Reforming young offender laws won’t enhance public safety: academics

Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service Published: Sunday, January 11, 2009

"OTTAWA -- Canada's revamped young offender laws -- described by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an 'unmitigated failure' -- have in fact been a clear success in keeping adolescents out of court and custody without increasing youth crime, concludes a new academic analysis.

The three authors warn against the Harper government pursuing a promise to toughen the Youth Criminal Justice Act, arguing it won't enhance public safety, but it will cost provincial governments significantly more money to punish young people by incarcerating them...

"When the act was adopted in 2003, Canada had one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the world. Those numbers have dropped a dramatic 36 per cent in the last five years, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada.

'Without increasing youth crime, the new laws have resulted in a very significant reduction in the use of courts and custody for adolescent offenders in Canada and hence allowed for a significant reduction in spending on youth courts and custody facilities, generally accompanied by shifting resources to community-based programs,' note Bala, Carrington and Roberts.

The revamped laws, which set out clear rules on when judges can impose incarceration, have also reduced a patchwork of practices from province to province, the analysis said.

Not only are fewer adolescents being incarcerated, there also has been a dramatic drop in the number being charged by police as they seek alternative rehabilitative measures such as community programs, counselling, apologies to the victim, and other 'extra-judicial' measures."

Read the whole article here.

I was glad to read about the reduction in incarceration rates, but I wonder about the actual drop in the committing of crimes by youth. It would seem that there has been no reduction: "While youth crime in general has not increased, violent crime in some cities has been on the rise, Bala acknowledged."

I tend to agree with Stephen Harper's sentiments: "Last summer, Harper denounced Canada's approach to handling young offenders as 'an unmitigated failure' in that it did not 'hold young lawbreakers responsible for their behaviour and . . . make them accountable to their victims and society.'"

I think that they should revamp this particular system to emulate the circle systems being adopted by many First Nation communities and judicial districts, where the victim, the offender, and various members of the community come together with the judge in a circle, and work it out with everyone involved. This has worked marvels in some communities, dropping the rates of crime significantly, from what I understand. It also results in effective consequences for the accused, such as banishment. Further, it allows for reconciliation between the victim and the offender in many cases. For example, there can be an apology, or direct restitution. The community is involved (i.e. Elders), and this is very effective towards accountability for the accused.

I really think that if youth had to actually sit down in a circle with a judge, the victim(s), their parents, their grandparents, their teachers, and members of the community, they would think twice about committing a crime again. Many youth now probably feel that the punishment is relatively easy, and there is no direct accountability. For some, youth detention, or community service might even be a step up from their current circumstances...in any case, I think reform is necessary, especially with all of the gang activity in some of the larger cities.

NY lawyer arrested for impersonation

Reuters Canada
Fri Dec 5, 2008 2:24pm EST

"TORONTO (Reuters) - A prominent New York corporate lawyer has been arrested in Toronto on a charge of impersonation, police said on Friday.

Marc Dreier, founder and managing partner of Dreier LLP, was scheduled to appear in court Friday morning to answer charges of "impersonation with intent," said Constable Tony Vella, a spokesman for Toronto police...

Dreier, 58, headed the litigation department in the New York office of law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP and had been a litigation partner at Rosenman & Colin LLP before founding Dreier LLP in 1996, according to a biography on his firm's website.

He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School and has worked as a commercial litigator for more than 30 years, the website said...

The New York Times, in a website posting on Friday, said the law firm, which has more than 250 attorneys, canceled a holiday party that had been scheduled for Thursday evening at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan."

No wonder they cancelled their holiday party...they were all busy checking their heads. Somebody didn't do their due diligence! Sounds like the character from "Catch Me If You Can".

Read more about the $100 fraud this guy is charged with here.

Back in the Saddle

Ok, so I have taken a hiatus from this blog since July. Can't blame me too much...life got in the way. A brief update:

I sold my publishing company (Writing on Stone Press) on July 1, 2008 to a group out of British Columbia. Some of you might not have made the connection that the publisher of my book was owned by the author. We put out a Canadian Career Series that will continue, along with a number of other titles. My previous life before law school was in publishing.

Anyways, it is nice to be free of the responsibilities of owning a side business. I have been able to focus on my law practice and my family, which has been really great. I even went on a family holiday, much to my children's delight.

