Katrina Crocker is a third-year student at Carleton University, double majoring in law and political science. She is the President of the Carleton Law Society and Co-Captain of the Carleton Moot Team. She is also CUSA Councillor for the Faculty of Public Affairs and the Vice-President Internal for CASG (Carleton Academic Student Government).
Why did she come to Carleton?
Katrina came to Carleton after a long and careful examination of the merits of all the different programs she had applied to. Ultimately, she chose Ottawa because the capital city of Canada is clearly the best environment to compliment courses about law and political science. She also noted that Carleton’s undergraduate law program has been active since 1967, whereas other prominent universities were not as well-established in that discipline.
When did she become involved with the Carleton Law Society and why?
Katrina was eager to join the Carleton Law Society even before she had had her first day of classes. During the summer between graduating high school and beginning her journey at Carleton, she researched clubs and activities that would complement her law/political science degree, and as a result signed up for the Carleton Law Society (then the Carleton Legal Studies Society) through the website that August. She enjoys being involved and wanted to meet new people with similar interests when she moved to Ottawa.
When did she become interested in Law?
“Always,” was the immediate answer Katrina gave. She then elaborated to say that during her grade 11 and 12 law classes she had a teacher who was actually a former criminal defense lawyer. His passion for the study of law spiked her interest, and led her to join the mock trial team, which solidified her passion for law.
Describe the role President of the Carleton Law Society:
Katrina describes her main duties as the President of the Carleton Law Society as maintaining the group’s reputation as an academic society on campus, making sure it truly provides a place for students interested in law to get involved with law and enrich their degree, and provide events and services to achieve these goals. Some of the specific things Katrina aims to do during her term as president are mock LSATs, tours of relevant venues (like the Supreme Court of Canada), pub nights, and events with prominent speakers.
What is moot? What is the role of Captain of the Moot Team:
Basically, mooting is a law competition where partners present legal argument to a panel of judges as if they are arguing a real case at the appeal level. The two main competitions that the Carleton Moot Team participates in are the Capital Cup (run by Carleton) and the Osgoode Cup (run by Osgoode Hall Law School at York University). Katrina’s role as Co-Captain is to bring together a team, share her knowledge of mooting, and help the team develop their oral advocacy skills. She accomplishes this through thorough explanations and judging practice panels.
Katrina’s advice for other students pursuing Law at Carleton:
Katrina’s number one piece of advice for student’s pursuing law is, “Don’t give up, it will be hard, but keep pursuing it!” Getting involved with your learning is the best thing you can do. Katrina suggests talking to professors, working hard on all assignments, going to your lectures, and engaging in your learning.
What other extracurricular activities has she been involved in?
Katrina has a life outside of law as well! In her first year at Carleton, Katrina was on the Raven’s volleyball team, and she currently does soccer and dance intramurals at Carleton as well. Every year, she volunteers as a Frosh Facilitator to welcome all the freshmen to Carleton. Katrina is also in her second year of being a PASS (Peer Assisted Study Session) Facilitator. Katrina interns on Parliament Hill as a Legislative Assistant for an MP! If that was not enough, she also interns at Langevin, Morris, and Smith (law firm) working with criminal defense lawyers.
Did she ever consider a career path outside of Law?
Katrina says that she considered “pretty much every career in existence” before finally settling on the field of law. In particular, she thought about being a pharmacist, paediatrician, neurologist, and teacher. She applied to many different programs, and got into all of them (which was not helpful in narrowing down her options!). Ultimately, Katrina chose law because she says that all of the aspects she liked about the other jobs—working with children, helping people, etc.—could be brought into law, as law is a tool used to regulate all other fields of work.
Katrina’s final comments:
“I am really happy I chose Carleton and law! It has been a great experience!”