McCarthy Tétrault Gift Creates High-Tech Classroom and National Award for Students of Osgoode Hall Law School

TORONTO, October 26, 2000 -- McCarthy Tétrault, one of Canada’s pre-eminent law firms, has made a major donation to Osgoode Hall Law School of York University for the creation of a technology-enhanced classroom and a national student award.

The gift – one of the largest from a law firm in Osgoode’s 111-year history – will be recognized at an event to be scheduled in the new year. Osgoode had planned a reception for November 1, 2000 at 6 p.m. to mark the official opening of the McCarthy Tétrault Classroom but that event has been cancelled due to the CUPE 3903 labour dispute.

Peter Hogg, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, said the McCarthy Tétrault gift provides the Law School with " the means to create a richer learning experience for our students."

Hogg noted that the McCarthy Tétrault gift is aligned with the Law School’s three most important strategic priorities:

• To improve student satisfaction with the curriculum, the building and the learning environment at Osgoode;
• To prepare Osgoode for the future by becoming a leader in the use of computer technology in teaching and research;
• To increase Osgoode’s resources in order to provide the highest quality of teaching, research and support for students.

Niels Ortved, Managing Partner of McCarthy Tétrault, said: "Ontario’s law schools provide our most important investment – talented young lawyers. It is essential that law firms like McCarthy Tétrault promote the education of our law students."

The focus of the McCarthy Tétrault gift is on emerging areas such as high-tech and the practice of law in the electronic age. Ortved went on to say "with the explosive growth of e-commerce the way we practise law is changing." As a result, it is crucial that law students be given a strong background in the use of these high-tech tools in order to reach their maximum potential.

The McCarthy Tétrault Classroom is a professionally designed 95-seat classroom with excellent acoustics and lighting, comfortable furniture, and electronic learning tools that allow instructors to produce high-quality sound and images using VCR, computer or document camera.

It is the second such classroom that has been built at Osgoode in the past two years, and plans call for more classroom upgrades in the future.

Osgoode Hall Law School is one of Canada’s leading law schools with an enrollment of 860 undergraduate students, many of whom receive financial assistance to offset tuition and other costs during the three-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) program.

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For further information, please contact:

Virginia Corner
Communications Manager
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
(416) 736-5820
E-mail: vcorner@osgoode.yorku.ca

Lise Monette
National Marketing Director
McCarthy Tétrault
(416) 601-7508
E-mail: lmonette@mccarthy.ca
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