62. International Law and Unicorns

What‘s Law Got To Do With It?

Our guest this episode is Sydney McIvor, a 3L student. Sydney mentions a play for her law-related entertainment -- What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck -- which she saw on Broadway. (Lucky her! -- but also lucky for those who have access to Amazon Prime as it is available for streaming: https://www.amazon.com/What-Constitution-Means-Me/dp/B08KRB3FQ4)

Sydney talks about two internships/placements she's had, both of which took her outside of Canada. First, during her 1L summer she was with the World Bank Group in Washington DC -- an internship funded through Osgoode Hall Law School (there's another position funded through Western Law); and second, a term spent at The Hague in the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals - which related to matters left over from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Richard thought she was paid for these positions, but she assured us she wasn't.

Felicity is curious as to why Sydney hates Canada because she's always off galivanting around the world. Sydney's answer is much more sophisticated: she sees law as a somewhat limited licensed profession because expertise in it is not all that transferable, unlike other professions. For her, committing to one jurisdiction (as you pretty much need to do if you're going to have a career in professional practice) can be daunting for someone just starting out, and the barriers to moving around are high.

Sydney's advice if you want to do international law work: think about going to law school in the place you want to be; but if that's not possible, realize that a common law degree is a good backstop, particularly if the law school has an international reputation (which many in Canada do).

Music Attribution:

What's Love Got to Do With It

by Tina Turner

Soundcloud: What's Love Got to Do with It