Graduates of the Juris Doctor (JD) program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law crossed the stage at Convocation Hall on June 14.
In total, 231 new JDs comprise the latest cohort of future lawyers and leaders for a changing world – and join the ranks of an accomplished global network of U of T Law alumni.
U of T Law asked four JDs from this year’s graduating class to reflect on their time at law school, what they learned about legal studies, and to share any words of advice for the incoming first-year class of 2026.
Meaza Damte (JD 2023)
Class of 2023 Valedictorian
University of Toronto Student Leadership Award
John Willis Award for Leadership and Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit
What’s next?
Articling at McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Looking back, I chose to study law because I understood the power that the law holds in our society. Becoming a lawyer was the logical next step to harness that power and use it to uplift marginalized communities and vulnerable populations.
It’s surprising just how rigid the law can be in the face of systemic injustice. Crafting creative legal arguments can be difficult within the confines of precedent. The ever present, and frankly flawed, ‘reasonable person’ standard was created by straight white men with immense privilege. The rigidity built into our legal system is intentional.
When I started law school, I viewed the law as a tool to create social change. Three years later, my perspective on the law has shifted: I still believe the law can be a tool for social change, but it needs to be wielded in creative, and sometimes disruptive ways. The adversarial common law system is not the only way forward.
Becoming president of the Students’ Law Society really gave me an opportunity to connect with so many of my classmates. My 3L experience would not have been the same without the countless hours spent with the SLS team. And if I had to choose one memory it would have to be Law Ball 2023!
I hope to chart a path that is flexible and responsive to my values. Long-term, I want to find a way to combine my passion for advocacy with my love for community and kinship. Becoming a lawyer is a great privilege – and I am hopeful that I can use that privilege to make positive change in the lives of as many people as possible. I am excited to be articling at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and hope to learn as much as I can from their impressive litigation team.
To the Class of 2026:
Law school can be a challenging time. You are exposed to so many new and exciting opportunities that it can be overwhelming. My advice to the Class of 2026: stay true to yourself and keep your goals front of mind as you navigate law school. Choose to take on opportunities and projects that speak to you; do things because you want to do them and not because everyone else is doing it.
Second, do not underestimate the power of mentorship. U of T Law has a strong and powerful culture of mentorship that you should take full advantage of during your time in law school. I can say from personal experience that my mentors were pivotal to my success, and I am eternally grateful to everyone who lent a helping hand along the way. As an upper year, my time as a mentor was extremely rewarding and I am very proud of all my mentees. You have a network of upper year students to rely on, so use them! Come in with a collaborative mindset, rather than a competitive one.
Tomas Jirousek (JD 2023)
University of Toronto Student Leadership Award
Senior editor, Indigenous Law Journal
Co-president, Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA)
U of T Varsity Blues Rowing athlete
What’s next?
Clerkship, Court of Appeal for Ontario
I was inspired to study law by my grandparents. They weren’t lawyers, but they never stopped helping people. My maternal grandma worked as a nurse at the Indian Hospital in our community, the Kainai First Nation. She was never handed anything and never stopped working to uplift the lives of people around her better.
Similarly, my paternal grandfather was a school principal at a remote First Nations community a few hours north of Whitehorse. My paternal grandpa isn’t an Indigenous person, instead coming to Canada with his family from the Czech Republic, but that never stopped him from dedicating his career to supporting Indigenous youth in the Yukon.
While I’m the first person in my family to go to law school, I’m most definitely not the first to dedicate myself towards supporting Indigenous communities. For me, the law is just a platform to advance the same principles of equity and kindness that my grandparents worked towards.
I’ve been excited to discover the many different ways to use the law to advance the issues important to Indigenous communities. Something that’s surprised me has been how subjects like tort law or contract law can be leveraged to advance reconciliation and the interests of communities like my own.