The economy has started to shift, and that has meant a shift in my practice. Less real estate. More divorce. Kind of funny, if you think about it. Still doing lots of wills and estate administration, which I really enjoy.

Well, I will try to keep this blog active and current going forward...

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Olympic hungry

Man, I have just loved keeping track of all of the Olympic trials, both for Canada and the US. Olympic time is my favourite time. I have gotten hyped during the summer every four years since 1984 when I watched the Olympics in my grandparent's living room. This year is even more exciting for me as my children are now getting to an age where they can start to appreciate some of the finer points of sports, and as they are now competing in sports themselves. Last night, my one daughter told me that she wants to be a doctor and an Olympian when she grows up. That really inspired me. Our swim team is called the Raymond Olympians, and both of my daughters are competing and my wife and I are coaching. Really cool. Really real.

I have also been getting in the water as much as possible, and my swimming is improving. Our family is all competing in a triathlon in August. I don't feel that I will be competitive at all, but I probably won't come in last place. I did a 10K in June that really hurt, but I was proud to have finished as I had not been training properly for weeks before the race, and I had woken that morning with aches and pains and a big headache. Work seemed to get in the way of training. Having my wife and daughters train for the triathlon is really inspiring and exciting for me. I have a bit of a cold/flu today, so training has taken a back seat again...at least for a few days.

I met with a fellow lawyer today at lunch, and was pleased to hear that my experience of seeing a decline in the amount of available work is not unique to my personal practice. He said that he is having to work harder to meet his own billable expectations. Those lawyers in Canada (especially sole practitioners) who think that the current state of affairs in the US and Canada is not going to affect them - they had better make sure that they are prepared, flexible and outgoing. Real estate has been the bread and butter for so many of us for a few years, but it's getting harder to rely on conveyancing to pay the bills...

It might be time to go do some more research into rainmaking tactics. Actually, my personal practice is thriving right now. Each month seems to bring an increase in client base and quality of work. There are some specific files that are bringing me great joy as I work on them. Further, I am getting better at firing those clients that I really do not appreciate working with. Also, each month I am gaining expertise in the areas that I am practicing in, and my confidence continues to grow. Each day brings its own challenges. It's not getting boring yet. This is the longest that I have held the same job (i.e. being a lawyer) in my life, I think. Well, that's not true - I was a lifeguard for many years, but that was usually part-time work, and I didn't really consider it a career. In any case, I feel I have reached a bit of a milestone in that my practice just passed its two-year anniversary (I opened my law firm the day after I passed the bar). Cool, huh?

Good reading makes a good lawyer

Over the past few months, I have been spending some of my down-time reading some great books. I found a website - 100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library

Whether that list of 100 books is necessarily exclusive to men is obviously debatable. However, I do think it is a good collection of classics and potential classics that hold a considerable amount of knowledge, and entertainment.

I decided to read all or at least most of the books on that list, with the hopes that I might better myself. Enough of the John Grisham books. Besides, his latest work absolutely sucked. I'm ready for something bigger, something better.

So, to date, I have read from the list:

1. The Hobbit (read numerous times)
2. The Great Gatsby (I hated this book, and wouldn't even render a review of it)
3. 1984 (read a long time ago, and thought it was very depressing)
4. The Catcher in the Rye (I absolutely loved this book, and will provide some comments later on)
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray (a very strange, but fascinating read)
6. Brave New World (so strange, but very thought provoking. I will provide comments later)
7. Animal Farm (read a long time ago)
8. Frankenstein (one of my favourite stories, but getting to be a downer when I read it over again)
9. The Stranger (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus - one of my all-time favourite books, I have read it at least 10 times in both English and French.
10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I absolutely loved this one. I liked the legal aspect of it, but it had so much more to say. More comments forthcoming.
11. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I really, really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book, and think that I will be a better person for having read the first 3/4. The last part had way too much US history that was totally irrelevant or over my head.
12. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I have read this book a couple times and really enjoy it. I am planning to buy a motorcycle soon, so I might have to read it again soon to relive the great feelings portrayed in this book.

I am currently reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris and Into the Wild by John Krakauer. I am really enjoying both, especially the latter. I have started The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, but it is slow going.

I tried A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, but found it too wispy of a book. Almost contrived. Maybe I was missing something. I got about 1/2 way through before abandoning it.

