If theres a word to describe the three years Michael Coleman, Law17, spent as a student at Queens Law, its transformative.
Not only did he earn his JD degree and emerge from the experience a changed person, he also left an important legacy when he co-founded a Queens chapter of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) of Canada.
Today, Mr. Coleman is thriving in his role as an associate with Toronto-based Fogler, Rubinoff LLP, where he works in the firms commercial real estate and banking groups. But he still marvels at how much his life has changed since his first day of law school in September 2014.
Mr. Coleman was 22 then. While earning an Honours BA from York University, hed hoped to have a future in law. I was inspired by my grade 12 law teacher who shared positive stories about being a lawyer, and I was always encouraged by my immediate family and (now) fianc矇e, Schenelle Dias, he says. I developed a strong sense that I wanted a legal career. That was something no one else in my family had ever accomplished.
Mr. Coleman was the third of four children born to Jamaican-born immigrant parents. After coming to Canada in the early 1980s, his father, Fedrick, toiled as a transportation dispatcher, his mother, Evadne as a personal support worker. The Colemans worked hard to build better lives for themselves and for their children; education was integral to that goal.
Mr. Coleman chose Queens Law for two reasons. One was the legacy of Robert Sutherland (c1830-1878), the brilliant Jamaican-born man who was the first black graduate of Queens, the first black lawyer in British North America, and one of the universitys most important early benefactors. I found his story particularly inspiring, says Coleman.
A second reason he chose Queens Law was the collegial approach to learning at the school. The students support each other, and the professors are passionate about the subjects they teach. They challenge you intellectually while encouraging you to think, question, and consider all sides of an issue. Thats something that has stayed with me, and that I try to do in my practice.
Mr. Coleman learned critical legal skills and more at Queens Law while finding his way. He began first-year intent on a career in criminal or administrative law; however, a tax course taught by Professor Art Cockfield, Law93, fired his imagination and nudged him in a different direction. Thats one of the great things about Queens Law, says Mr. Coleman. Students are exposed to and have opportunities to experience different areas of the law.
At the same time his career goals were changing, he made some big changes personally, becoming a lot more mindful of what he was eating and beginning a running-based exercise regimen that helped him drop from 260 pounds to a relatively svelte 170 pounds. Being 510, that was life altering for him.
As if all that wasnt challenging enough, Coleman somehow made time and found the energy to continue giving back to the community. This is something his role models have always done, and he has followed their example. In his graduating year at Queens Law, Coleman was named to the Agnes Benidickson Tricolour Society for his volunteer efforts with Queens Legal Aid, for serving as a math and English tutor for inmates at Collins Bay Institution, and for co-founding BLSA-Queens.
The latter is an organization that Mr. Coleman discovered in October of first year, that hes still proudly involved with and that hes delighted to see active at Queens Law. The BLSA provides me with on-going opportunities to mentor black law students and to network with other black Queens Law alumni, he says, noting two in particular: Justice Donald McLeod, Law95, of the Ontario Court of Justice, the first black Queens Law grad to be called to the bench, and Frank Walwyn, Law93, of WeirFoulds LLP, whos one of the first black partners at a Bay Street law firm.
Ive benefited from the friendships that I made at Queens Law and from the rich alumni network thats out there, says Mr. Coleman. Ill always feel a strong connection to the school.
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