UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 09 | May 10, 2001

Law worth losing sleep over, says grad

The finer points of law are no longer moot to Monique Pongracic-Speier

When it's 4:30 a.m., you haven't slept for 36 hours and you have a legal argument due first thing, you make tight friendships and learn to work as a team, says Monique Pongracic-Speier.

It's one of the many things she has learned while earning a Bachelor of Law degree.

Pongracic-Speier was a member of UBC's "Jessup mooters" which placed among the top five at a recent international moot competition. The competitions pit law students against one another in mock trials. She has twice been named top oralist in Canada.

"It's a real honour to be chosen for a competitive moot team at UBC," she says. "It's very intense over a period of several months and you learn your area of law very well."

Pongracic-Speier was drawn to a career in law after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from SFU and starting her own communications company.

"I wanted something more academic, but to keep one foot in the real world," she says. With a long-standing interest in international affairs, she saw Law as a perfect fit.

"The United Nations system is only about 60 years old," she says. "Most of our international dispute resolution institutions are even younger. We're in a time of incredible change."

Now articling with Schroeder and Co., she is working on a lawsuit launched by 49 decendants of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors.

The suit against the B.C. government claims the children were forcibly removed from their homes and confined to a former tuberculosis sanatorium in New Denver in the 1950s.

"I've got a challenging year ahead," she says. "But I feel that the moot experience has definitely given me valuable skills."