So, not too bad. Am I a better man now? I think so. I find myself thinking about these books a lot, especially the ones I have read in the past three months. I find I am thinking on a higher plain. Am I a better lawyer? Maybe - at least, I am more present in my thinking, and not just bogged down in real estate documents and wills and contracts.

Have any books that you would add to this list? Either for being a better person, or for being a better lawyer?

Blasphemy law should be repealed

Jul 06, 2008 04:30 AM

Be the first to comment on this article...

Jeremy Patrick - TheStar.com

Last month, after a long debate, England abolished the ancient common law offence of blasphemous libel.

Historically, the crime of blasphemy was committed whenever "contemptuous," "reviling," or "scurrilous" statements were made about God, Jesus Christ or the Church of England.

The offence had been the basis for hundreds of prosecutions throughout the 18th and 19th centuries before falling into a period of dormancy after 1922.

Surprisingly, however, the offence was suddenly resurrected as the basis of a successful private prosecution against a gay newspaper in 1977.

Subsequent private prosecutions against Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses in the late 1980s and against the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera just last year were unsuccessful but equally disturbing to modern proponents of free speech.

What most Canadians (even most lawyers) don't realize is that our own Criminal Code also prohibits blasphemous libel and sets a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Read this whole fascinating article here.

I had no idea this was part of our Criminal Code? I don't remember discussing this in Criminal Law class at Law School. What do you think? Should it be repealed?

Ottawa law students file complaint over Facebook

Josh Visser, CTV.ca News Staff

A group of University of Ottawa law students have filed a complaint with the privacy commissioner of Canada against the social networking website Facebook.

The 35-page complaint alleges 22 separate violations of Canadian privacy laws by the California-based company under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

"To boil it down simply, it's an issue of honesty and an issue of consent," Lisa Feinberg, a University of Ottawa law student who has just completed her first year, told CTV.ca. "Facebook isn't being completely honest with its users. It presents itself as a social utility site . . . but they are actually involved in a lot of commercial activities."

Feinberg is part of a team of University of Ottawa law students who filed the complaint as part of a project developed while they were interns with the university's Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, led by Philippa Lawson.

Read the whole article here.

Good on these guys. I happen to hate Facebook. I'm on it, due to some distinct family pressure, and an innate desire to track down some specific friends, but I always worry about people knowing a bit too much about me and my family.

Isaac Lidsky to Become First Blind Supreme Court Law Clerk

I tried to get to this article, but no such luck. Isaac Lidsky to Become First Blind Supreme Court Law Clerk. It sounds really inspirational, so if you know where I can find the article, please let me know.

Native judge named to lead healing forum

See the news story at the National Post.

Justice Harry LaForme, a Mississauga Indian from Ontario, was appointed yesterday to head a federal truth and reconciliation commission exploring the legacy of abuse in Indian residential schools. A former commissioner of the Indian Commission of Ontario, he is a member of the Ontario Court of Appeal and was the first aboriginal to be appointed to an appellate court in the history of Canada.

I am so pleased to see this appointment and this commission. It is wonderful to have an aboriginal heading this, and one so well respected and well educated. I hope that it will give some of the survivors a sense of comfort and safety.

I am currently working on some residential school files, specifically with the Independent Assessment Process. It is proving to be extremely interesting. My grandmother went to a residential school, so I have a real empathy for these people.

Law firms do the math - outsourcing

I just read an interesting article at Financial Post published today. It was the 2nd part of a series, and is about the concept of outsourcing legal work to offshore companies (i.e. India). My eyes are opened so often in this career. Who would have thought that an Indian lawyer just outside of Mumbai could take on a legal task that me or my colleague here in Canada might be in charge of. If there is any truth to this article, I think that the lawyers in North America, the U.K. and Australia ought to make sure that they are doing their homework and that they are prepared to provide some added-value legal services, if they want to retain the kind of work that they so readily enjoy.

An interesting read.

New courtroom drama worth a look

As played by JuliannaMargulies in the newcourtroom drama Canterbury's Law , Elizabeth Canterbury is impulsive, impetuous and struggling with substance abuse and turmoil in her personal life. She burned through law school in recordtime, awhiz kidwith a bright future in front of her. Now, though, hardened by experience and disillusionment, she feels that future slipping away.

