Hello!

My name is David Cohen. I am French (and soon to be a Canadian citizen, woohoo!). I have been living in Vancouver for 7 years now, and really enjoy it, especially during the Summer season!

Welcome to this blog, a new adventure and chapter in my career: my Practicum at Lower Mainland Law supervised by Guillaume Garih!

As I was saying earlier, I was born and raised in France. I graduated with a Master degree in Political Science and another one in Business. Seven years ago, I decided to experience a new challenge by moving here, to B.C.

I decided to do a Paralegal certificate at the Vancouver Community College (VCC) after working for 2 year in a Law firm called Klein Lawyers. There, I was a bilingual researcher and legal assistant in the Class Action department.

I found it was necessary for me to get a degree here as getting a "local degree" would help grow my career. Besides, France isn't governed by Common Law. Indeed, even if I studied a little bit of Law back in France, it is governed by a Civil Code Law, which is a different approach.

Nowadays, I work as a bilingual court clerk at the New Westminster Law Courts. I estimate that 50 to 60% of my work is related to Criminal Law, which is good since it’s my favourite part of the Law.

Thanks to my job, I get the opportunity to work with many different lawyers and witness different style of pleadings.

As I was getting close to the end of my certificate program, it was time for me to decide where I would do my Practicum. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do it in Criminal Law. As a court clerk and at the classes I attended at VCC, the approach is slightly more "Crown oriented" and I wanted to have the Defence perspective.

That's why I asked Guillaume if he wanted to be my supervisor for my Practicum. Why him? for several reasons:

• I clerked in some his trials in French (Guillaume is francophone too) and I really appreciated his kindness towards me and the tribunal's staff.
• I was quite impressed by the way he was pleading in these trials, his efficiency and his work in general.
• I thought that having a bilingual supervising lawyer would help me to learn faster.

He did not hesitate, not even for a second, before saying yes to my request.

This Practicum will help me greatly to see the ''Defence'' side, how Guillaume is preparing for his trials, the organization of his pleadings, how he communicates with his clients, the psychological aspect, the legal research aspect, in a nutshell, the ''other side of the story''. ("Audi Alteram Partem")

I expect to graduate by the end of next year and my goal is to become a paralegal in a Criminal Law firm.

I've met with Guillaume last week in order for us to prepare this Practicum, and I can already tell that I will learn a lot by his side. His level of involvement and commitment to teach is already remarkable.

This is the beginning of an exciting journey!