Meet Toufic Chehab! Toufic will be graduating this spring with a Bachelor of Ars Honours with a major in Law.
Originally from Montreal, Toufic had to overcome some obstacles, which include a visual impairment he sustained while still in high school. Determined not to let his disability slow him down, Toufic set his sights on Carleton University’s Department of Law and Legal Studies so he could get one step further to his end goal: law school.
Toufic also decided to pursue an Honours Research Essay (HRE) in his fourth year in order to give him an advantage for his law school application (and possibly further graduate studies afterwards). Under the supervision of Professor Vincent Kazmierski, Toufic’s HRE is about the accommodation of blind students in the higher education system.
Toufic will be heading to McGill University’s Faculty of Law this September! Read more about Toufic’s journey at Carleton.
Why did you choose to come to Carleton to pursue your degree?
I always knew that I wanted to go to law school and for that you need a bachelor’s degree. And so when it came time for me to choose a university, I decided on Carleton because it’s one of the only ones in Canada that offers a BA in legal studies, which I thought would be relevant to prepare me for the rigor of law school and also for the to give me an overview of the theories that I will encounter. I have several friends who attended other universities where they didn’t have the opportunity to study law at the undergraduate level, and when they started law school, it was a shock. They had to learn a lot of the theory very quickly. I’m glad that the department here at Carleton offers an overview of a lot of the things that I will be learning.
What is your favourite part of the program?
There are a few things. I like the fact that a lot of the professors come from a wide variety of fields, and I think this is particularly relevant today. I’m actually interested in pursuing my PhD after law school and I’m researching a lot about the topic and just seeing that PhDs in law, like the one that Carleton offers, which is really blended across multiple interdisciplinary studies—if you want anthropology, sociology, economics, and other fields—are becoming more important, especially with the current technology that is evolving. And so I feel like if that’s the case for the PhD, it also translates to the bachelor’s itself, because it’s also extremely relevant nowadays to get an education that isn’t just mainly concentrated in law, just like you’re going to get in law school, for example.
But it’s also kind of interdisciplinary; I’ve had professors here who taught me from sociology backgrounds, from anthropology backgrounds, and from criminology backgrounds, and a wide variety of backgrounds. But at the same time, I did have lawyers who taught me, and that’s also for those who really want to build connections as well in the legal field. While Carleton does offer the opportunity to do just that, since it offers lawyers and previous or even current practitioners who teach in this department.
The third thing would be the fact that it’s also in the capital city, which gives a lot of opportunity for governmental work. I feel like if you hope to land a job at the government, anything that is dealing with legal studies or law, having a BA in law from Carleton is an advantage to do just that, because the federal government is familiar with the department.
What lead you to pursue your Honours Research Essay (HRE)?
I knew that if you want to go to graduate studies, institutions often look at your research. So, it’s something that’s an opportunity to shine while you’re still an undergrad, and it’s a good way to give graduate schools a perspective on how well you write and how passionate you are.
The second reason is because of my disability. I didn’t encounter a lot of obstacles to get where I am, and I thought that it was my turn to kind of improve some of these obstacles. And Professor Kazmierski is amazing for that since he teaches a course on disability, law, and society, and disability is one of his interests, so it worked out perfectly.
And the third reason is more personal. I’ve always liked research. I like to read, particularly law documents. They are long, they are dry, but they are also fun to read for a nerd like me.
Do you have a favorite class from your time here?
I strongly value Professor Kazmierski’s LAWS 1001 class because that was my first year and it’s a huge class and he finds a way to make it cozy and make everybody feel like it’s not 120 students in the class anymore. And it also introduced you to all aspects of law without going too deeply into them.
I also enjoyed Contract Law. I had a really good professor, David Dwoskin, who is a judge, and I really enjoyed my time learning in this class.
And finally, I’m currently taking an international human rights class, and that’s also one of my favorites because I’m a big political theory nerd. This class touches a lot about conflicts and infringement on international laws, international human rights including conflicts during wars which we are currently observing, whether it’s the Israeli Gaza conflict or the Ukrainian Russia conflict. All over the world, we are observing a lot of infringement on human rights, and I like this topic because I personally enjoy reading it for leisure.
What are your plans for after graduation?
I just got accepted to McGill University and I will be starting my law school journey in September.
When I got accepted to law school, the fact that I took a BA in law at Carleton was seen as an advantage because I put it in my personal statement. Also the fact that I went through four years of law education and despite that, you still want to pursue a JD is seen as something positive because that shows institutions that you really want to go down this road, which gives you an advantage.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to pursue their BA in Law here at Carleton?
Cherish and enjoy your time. It’s a really beautiful department and a beautiful program.
Really take the moment to appreciate the education here, because it’s a quality one, and if you are planning to go to law school, it’s a good time to acquaint yourself with those theories.
And it’s also a good time to learn how to read these documents, because we have professors here to help, and sometimes they do assign long documents, which you’re going to see a lot of in law school.
Curious to learn more about our undergraduate programs? Click here for more details!
Are you wondering if the Honours Research Essay is right for you? Click here for more details.