Canterbury's Law has terrific style. It's fast, fast, fast - jumping from frenzied image to frenzied image. There aremore moments in the first fiveminutes than there are inan entire hour of other courtroom dramas.

Anybody seen this new show? Read more about it in the Calgary Herald here.

Boy passes law school exam

An eight-year-old boy with dreams of becoming a judge has passed a law school entrance exam, shocking Brazil's legal profession and prompting a federal investigation.

This is a really sweet little article that makes you wonder :).

A Sweet Class-Action v. Chocolate

I heard about this case on CBC the other day, and was really interested to hear the interview with Tony Merchant. Did anyone else listen to that interview? He sure made class action suits sound glamorous, essential and the greatest tool towards social justice.

Taken from Law is Cool:

Eaten chocolate since February, 2004?

Chances are you have. And that might make you eligible for this class-action lawsuit against chocolate manufacturers.

Juroviesky and Ricci filed an action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for violations of the Competition Act and provincial consumer protection acts against major chocolate producers.

CNW Group states,

The suit claims that the Defendants conspired to inflate the price of
their products by 5% or more at least three times during the Class Period, in
violation of a variety of statutes including the Competition Act, and the
various provincial Consumer Protection Acts. Chocolate sales in Canada in 2007 were approximately $1.4 Billion.

Let's ditch the battle of experts in court, and just get the facts

Technical expertise should not come with a viewpoint

James Morton, Freelance

Published: Friday, February 08

TORONTO - Expert witnesses seem a lot less expert these days.

Last week in Ontario we were reminded daily of the miscarriages of justice caused by forensic pathologist Charles Smith -- the many parents and caregivers charged and some found guilty of murdering children, the scores of lives ruined, and families destroyed.

And in August, the Ontario Court of Appeal said that one of its main reasons for acquitting Steven Truscott had to do with the testimony of John Penistan, the pathologist in that long-ago case of rape and murder. Dr. Penistan's official autopsy report stated that 12-year-old Lynne Harper had died soon after Steven Truscott had been seen giving her a ride on his bike, at a time when he would have been by far the most likely killer.

An interesting little editorial on some pertinent law. What do you think about what Mr. Morton has said?

Hasselback: the merits of JD over LLB

Posted: February 13, 2008, 3:17 PM by Drew Hasselback Legal News, Drew Hasselback, Law schools

The law school of the University of Western Ontario has written alumni to solicit their views on whether they support changing the designation of the university's law degree to J.D. from LL.B...

Read Hasselback's reasons for switching here. His reasons are really funny. It's great to keep this debate alive. I am personally waiting for the day that U of A writes me to offer me the option of trading my LL.B. degree in for a J.D.

What do you think?

University of Alberta Faculty of Law Graduate Buys Edmonton Oilers

I had forgotten that Daryl Katz was a graduate of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. This little article from TSN.ca gives a brief bio. It was announced today that he bought the Edmonton Oilers for $200 million.

"Katz, who grew up in Edmonton, attended law school at the University of Alberta and built his family's local business into a multi-billion dollar empire in less than a decade.

"As for his reasons for wanting to buy the Oilers, Katz says... 'I was born in Edmonton, I live in Edmonton and I grew up here with the Oilers during the glory years. I want to own the Oilers because they are Edmonton's hockey team and because I think there is an opportunity, through the Oilers, to do great things for the city.'"

That's pretty cool. I wonder if he really is a "wonderful Edmontonian," as Gretzky is quoted as saying. Gretzky goes on to say, "I know he cares about the city and I think he would be a tremendous owner for the Edmonton Oilers."

He has also committed to contributing $100 million for the building of a new stadium, which should be a good thing for that city.

Obama the Law Student

Here's a cool photo of Barack Obama in 1990 when he led the Harvard Law Review.

AMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 23 —

By JODI KANTOR

Published: January 28, 2007

The peers who elected Barack Obama as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review say he was a natural leader, an impressive student, a nice guy. But in the 1990 Revue — the graduating editors’ gleeful parody of their elite publication — they said quite a bit more.

“I was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker and part-time ice fisherman,” a mock self-tribute begins. “My mother was a backup singer for Abba. They were good folks.” In Chicago, “I discovered I was black, and I have remained so ever since.”

