Torys LLP Corporate & Securities Law Forum

Thanks to a generous gift from the Torys LLP law firm and Western Law alumni at that firm, Torys LLP has established or contributed to a unique series of ongoing corporate law initiatives at Western Law, including:

Torys LLP Business and Law Pre-Eminent Scholars Series:

Each year, Western Law hosts a number of the world's pre-eminent business and law scholars who visit the school to deliver special lectures on their recent scholarship. Western Law upper year students enrolled in the Torys LLP Business and Law Pre-eminent Scholars seminar have the opportunity to learn from and engage with these internationally-renowned academic leaders as part of their J.D. studies.

Past speakers in the Torys LLP Business and Law Pre-Eminent Scholars Series have included:

Roberta Romano
Roberta Romano
(Yale)
Myron Scholes
Myron Scholes
(Co-recipient of
1997 Nobel Prize
in Economics)
Reinier Kraakman
Reinier Kraakman
(Harvard)
Bernard Black
Bernard Black
(Northwestern)
William Bratton
William Bratton
(Georgetown)
Henry Hansmann
Henry Hansmann
(Yale)
Brian Cheffins
Brian Cheffins
(Cambridge)
Jaw Westbrook
Jay Westbrook
(Texas)
Donald Langevoort
Donald Langevoort
(Georgetown)
Merritt Fox
Merritt Fox
(Columbia)
Robert Daines
Robert Daines
(Stanford)
Hal Scott
Hal Scott
(Harvard)
Ian Ramsay
Ian Ramsay
(Melbourne)
Douglas Baird
Douglas Baird
(Chicago)
Ronald Gilson
Ronald Gilson
(Stanford)
Lynn Stout
Lynn Stout
(UCLA)
Alan Schwartz
Alan Schwartz
(Yale)

Torys LLP Negotiation Competition

Every September the Faculty hosts an in-school negotiation competition sponsored by Torys LLP. The goal of the competition is to allow Western Law students to develop negotiation skills that will be useful throughout the students' legal careers.

Competitors need not have any previous negotiation experience. Indeed, most student participants are "first time negotiators" who simply have an interest in developing their skills.

In mid-September, interested students sign up (in teams of two) to participate in the competition. Teams are provided with a negotiation problem and a detailed outline of their fictitious clients' interests, which they are able to study for a limited period prior to Preliminary Rounds.

At the Preliminary Rounds, students negotiate with opposing teams while being observed by lawyers from Torys LLP, who assess the students' negotiation strategies. The goal of these negotiation is to advance client interests while achieving outcomes that are acceptable to opposing counsel. The negotiations are largely "free form", with very few rules governing student conduct.

Top teams advance to a final "in-school" round, and then onto a regional competition governed by the American Bar Association.

Torys LLP Award in Business Law

Each year, the Western Law student who has attained the highest average standing in selected business law courses is awarded the $5,000 Torys LLP Prize in Business Law.

J.S.D. Tory Writing Prize

Awarded annually to the law student(s) who demonstrates excellence in writing and legal research in a paper for a law school course, a seminar or as an individual research paper, or which has already been accepted for publication by a legal journal. Students are required to apply to the Associate Dean (Academic), by April 30th, indicating the writing and research completed. The Award recipient(s) may be expected to use the funds to do whatever additional research and writing is necessary to improve the prospect of publication in a reputable Canadian law journal. Established by the firm of Tory, Tory, DesLauriers and Binnington in memory of the late J.S.D. Tory. 
Value: Up to $2,000