We are proud to welcome Reyam Zager to the lawfirm. Reyam is a third year law student at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law completing her four-month practice placement at the office.

Reyam is passionate about improving the way in which disadvantaged and oppressed peoples interact with the criminal justice system – particularly, racial minorities and Indigenous peoples. She hopes to do this through pursuing a career in criminal defence.

Reyam’s passion in criminal law began at the University of Toronto where she acquired an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a specialization in Criminology. This interest only grew during her time as a law student at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. At Lakehead, Reyam receieved the second-highest grade of all first-year students in her criminal law class. Since then, she has focused her studies on advanced upper-year criminal law courses. In addition, she has volunteered her time to assist with judging the school’s first-year criminal law moot.

Reyam has excelled in oral advocacy, ranking as a moot finalist among her entire class in her second year. As a top mooter, Reyam is first in line to represent her school in the 2018 Arnup Cup, a competitive national criminal law moot.

During the 2017 summer, Reyam worked with Aboriginal Legal Service’s program director Jonathan Rudin to assist with the follow-up advocacy of the First Nations Youth Inquest. Reyam created the framework for assessing how the various parties to the Inquest have responded to the 145 recommendations made. Her work was presented by Mr. Rudin in a press conference covered by various national news sources. The purpose of this important project was to hold the parties to the Inquest accountable and help prevent future similar deaths. The response has been positive, with increased action being taken to implement the recommendations.

In her final semester of law school, Reyam looks forward to working with Lakehead University Community Legal Services to advance access to justice in Thunder Bay. During this semester, she will also work with Dr. Frances Chapman on a Directed Research Paper that argues for the implementation of the novel criminal defence of “brainwashing” into the Criminal Code. She also looks forward to completing her articles at the Ministry of the Attorney General’s office of Civil Remedies for Illicit Activities during the 2018-2019 term.

Welcome Reyam!