After his election, the Faux-bama says, he united warring students into “a happy, cohesive folk,” while “empowering all the folks out there in America who didn’t know about me by giving a series of articulate and startlingly mature interviews to all the folks in the media.”

Read the whole interesting article here.

Toronto lawyer fined in cheating scandal

Paid ‘thousands of dollars’ for papers By Robert Todd | Publication Date: Monday, 28 January 2008

A Toronto lawyer was recently fined $10,000 by the Law Society of Upper Canada for selling course work to a York University MBA student for “thousands of dollars.”

Shane Smith was reprimanded by a law society hearing panel last month for conduct unbecoming a student licensee. He was given one year to pay the fine and an additional $1,000 in costs.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Smith acted contrary to parts of the Law Society Act when, while he was an articling student, he “provided and sold papers, which he and another student member had researched and written, to M, who was then a student in the MBA program at York University’s graduate school of business, with the knowledge that the papers would be submitted to the graduate school of business as M’s work.”

The student who received the course work is not named in the statement of facts.
Smith, 31, who currently works for IBM Canada Ltd., was called to the bar in July 2004.

But while the LSUC decision pertains to Smith’s activities while he was articling and M was an MBA student, documents obtained by Law Times show the scandal reached back to their law school days...

Read the whole article here. It never ceases to amaze me what people will risk...their entire career sometimes.

Among the abortionists

Jonathan Kay: Among the abortionists Posted: January 28, 2008, 11:39 AM by Jonathan Kay
National Post: Full Comment

Abortion is the one subject on which otherwise tolerant, open-minded people cannot agree to disagree. If you truly believe that life begins at conception, then what happens in Canada’s abortion clinics and wards approximately 100,000 times every year is, quite literally, a species of genocide. If you take the opposite view — that a fetus is a component of its female host without legal rights or human identity — then your opponents will strike you as nothing but ignorant misogynists. That is why we have precious little “debate” on the subject of abortion. Instead, we have sloganeering by two distinct and mutually hostile ideological tribes.

On Friday, Canada’s pro-choice movement convened what could best be described as a convention of tribal elders — middle-aged and elderly champions of the movement, including Henry Morgentaler, whose victory in the Supreme Court of Canada served to dismantle the entire criminal-law regime surrounding abortion 20 years ago today.

The University of Toronto Law School’s “Symposium to Mark the 20th Anniversary of R. v. Morgentaler” was an odd event. On one hand, it was organized by, and sponsored by, the law school’s own faculty — and so took on the superficial trappings of a normal academic symposium. But since not one of the 15 abortion doctors, scholars, writers and politicians who spoke took a pro-life stand, or even dealt in any serious way with pro-life arguments, the event was actually more of a pro-choice pep rally. On the few occasions when the existence of a pro-life camp was even acknowledged, it was invariably dismissed as a cadre of retrograde zealots plotting to undermine the Charter of Rights and Freedoms...

Read the whole article here, and leave your comments. This is a really interesting topic.

Pushing the Limits

On January 1, 2007, I made a resolution that I was going to act my age again. That meant that I was going to get my body back, and stop feeling like I was in a 52 year old shell of a body (I'm 32). I determined that I would run a half-marathon (about 22 KM) in 2007. Thing is, I hadn't run in about eight years. Because of cycling injuries (bad back) and chronic IT Band Syndrome, I had stayed away from running. I had swam and cycled fairly extensively, and lifted weights consistently (although I fell off the wagon a few times in the last couple of years). But running was something I thought I would never do.

My back ached most of the time during 2006. It was maddening. Being in a desk job again wasn't helping. So, on January 1, I decided to do everything within my power to regain control. I went to the massage therapist, I went to the physiotherapist, I went and got an MRI on my back, I started doing some yoga, I went and got new orthotics from two separate sources. And I started running.

I didn't even have proper running shoes. Only some old dilapidated sneakers that hurt my feet like crazy. So, I popped my new orthotics into some boat shoes (like loafers) and headed out into the snow. I ran a half kilometre at an absolute snail's pace. I made it to the gym, worked out for a while, then headed back home. I then jogged back home very slowly. No pain. Cool!

