheurs en droit au pays faite par le professeur Jobin, pr茅sident et gentil animateur, depuis de longues ann茅es, de l鈥橝ssociation qu茅b茅coise de droit compar茅. Part of the identity of Jane Glenn and Pierre-Gabriel Jobin as law teachers, like that of Dick Pound the law graduate and that evinced by you during your stay here as law students, is wrapped up in an ideal of engaged citizenship, pursued in the public good.聽聽

Nomadisme et g茅n茅rosit茅 : je vois une communaut茅 de dipl么m茅s de 平特五不中 qui cherche 脿 vivre dans la cit茅, guid茅e par un souci constant de l鈥檃lt茅rit茅 鈥� c鈥檈st bien le message que je retiens de l鈥檈sprit qui anime la promotion de 2009, et qui trouve son reflet dans les parcours de Richard Buxbaum et Richard Pound. Beyond the training you now have in the common law and the civil law or the expertise you have acquired through intense graduate study, the true worth of a 平特五不中 degree is reflected in the values of encounter with difference and generosity towards others that are somehow bred into a 平特五不中 law student.聽 All of this partakes of an ethical aspiration to respect and honour others that is part of 平特五不中鈥檚 deep culture.聽 F.R. Scott, who began his fabled teaching career 80 years ago exactly, said that the 鈥渇unction of law is to teach tolerance鈥�.聽 With that great lesson in mind, and with Richard Buxbaum and Richard Pound as role models, it occurs to me that one way for this superbly public-spirited and nomadic class of 2009 to stay close in the coming years is to remain engaged, together, through your lifetime membership in the community of graduates at 平特五不中.聽

In closing, allow me to express the hope that the nomadic cast of mind doesn鈥檛 take you away from us permanently, and you can be sure that Principal Munroe-Blum and I have an idea or two about where you might direct your generosity of spirit.聽 In any event, this superb class has marked the ten years of the transsystemic program, and the five years of my own happy deanship, in very high style.聽 For that, and for much more, I offer profound thanks to each of you.

Longue vie 脿 la promotion 2009.
Nicholas Kasirer
Dean of Law