Putting law into practice

Before coming to law school, Jessica Canard was a full-time visual artist.

Anishinaabe from Sagkeeng First Nation, Canard painted murals, facilitated art workshops and created beadwork. Through that work, she spent time with artists using their practices to strengthen communities and push for social change.

She began to wonder how she could contribute in another way.

“I wanted to come to law school to bring all of these experiences and take up space in places where I do not see my community members or people like me,” Canard says. “I wanted to help bring some more representation into the law world.”

At UM, she found another way to put that ambition into practice through the L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic.

The Clinic gives law students the opportunity to gain practical experience by providing free business law services to real clients across Manitoba, including entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits, artists and community organizations.

For Canard, that practical experience was exactly what she was looking for.

“I wanted some actual experience instead of just learning theory and doing exams,” she says.

L. Kerry Vickar [LLB/80, LLD/25] began supporting business law education at UM in 2005, helping lay the foundation for what would become the L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic. His support has also helped create a dedicated clinical learning space in Robson Hall where students can develop their skills while serving clients.

Since the Clinic began serving clients in 2021, students have contributed more than 23,274 hours of pro bono legal services across the province.

“When I started articling, I quickly learned that understanding the law and practicing law are two very different things,” Vickar says. “My hope for the Clinic has always been to give students the opportunity to develop those practical skills before they enter their articling year, so they can begin their careers better equipped to serve clients with confidence. It has been incredibly rewarding to see hundreds of students leave the Clinic ready to put their knowledge into practice and make a meaningful difference in the lives of the people they serve.”

For Canard, the practical experience Vickar describes has helped her see where she fits in the profession.

There were times in law school when she struggled to picture herself as a lawyer. The Clinic was one of the places where that began to change.

“You’re actually helping people,” Canard says. “They come to you because they can’t afford legal services.”

That resonates with her personally. Canard is the first in her family to reach this level of education and grew up knowing that professional legal services were not something everyone could afford.

Through the Clinic, she works with people pursuing their own goals through businesses, organizations and creative practices, helping them understand and protect what they are creating.

For Canard, doing the work has provided something the classroom alone could not.

“I can now see myself practising law,” she says, “and that I’m actually capable of doing it.”