A couple days later, I did it again, then again. I made sure that I didn't push things, which is my tendency in most situations. My motto was avoid injuries at all costs. Don't push yourself and get sick. Well, I hurt my back a few times, and had some lapses. But, within about a month's time, I was able to run to the gym, then hop on the treadmill for 2-3 miles, then run back home again. I started getting excited! Things went like this, with some minor setbacks, and then some slow and steady gains until March 24. In January, I had signed myself up for a number of races, wanting to commit myself towards my goal of a half marathon in September.

On March 24, I was scheduled to run a 10 KM race. I was pretty nervous. I hadn't been able to run the whole week before, and was afraid I would be pushing my luck. All went well until the last 1.5 KM, when I hit a huge hill. My IT Band started acting up. I got a little flustered, but pushed on. Run 30 seconds, walk 30 seconds. I conquered the hill, made it to the finish line, and secretly celebrated internally. I had accomplished something fantastic! Although I was nowhere near the time that I had run in my early 20's (about 45 minutes), I had finished successfully (1:05), I was not seriously injured, and I certainly wasn't the last man in. My body recovered within a few days, and I started back to training.

Training was sporadic for the next couple of weeks, but I tried to get time on the road when I could find time. Yesterday, I was scheduled for a 10 mile race (16 KM). Now I was really scared. I got to the race, and determined that even if I had to crawl, I was going to finish. I had come this far, I wasn't going to back down. The first 5 KM went great. No real problems. But the hill at Mile 2 had started to irritate my IT band on my right knee. The next couple of miles I went slowly, but surely. I wasn't out of breath at all, but I thought I should take it easy, so as to avoid injury and give myself a better chance at finishing. By the half-way mark, I started to really feel my knee. There was a big downhill, and I tried to take advantage of it by coasting down it, using gravity to my advantage. It went well, but by the time I reached the bottom of the long hill, I started to feel like I couldn't run any more. Walking was OK, but running really gave me some pain. I started having to take walking breaks. 60 seconds running, 20 seconds walking. Then 45 and 20. Then 30 and 30. Pretty soon, I had to go to 30 seconds running and 60 seconds walking. By the time I hit the last kilometer, it was 30 seconds running and 120 seconds walking. But, I remained determined. I would finish this thing, and I would move on towards the half marathon.

I finished, and I finished proudly. I had just covered more distance by running than I had ever covered before. I finished in 1:53:27, which isn't really a great time, but it was my time. 1:53:27 of the best time of my life. I had finished. I got a medal and a t-shirt, and wore them proudly. I showed them to my kids, and it made them smile. Their Daddy was happy, so they were happy. I had proven to myself that I could conquer my own fears again. That I wasn't going to let time and gravity and fear control my life.

I mentioned the IT band stuff above. Until today, I didn't even know that I had IT Band Syndrome. I didn't know what it was. Today, because I still felt some discomfort in my outer knees, I decided to try some self-diagnosis. Because I wasn't suffering from any inflammation in January, my physiotherapist had failed to diagnose the problem. I have now learned that I am a classic case. But, it can be controlled. Through particular exercises and stretches, and by utilizing an IT Band Wrap/Strap, I should be able to alleviate the problem, and get on with things. (my knees already feel way better by this evening). I have great hope that the problem will be overcome, and that I can then accomplish what my body is able to accomplish. Had I not tried to push the limits, I wouldn't have discovered that there was a way to move past my limitations and achieve goals that I had swept to the side.

I am scheduled for another 10 KM in July, a sprint triathlon at the end of July, a couple short races in August, then the half marathon in September.

The reason I post this post here is that I think it is so important for lawyers, young and old, to look outside of their work, to inspire themselves with new non-law goals. To concentrate on nourishing the body and soul and mind with hobbies, sports, adventures, or whatever else expands a human being.

Maybe this post will inspire you. I don't know. But it sure felt good writing about what I consider to be a great accomplishment. As a budding new law student or lawyer, you will have to push yourself. Don't be afraid to try new things. Don't be afraid to try really hard things. Without trying, you will never know what is possible. I once heard a great speach where the speaker said that you should always try to swim out 20 metres before you decide to come back to shore (she was an avid surfer and ocean swimmer). The water near the shore is always choppy and often cold and scary. But, often, when you get past the 20 meter mark, things smooth out, and become more comfortable. Life is a lot like that, I think.

By the way, my back hasn't hurt in about 3 weeks. Amazing what happens when you start using your body, becoming more aware of it, and treating it right.