ELC Board Student Co-Chair Andhra Azevedo
In a January speech, Andhra put into words what many people feel about UVic Law. Below is an extract, but we invite you to read Andhra's entire speech here. We will miss Andhra's energy and leadership when she graduates from UVic Law, but we know that she will do a fantastic job at the Supreme Court of Canada clerking for Justice Sheilagh Martin and beyond.
I was first introduced to UVic law through an informal tour that had been arranged through a family friend in my second year of undergrad.
My most memorable experience during this tour was being introduced to the Environmental Law Centre (ELC). I recognized the ELC by reputation, having been familiar with its work through my previous degree. I think I also had an expectation that law buildings would have a level of grandiosity that was above and beyond the underground science labs that I was used to. What I experienced was not what I expected, rather than the building that impressed (although I love the Fraser building), it was the energy with which students and staff described their work that left an impression. The memory that most stuck with me was when Calvin Sandborn, Legal Director of the ELC, handed me about seven copies of a book that the ELC had just published containing a series of law reform recommendations and tasking me with distributing them around Simon Fraser University where I was doing my undergrad.
I remember that while carrying those books back across the ferry and then wandering around through faculty libraries and student lounges trying to figure out where I could put them, I realized that somehow I already felt like a part of the ELC.
What I took away from this introduction to UVic, was that there was a place for me to engage as much as I wanted in applying environmental law to real world issues.
Through this introduction to UVic, the great degree of camaraderie between students and faculty, of working together for the greater good came through clearly, before I had even set foot in the building as a law student.
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