Co-op Chronicles

Co-op student finds his niche in "adventure law"

by Marni Friesen

Simon Owen

Third-year law student Simon Owen's current co-op job has taken him from the security of UVic's ivory towers to one of South Africa's most vibrant urban centres—not to mention some of the country's stickiest backroads.

The 25-year-old is working as an intern at the non-profit Legal Resources Centre in Durban, South Africa, which offers free legal services to poor and disadvantaged communities. He was inspired to take on the volunteer position after watching a documentary on the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Owen's job puts him in the middle of a multicultural downtown that is the antithesis of wealthy, security-fenced neighbourhoods in other parts of the city. Owen describes the part of town he works in as "chaotic splendour.

"Fruit stalls mingle with street-front barbers, beats pulsate from bars and minibus taxis. It's a city sweating out its pride and determination," he says. "I love it because it rises above and exists in spite of the ever-present fear here.

"I guess I've never felt less safe, but I'm energized and feel privileged to witness the courage of those struggling to re-create South Africa out of apartheid's still-smouldering ashes."

Owen's job combines field work with behind-the-scenes research. He investigates issues such as how law reform works for women in the post-apartheid country, and the independence of court-martial tribunals.

He's also spent time in poverty-stricken rural areas, investigating complaints of sub-standard school conditions in kwaZulu-Natal Province, on the country's eastern extremities.

"They're pretty easy to document when kids have no desks, no doors and no roof," says Owen.
The internship is a chance for Owen to learn more about public interest law, his preferred area of study. It requires him to pull together diverse streams of law practice, looking at pre-and post-apartheid law in South Africa, as well as traditional and international legal frameworks.

"I also get to participate in first-instance rights cases, such as the right to education, which haven't been directly addressed by the courts before," he says. "They're breaking new ground and drawing the first lines on the constitutional map. I get to be much closer to the whole process than I ever could in Canada at this stage in my studies," he says.

Another useful skill he's picked up is how to extricate his vehicle from a rain-soaked sand road. The secret is to have lots of help.

"Half the students and the principal of the remote school we were visiting were helping dig us out," he says. "Eventually, a Land Rover came by with a winch."