Advance Notice: Participatory LCO Law Reform Symposium

I want to take the opportunity to let Slawyers know about a law reform symposium that the LCO is organizing for this coming May 12th and 13th, in collaboration with Lorne Sossin, the Director of the Centre for the Legal Profession at the University of Toronto. It will be held at U of T. The Symposium will explore the interrelationship between theory and practice in law reform and will include people with strong opinions about what law reform should mean and activists who have played a major role in reforming law, and will be based on an attendee participation format.

We’ll start on May 12th with a public lecture by Michael Tilbury, a Full-time Commissioner with the New South Wales Law Reform Commission (born in 1966 – the NSWLRC, that is, not Professor Tilbury). He’ll be talking about relations with government, among other things. On May 13th, we’ll have the usual suspects who have been strongly encouraged (probably no need for encouragement) to make provocative comments (Rod Macdonald, Harry Arthurs et al), plus some people who are or have been engaged in law reform on the ground (Michele Leering, David Lepofsky, Raj Anand, Avvy Go, Kim Murray, likely someone from government). The plan is that attendees will have a chance to be part of the programme, so attendance will be limited for the May 13th event (albeit up to 75 people, not so many for enthusiastic, knowledgeable people for whom voicing (considered) opinions is second nature).

I’ll be sending out information soon to various organizations and posting it on our website. If you’re interested, reserve the evening of May 12th and the day of May 13th to talk about the goals and challenges of law reform today.