As a research assistant to University Professor Arthur Ripstein, I had the opportunity to explore how torts like misfeasance in public office could advance the interests of Indigenous communities. Coming into law school, I wouldn’t have expected to spend so much of my time exploring the intersection of Indigenous interests and private law, but I think it speaks to the fact that reconciliation intersects with a variety of different legal subjects. It also acts as a reminder that you can advance reconciliation using an incredible number of approaches, whether working in Aboriginal law itself or helping Indigenous communities achieve autonomy through subjects like criminal, tax, or property law.
Zoom classes were terrible, I’ll never deny that. But I loved how some friends and professors went above and beyond to find ways to really bring the community together. I think people just finding ways to be kind and support each other is something wonderful about our law school community, and I’m grateful to the folks who contribute to that.
After law school I will be clerking at the Court of Appeal for Ontario, before returning to a full-service Indigenous law firm.
I’m not entirely sure what the future holds, but I do know that I want to continue using the law to help marginalized communities. Law school has shown me that you can promote equity through an incredible number of avenues, and I hope to continue exploring ways to use tort and contract law in ways that uplift Indigenous communities, while also continuing to focus on avenues like Aboriginal rights litigation or child welfare work. Whether through volunteering at community legal clinics, or working at an Indigenous law firm, I feel being a small part of Indigenous communities’ ultimate success is the best goal I could aspire to.
To the Class of 2026:
Be flexible and explore your interests. Don’t come into law school with a predisposed, unshakable idea of what you want to do or how you want to practise. The reality is that law is an incredibly diverse, exciting, and constantly shifting subject. You may not even realize all the exciting and amazing ways to practice law, and you’ll never get the chance to explore those opportunities if you close yourself off to those changes.
Nik Khakhar (JD 2023)
Caseworker, Innocence Canada
Blog editor, Criminal Law Students' Association (CLSA)
Founder and co-organizer of the inaugural U of T Faculty of Law Students’ Research Symposium
What’s next?
Articling at Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC)
I am constantly inspired by the amount of interdisciplinary learning that comes with legal studies and practice. In law school, you have the benefit of learning from diverse peers and professors who all come in with different experiences and understandings of justice. In legal practice, interdisciplinary collaborations are not only encouraged but necessary.
When I did my summer internship in corporate law after 1L, I learned not only about legal statutes but also about sales, IP, marketing, and engineering practices through client discussions. In my 2L summer job in criminal law, watching expert testimony gave me an insight into policing practices and forensics, and the individuals brought before the courtroom – particularly accused persons and jurors – served as a constant reminder of the diversity of peoples’ experiences with the law.
You learn so much every day in this profession, and the learning experiences teach you humility, compassion, and open-mindedness – all of which are necessary for good character.
I realized quickly that law school is so much more than just the courses you take – it is a professional and research-oriented environment. Focusing on opportunities that advance your professional development – such as trial advocacy, mooting, and clinical externships – or research opportunities – such as conferences and publications – builds your profile in a manner that extends beyond the three years of law school, into a foundation for longer-term goals and opportunities. Don’t just focus on being a good law student; make decisions based on your 10-year vision.
In March 2023, I founded and co-organized the first-ever, student-run, Canada-wide University of Toronto Faculty of Law Students’ Research Symposium. In addition to being an amazing opportunity to give back to U of T, where I’ve had the privilege of studying for almost eight years, it was a great way to learn more about the law school’s academic infrastructure, collaborate with professors and sponsoring firms, and meet new students. A lot of the basic concepts that we take for granted in common law were once ideas exchanged in academia, and it was incredibly rewarding to watch law students from all over the country presenting original research that will eventually become rules of law that we will need to know and abide by in our service to the legal profession.
As I get more practical experience at the Federal Crown, I hope to synthesize my passion for academia with my enthusiasm in legal practice through seeking opportunities to participate in criminal law policy reform, and hopefully, will someday have the privilege of teaching our next generation of law students as an adjunct professor.
