EDITORIAL
2 Obiter Dicta
You made it to Osgoode! Now what?
Just keep calm and remember to sharpen your axe
A
f t er m a n y sl eepl e ss nights and much
anticipation, the day you have all been wait ing for has finally arrived. You may now
officially tell your family, friends, and the
guy sitting next to you on the bus that you are a firstyear law student. With that comes an unease over
what this year will possibly bring. Some of you more
studious folk may already have the year planned out,
charted, graphed, diagrammed, annotated, printed,
spiral-bound, and sitting on your nightstand. Others
may feel like a deer caught in the headlights as you
experience the infamous “Imposter Syndrome.” And
a select few may still be recovering from O-Week
and having difficulty keeping this page in focus.
Whichever camp you fall into, my words of wisdom
remain the same: believe me when I say that if I can
do this, have faith that you can as well.
Understandably the pursuit of law attracts a disproportionate number of perfectionists and overachievers to whom the thought of failure brings about
a great amount of anxiety. I wish I could say that I felt
differently but I’ll admit that I entered law school
with the idea that my first year would play out like a
scene from Battle Royale. Or I suppose, for this audience, The Hunger Games would be a more appropriate
reference. Either way, it was only fitting to discover
that the theme of my Orientation Week was Game
of Thrones. Yes, let the beheadings begin indeed. So
with that said, let me pass along a few self-evident
truths that I learned in my first year.
Arrive to your exams early.
The day before if necessary.
In my final semester, I was headed to my Property
final exam when suddenly the next subway station
happened to catch fire! I have rappelled down the
sides of mountains in BC that have left my heart in
my throat but that pales in comparison to the terror
you feel when faced with the thought of missing
one of your final exams. If your life seems to operate
under the guise of Murphy’s Law then you ought to
be mindful of expecting the unexpected. You never
know when that hovering asteroid will suddenly fall
directly in the middle of your path. Better to be safe
than on academic probation.
Never swear at the judge. Ever.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking, “Derp. What
kind of an idiot would let an f-bomb fly during a
a. Osgoode Hall Law School, 0014g
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, on m3j 1p3
e. [email protected]
w. obiter-dicta.ca
t. @obiterdictaoz
“Do what you can, with what you have,
where you are.”
theodore roosevelt
If I still have yet to soothe your nerves, then allow me
to pass along some proper advice. The truth of the
matter is that first year is exactly what you make of it.
It can be the most challenging if you choose to make
it or you can sit back, eat pizza, and drink beer. We
often make things harder by placing a tremendous
amount of pressure on ourselves to be ahead of our
peers. We don’t want to just keep up with the Joneses,
we want to be them. This is something that most of us
have grown accustomed to from our previous studies. While you may have been at the top of your class
in undergraduate, you are now surrounded by others
who were the same. I think this realization leads
many of us to take the attitude that if we just work
harder we can maintain the status quo that we have
been so comfortable in. I remember my father used to
tell me this little story at times when I’d start to lose
sight of the forest for the trees:
ê “Give me one hour to cut down a tree and I will spend
the first forty minutes to sharpen the axe.”
Abr aham Lincoln
moot?” You’d be surprised by the things that leave
your mouth when confronted by a line of questioning you hadn’t anticipated. Don’t be tempted to admit
that your client is up shit creek without a paddle. No
matter how charming you make it sound, I can assure
you that the judge is not nearly as amused by it as you
are. Neither is your mooting partner.
Mix equal parts solitude with study group.
Garnish with paper umbrella.
Despite what some believe, the endless hours you
spend in your Fortress of Solitude simply cannot
make up for the fact that you are but only one human
being with one single mind. Admittedly, at times my
study group would leave me wondering if we were
even taking the same classes but more often I was left
with a new perspective on a case that I never would
have considered without it. Try not to fall into the
trap of thinking that the curve makes competitors of
everyone around you. It’s an exhausting road for the
one who travels it alone. The shots of whiskey at the
end are far better enjoyed in the company of those
who helped you along the way.
editorial board
editor-in-chief | Karolina Wisniewski
managing editor | Sam Michaels
layout editor | Heather Pringle
editorial staff
business managers | Alvin Qian,
Adam Cepler
communications manager | Angie Sheep
copy editor | Subban Jama
news editor | Mike Capitano
opinions editor | Carla Marti
arts & culture editor | Marie Park
Once upon a time there were two men in a woodchopping contest. They were tasked with chopping down as many trees in the forest as they
could from sun-up to sun-down. The winner
would be rewarded with both fame and fortune.
From morning till noon, both men steadily
chopped and chopped. By noon they were neck
and neck, but then one man took a break and
stopped chopping. The other man saw this and
thought to himself: The lazy fool, he’s probably
taken a break for lunch. He’s given me a chance to
get ahead of him and I will without doubt win this
contest!
A while later the man got back to work. As the day
continued he chopped more trees than his hardworking (and hungry) competitor and by midafternoon he had taken a clear lead.
When sundown came, the man who had taken
the break at noon had chopped almost twice as
many trees as the other man, who was drenched
in sweat, hungry, and exhausted.
“How did you beat me?” he asked puzzled. “You
were lazier than I and even took a break for lunch!”
“Ah,” said the other man, “I did take a break, but
it was during that break that I sharpened my axe.”
So just keep calm and remember to sharpen your axe.
Welcome to Osgoode! ◆
sports editor | Evan Ivkovic
website editor | Asad Akhtar
contributors
Noorain Shethwala, Career Development Office
Submissions for the September 15 issue are
due at 5pm on September 7, and should be
submitted to: [email protected]
The Obiter Dicta is published biweekly
during the school year, and is printed by
Weller Publishing Co. Ltd.
Obiter Dicta is the official student newspaper
of Osgoode Hall Law School. The opinions
expressed in the articles contained herein are
not necessarily those of the Obiter staff. The
Obiter reserves the right to refuse any submission that is judged to be libelous or defamatory,
contains personal attacks, or is discriminatory
on the basis of sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Submissions may be edited for length
and/or content.
The Obiter Dicta is a member
of Canadian University Press.