The Legal Education Society of Alberta is excited to welcome two new summer students to our office. Joshua de Groot and Adina Popescu will be with us until the end of August. We sat down and chatted with each of them to share with you a little bit about who they are, what ambitions they have within the legal profession, and what has influenced them thus far.
Introducing: Joshua de Groot
Tell us a little bit about your background; education, family, work?
My name is Joshua de Groot. I’ve just finished my second year of law at the University of Alberta. I was born and raised in Trail, BC and moved out to Edmonton to attend the University in 2003.
What area of law interests you?
As is common with law students, I haven’t figured out exactly what “my” area of the law will end up being. I do have an interest in labour & employment but imagine myself starting out with a broad practice and seeing where I go from there.
Is there someone that has inspired or influenced your education, thus far? In what way?
My parents have been a huge inspiration in my education. They never pressured me to seek any type of career but engrained an appreciation for continuing education in me that has made education a pleasure and not a chore. I also credit my older brother David for asking me four or five years ago “Why not law?”.
Are you a social media user? If so, what platforms do you frequent and what benefit do you see them having?
I wouldn’t call myself a huge social media user, but of course Facebook has made a social media user out of us all. Platforms like Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter are all media that can have a huge effect on efficiency when used properly. They all help us to get the word out there or collect information in one place in ways that weren’t possible 10 years ago.
How did you first hear of our organization?
I first heard of LESA in my first year “Foundations of Law” class where stories about a law student’s future in CPLED were told. Of course, I’ve come to see that there is so much more to the organization than that! It’s great to see that LESA takes such an active role in continuing education for all areas of the legal profession.
Introducing: Adina Popescu
Tell us a little bit about your background; education, family, work?
My name is Adina Popescu. I am 23 years old and I have a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Waterloo. My major was Joint Honours Sociology and Legal Studies with a specialization in Criminology. As I have mentioned I lived in Ontario during my undergraduate career, where I moved from Romania with my family when I was 16 years old. I have a brother and a sister, and I am the oldest of the three. Both of them as well as my parents now live in Calgary. As far as work is concerned I did a lot of retail as well as some academic research when I was in my undergrad.
What area of law interests you?
I have a keen interest in litigation in general, but I have not yet decided if I want to do criminal law or civil ligation.
Is there someone that has inspired or influenced your education, thus far? In what way?
There have been a lot of people who have contributed to getting me to where I am today, but I am most grateful to Prof. Carrie Sanders, with whom I have taken several courses during my undergraduate degree program. She later became my supervisor for my undergraduate thesis project and her support and guidance were invaluable. She encouraged me to look into various aspects of law as part of my Sociology research and that further strengthened my desire to go to law school.
Are you a social media user? If so, what platforms do you frequent and what benefit do you see them having?
I guess there is hardly anyone who is not a social media user and I am no different. I have a Facebook account and I find that it helps me keep in touch with people that I no longer see on a daily basis. In fact I reconnected with some of my childhood friends from Romania recently.
How did you first hear of our organization?
As a law student I was vaguely familiar with LESA, but I learned more from your website once the student summer position for this year was advertised throughout our school. I believe my role will clarify some more as time goes on, but whatever I do I hope I will be a valuable addition to the LESA team.
[Editor’s Note: You will without a doubt be a valuable addition to the LESA team, Adina!]
Thank you to both Joshua and Adina for taking the time sit down with us! Throughout the coming months, they will be providing research assistance as we work to update the educational resources used by articling students, lawyers, and legal support staff. Their duties will include reviewing publication submissions, writing research memos required for the updates and noting up the case law referenced in our publications.
We look forward to working with them!
