What: The Unveiling of Osgoode Professional Development Downtown
Where: 1 Dundas Street West
When: Monday, April 15
On the evening of Monday, April 15, guests were invited to see Osgoode Professional Development’s newly renovated downtown learning centre. In the heart of the downtown core, OsgoodePD is a hub for lifelong learning in the legal profession, offering everything from continuing legal education to graduate programs.
Upon arrival, guests were greeted with wine, coffee or tea. There was a buffet of cheese, fruit and stir-fried noodles, too. The crowd — which consisted of lawyers, friends and faculty — mingled while taking in the view of the Toronto skyline, clearly visible from the 26th floor.
At 6:30 p.m., Victoria Watkins, an assistant dean and the executive director at OsgoodePD, delivered a brief address to the partygoers. “My husband has informed me that the Leafs game starts at seven,” she joked, as the crowd giggled. “So chop, chop, chop.”
Watkins introduced Mary Condon, Osgoode Hall’s interim dean, who welcomed friends and faculty. “On behalf of Osgoode, we are delighted that Osgoode Professional Development is thriving and prospering to the extent that it is,” she said. “It affords us wonderful opportunities as a law school to be at the cutting edge of the delivery of legal education to professionals.”
Finally, Marilyn Pilkington, a professor emeritus and the former dean at Osgoode Hall, discussed the always-changing nature of the legal profession. “OPD extends Osgoode’s core mission, which is to innovate in response to new developments and new needs,” she said. “It’s become an engine for developing the capacity of the legal profession in ways that enable lawyers and other professionals who interact with the legal system to develop new expertise and new skills in a rapidly changing environment.”
The crowd clapped and nodded, as the remarks concluded by 7 p.m. It was just in time for the Leafs.
To find out more about Osgoode Professional Development, please visit the OPD website.
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Photography by 5ive15ifteen Studio