To the Class of 2026:
Treat everything as a learning experience. Even when you don’t understand a concept in 1L, the process of figuring it out – through talking to professors or peers – is part of the process. However, the learning experience also goes beyond the classroom. Law school is a professional school, so the ultimate focus should be on professional development. Don’t just focus on being a good law student; focus on being a good lawyer, person, and professional. Attending conferences, participating in clinics or research, socializing with your peers at events, and having conversations with faculty are just a few ways to get the maximum benefit of your legal studies.
Part of the learning experience is being comfortable with feeling like an imposter sometimes. Throw yourself into those situations – whether they’re conferences about topics you have no idea about, or courses with subject matter you are not initially well-versed in. The benefit of being the least knowledgeable person in the room is that everyone becomes your teacher. You learn so much that way, just from talking to the people around you. At the very least, you end up expanding your social and professional network.
Sabrina Macklai (JD/MI 2023)
Editor-in-Chief (2020-2022), Ultra Vires
Co-founder & co-president of the Legal Innovation & Technology Group (LIT)
What’s next?
Clerkship, Federal Court of Canada
I chose to study law out of a desire to understand the tension underlying intellectual property (IP) law regimes. In particular, I came to law school hoping to determine if a balance could be struck between protecting creators’ rights and promoting innovation.
My interest in this area stems from my undergraduate and graduate training. I was introduced to IP law while working a student in an analytical chemistry lab at McMaster University. It was there that I learned why patents were an important asset for inventors. Later, during my master’s at U of T’s Faculty of Information, I studied the history of IP and the way it has been used to hinder access to information. Struck by these conflicting views, I entered law school eager to find answers.
At law school, I was surprised how much I enjoyed private law theory. Having no formal philosophy training, I was initially intimidated by legal theory and was worried that my courses at U of T Law would be ‘too theoretical’ for me to understand. Thankfully, my professors have been fantastic, and their passion inspired me to take upper-year seminar-style classes where I could develop and refine my own theories. Some of my favourite classes included an advanced property seminar by Professor Larissa Katz and an intensive course on restitution taught by Robert Stevens, Herbert Smith Freehills Professor of English Private Law at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law.
Getting ice cream with my 1L study group – Adam Kouri, Faisal Bhabha, and Graeme Wyatt – to celebrate finishing first-year will be my fondest memory from my time here. I started law school in August 2020 – during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – and most of my 1L year was spent on Zoom. My 1L study group was one of my biggest support systems during that time, from trying to help each other understand ‘the rule against perpetuities’ to taking a break to compete in the annual Promise Auction Trivia Night. We are very different people with our own legal interests; their perspectives have helped me in my work these past three years, and I am grateful to have such amazing future colleagues and lifelong friends.
This August, I will be heading to Ottawa to clerk for Justice Russel W. Zinn at the Federal Court of Canada. I am excited to get a behind-the-scenes look at how judges make decisions and hopefully participate in some exciting patent trials!
Long-term, I wish to practice intellectual property law and hope to eventually contribute to the scholarship in this area. I am particularly inspired by Professor Ariel Katz’s writings on copyright law and would love to be involved with his work one day.
To the Class of 2026:
Don’t be afraid to get involved in extracurriculars that aren’t considered “resume boosters.” There’s a commonly held belief that you need to be on Law Review (or another journal) and participate in a competitive moot to be successful. Those are great activities to join if you are interested in them, but, like many things in law school, they are not the be-all, end-all. While I was involved in four different journals and competed in both the Copyright Policy and Fox Moots, my favourite activity by far was running the student newspaper, Ultra Vires (UV). Though I didn’t expect UV to come up in my job search, my experience on the paper led me to landing one of the coolest externships at the Toronto Star and was a major talking point for my successful New York interviews.
Also, don’t limit yourself to what is currently offered by the school. I wanted more exposure to the intersection between law and technology and so, in my final year, I cofounded the Legal Innovation and Technology Group with the support of the Future of Law Lab director, Josh Morrison, and Professor Simon Stern from the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy. If there is something you are passionate about that you feel is missing, talk to someone! There are so many people at U of T Law that are keen to help make your ideas come to life.
