Congratulations to Isaac Gazendam (coincidentally also a winner last year) for his winning poem, Il: A brief. A poetic journey through the first year experience.
1L: a brief
we started out in august
last so young so innocent
the long hot days of summer were
not yet in their descent
we gallivanted round the six
on lazy afternoons
and nothing no one doused our joy
for we’d be lawyers soon
old jackman he still shone so bright
facade of stone and steel
was burnished by hopes dreams desires
and swaddled in our zeal
a few days in we were not stalled
we had not yet gone far
with morland-jones v taerk how fun
just never own a bar
we know just how to brief a case
we know mclachlin j
we know that every time she writes
we don’t know what she’ll say
we’ve learned of precedent and when
lord denning thinks it’s wrong
we’ve stumbled through call to the bar
and been lost in the throng
semester starts we’re in it now
hid snug behind our screens
we’ll learn of crim and con and torts
whatever that one means
then lrw begins
the sheen begins to fade
but never fear we’ll learn so much
in small group (i’ve been played)
a constant stream of cool events
extracurriculars
pbsc or dls
it all begins to blur
the cases they come hard and fast
the doctrines never sleep
from delgamuukw to ewanchuk
and fagan oh that *bleep*
morgentaler a real hero
a man before his time
wilson comes in with her hot take
on law’s male paradigm
what is a chicken, I don’t know
but is that why I’m here
and in what world is welding safe
upon an oily pier
the classes they begin to drag
the memos give us pause
who really cares who gets the dog
or where the income was
at least we get our fridays free
oh wait that was a lie
yak’s snacks is sweet if you can go
but stress is climbing high
it all comes to a head a peak
when exams roll around
obsessing over h and p
drives us into the ground
i need a carbolic smoke ball
to make it through alive
then suddenly it’s over done
we did it we survived
january a nice fresh start
just kidding it was hell
new classes profs and the recruit
but halfway through 1L
the process it begins again
new doctrines to employ
and lrw is now
legal process oh joy
things are not looking up in crim
though pappajohn is gone
and donoghue she just found what
that’s nasty, stephenson
i think i’ve got the oakes test right
never mind ignore me
the court cannot seem to decide
just what a breach may be
where do i get me one of those
nice ellenborough parks
is that nearby ol’ high trees house
oh crap that’s off the mark
the glow of new-ness is dulled by
days in the library
is anything in this damned law
not all arbitrary
who got a job what did you hear
an interview that’s great
am i not good enough
do i still belong in this place
and for the millionth time i will
question my sanity
for taking on all of this debt
is it all worth the fee
now march is nigh and who knows yet
what it still has in store
april exams are sure to shock
and shake us to the core
but never mind all that just think
back to those august days consider
just how far we’ve come in
this long, law-fuelled haze
although at times it has been hard
at times did overwhelm
1L has been a wild, fun ride
with you all at the helm
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Posted by Susan Barker 
Bora Laskin Law Library Reference Services Blog 
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